YouTube take over

By Jessica Carrascalao Heard

YouTube stars TwoSet Violin burst in and took over rehearsals at the annual Melbourne Youth Orchestras Summer School, held in January at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Violinists Eddy Chen and Brett Yang, who have over 800,000 YouTube followers with their comedic take on classical music, spent the fourth day of the summer school visiting ensembles and setting them their signature “Ling Ling” challenges.

The challenges required the duo to randomly choose pieces from each ensemble’s repertoire, and then make them play with extra technical hurdles while being filmed.

Some of those hurdles included performing while using their instruments incorrectly, playing at double speed and even playing while facing away from the conductor. Mr Yang said the takeover was something new, different and fun for the duo.

“[It was] a good idea to jump in with the kids, actually, to involve them doing things that we normally do on video,” he said.

Dorian Jones, CEO at Melbourne Youth Orchestras, said the takeover was organised because the summer school was about engaging young musicians.

“TwoSet have been really successful in building a huge following and creating content and coming up with lots of ways to engage young people,” he said.

The duo proved popular, with participants requesting selfies and autographs as the duo made their way through crowds at break time.

Mr Yang said TwoSet Violin aimed to inspire kids to practise more by adding a fun element.

He also said they had created a community where everyone knew the struggles of practising.

“It’s good for them, because then they know that they’re not the only ones doing it. Everyone’s in it together,” he said.