TwoSet Violin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids TwoSet Violin |
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TwoSet Violin (Brett Yang playing the violin while hula hooping, accompanied by Eddy Chen on the piano), Merkin Concert Hall, New York City on 31 October 2018
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Brett Yang (楊博堯; 杨博尧) 3 March 1992 Taipei, Taiwan Eddy Chen (陳韋丞; 陈韦丞) 23 March 1993 Kaohsiung, Taiwan |
| Origin | Brisbane, Australia |
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| YouTube information | |
| Years active | 2013–2024 |
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| Subscribers | 4.32 million |
| Total views | 1.53 billion |
| Subscriber and view counts updated as of 22 December 2024. | |
TwoSet Violin was a super popular music and comedy duo. It was made up of two Australian violinists and YouTubers, Brett Yang and Eddy Chen. They started by playing classical versions of pop songs on their YouTube channel. But then they switched to making funny music videos. This change made them much more popular! Brett and Eddy also performed live concerts and went on tours around the world. On October 14, 2024, the duo announced they would stop making new videos as TwoSet Violin. They later released a series of farewell music videos.
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How TwoSet Violin Started
Brett Yang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 3, 1992. Eddy Chen was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on March 23, 1993. Both of their families moved to New Zealand, and then to Brisbane, Australia, when the boys were young.
They met as teenagers in a math group after school. They also became friends as the youngest members of a youth orchestra. Later, they both studied at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in Brisbane.
Early Music Journeys
In 2012, Brett played a famous piece called the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at the Queensland Conservatorium. He also played with other Australian orchestras. He even performed at a big meeting called the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit.
Eddy was a finalist for a special award called the National Young Virtuoso Award in 2014. He played with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Becoming TwoSet Violin
In 2013, Brett and Eddy started their YouTube channel. They first posted videos of themselves playing pop songs on the violin. They hoped to get millions of views, like other violinists they saw online. But it didn't work very well.
Then, they saw that another violinist, Ray Chen, made funny videos. So, Brett and Eddy decided to try something similar. They started making videos about their lives as classical musicians and students at a conservatory. This change made their videos much more popular!
By the end of 2016, Brett and Eddy decided to focus on TwoSet Violin full-time. They left their jobs with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
TwoSet Violin on YouTube
The TwoSet Violin YouTube channel grew very quickly. In 2018, they received a Silver Play Button from YouTube for reaching 100,000 subscribers. In 2019, they got a Gold Play Button for reaching 1 million subscribers! A radio station called Classic FM even said TwoSet Violin was one of the "10 ways the 2010s changed classical music forever."
In January 2020, it was announced that Brett and Eddy would be reporters at the Menuhin Competition. This is a big violin competition. However, the competition was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 8, 2020, TwoSet Violin did a live performance to celebrate having two million subscribers. Brett played the solo part of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Eddy played a special version of the orchestra part on his violin.
In December 2020, the duo took a short break from YouTube. Brett needed to take care of some health issues. They slowly started making videos again in January 2021.
On January 30, 2021, they celebrated three million subscribers with another live performance. This time, Eddy played the solo part of Sibelius's Violin Concerto. Brett played the orchestra part on his violin. In May 2021, they also made videos to support the Menuhin Competition.
On August 7, 2022, TwoSet Violin released a song featuring a made-up band called B2TSM. In the music video, Brett and Eddy dressed up as famous classical composers like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.
On October 22, 2022, TwoSet released a funny version of Blackpink's song "Shut Down." Eddy pretended to be the famous violinist Paganini. He sang a song called "Sell Out" that joked about how Paganini might have felt about the song using a part of his music.
On November 16, 2022, TwoSet Violin performed live with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. They played pieces by Mendelssohn and Bach. This was to celebrate almost reaching four million subscribers. In February 2023, they had a music battle in Singapore with another YouTuber, bassist Davie504. In November 2023, the group was featured on a TV show called Australian Story on ABC TV.
On October 14, 2024, the duo announced they would stop making content as "TwoSet Violin." They deleted most of their Instagram posts and took down many of their YouTube videos. They only left up 29 videos they thought were their very best. On December 5, 2024, their channel changed its look to match their fictional band "B2TSM." The next day, they posted the first of six farewell music videos as B2TSM.
Later, they explained in a live video that they wanted to make it seem like they were "teleporting to the B2TSM universe" for these six videos. They thought their fans weren't watching their old content much anymore. So, they only left their best videos for new viewers. But fans were upset, so TwoSet Violin decided to put all their old videos back on their channel.
TwoSet Violin Tours
Brett and Eddy used KickStarter to raise money for their first big tour. They also did street performances in Sydney. They raised enough money to go on a world tour in 2017! They visited 11 cities in 10 countries in Asia and Europe, including Taipei, Helsinki, and Frankfurt. In 2018, they performed in several cities in the United States, like New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
In October 2019, TwoSet announced another world tour. They planned to visit many places in Oceania, Europe, Asia, and North America. But the tour had to be postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, they held a virtual world tour online on December 28, 2021. On November 16, 2022, they announced a new world tour for 2023–24. On April 1, 2023, they officially announced the tour on YouTube. They listed 29 cities they would visit, with dates to be announced later.
Videos and Themes
In 2017, TwoSet Violin created a funny character named Ling Ling. Ling Ling is a fictional violinist who "practices 40 hours a day." Brett and Eddy described Ling Ling as the "final boss" of a video game, like the Chuck Norris of violinists. They made up the character during a comedy video about a strict "tiger mom" comparing her child to her friend's child.
In 2018, they started a video series called the Ling Ling Workout. In these videos, Brett and Eddy play classical music with funny challenges. For example, they might play at double speed, with their hands reversed, while dancing, or even while hula hooping! Other famous violinists like Ray Chen, Ziyu He, and Hilary Hahn have also tried these challenges on their channel.
In July 2018, they made a series of videos where they played classical music using rubber chickens! Other common themes in their videos include guessing games with violins, trying out different instruments, and telling funny viola jokes.
Another popular video series involves reviewing scenes from movies and TV shows. They watch parts where someone plays the violin and point out when the playing looks fake or wrong. On April Fools' Day 2019, they played a prank, claiming they found a new violin concerto by J.S. Bach.
In September 2018, TwoSet Violin made a reaction video to a BBC News story. The story was about the "Fastest Violinist in the World." Brett and Eddy challenged the Guinness World Record claim by violinist Ben Lee. They thought his playing of "Flight of the Bumblebee" was not accurate. They then jokingly timed themselves playing random fast notes and said they broke the world record.
Besides their usual funny videos, TwoSet Violin has also posted their own music and short films. These were mainly composed by them and Jordon He. In October 2020, they released a video called "Prelude," a short piece they composed and played. In June 2022, they posted "FANTASIA," a short film they wrote. It included several pieces they composed, like 'Prelude,' 'Scherzo,' 'Adagio,' and 'Rhapsody.' The film also featured a guest appearance by young violinist Chloe Chua.
Other Projects
TwoSet has their own clothing line called TwoSet Apparel.
They also have a podcast called TwoSet Talks.
See also
In Spanish: TwoSet Violin para niños
