Creator / TwoSet Violin

If you can trope slowly, you can trope quickly.

Practice!

TwoSet Violin are a comedic duo of Asian-Australian classical violinists Brett Yang (杨博尧/楊博堯, Yáng Bóyáo) and Eddy Chen (陈韦丞/陳韋丞, Chén Wéichéng). The two founded a YouTube channel in 2014 where they started out doing violin covers before moving on to specializing in comedy sketches about life as a classical musician, reviewing fake/bad musical performances (referred to as "roasting"), violin challenges, charades, and other games, as well as criticizing the portrayal of classical music in popular culture.

Their YouTube channel can be found here. Eddy has his own channel here.

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Accent the edit button, legato the trope examples:

• Actually, I Am Him: Since Brett and Eddy are more often than not always together, it's not uncommon for others to mistake them for each other. They sometimes joke on camera that Brett is actually the one named Eddy Chen and Eddy is the one called Brett Yang.
• Ambiguously Bi: Eddy. He fanboys over female violinists, but has made many 'interesting' remarks in various videos.
  • When watching K-pop dancers and Brett says the visuals are distracting him from the music:
    Eddy: I never get distracted by girls.
  • After being asked whether he would choose between a terrible female violinist or an excellent and attractive female violist:
    Eddy: (music fades into awkward silence) Did you assume I like girls?
  • He has slight fanboy moments over various K-pop boy group music videos. He mentions that the boys are prettier than girls.
  • He also reads (and perhaps owns) at least one yaoi manga. A clip of him reading dialogue from Twittering Birds Never Fly can be found on his Instagram.
    • The original post has been taken down. However, the clip is still viewable here.
  • Roasting High-Strung gives us this gem. After Brett sarcastically eats his words and agrees that looks are important, Eddy makes a kissy face at the shirtless actor and clicks his tongue.
    Eddy: (coyly) Call us!
  • He's extended it to Brett as well. When jokingly soliciting blind dates for Brett:
    Eddy: Can be young, old, men or women, doesn't matter, as long as you play a stringed instrument...
  • When they eventually made the blind dating videos, Brett dated female musicians. Eddy dated male musicians as his alter ego Edwina.
• Arc Words:
  • "Practice."
  • "Sacrilege/sacrilegious" for roasting videos.
  • "AMAZING", said in Sarcasm Mode.
  • "Interesting!", from this video of Alma Deutscher.
  • "Pop music, the epitome of art and culture" from the review of the notorious NSFW music video of Destination Calabria.
• Artistic License – Music: They are especially fine-tuned to this. They can point out if a certain movie scene is getting musical theory all wrong or a performance is completely fake, and even dub over said performances with how they would actually sound like without editing at some points.
• Asian and Nerdy: The two met in math tutoring (when Brett was 14 and Eddy 13) and later in a youth orchestra.
• Battle Rapping: They have made two rap battles involving famous composers: Johann Sebastian Bach vs. Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt vs. Niccolo Paganini.
• Berserk Button:
  • The idea that "geniuses are born, not created", given how much they emphasize practicing. They can be seen visibly trying to keep their anger at this in check during the Vov Dylan review video in order to maintain the comedic tone. See Tranquil Fury below.
    Brett: (nearly clawing at his face) Excuse me? What about all the practice?
  • Reckless and destructive handling of musical instruments, seeing how usually expensive they are. They get very frustrated seeing violin bows smacked around like swords, flutes used like stripper poles and piano stools violently kicked to the floor.
  • Musical "sacrilege" usually provides good mocking potential for them, but egregious examples of this can truly piss them off. Again, see Vov Dylan.
  • The "Flight of the Bumblebee" is becoming this for them. They have nothing against the piece, per se, but they dislike how it tends to get overmilked and overhyped by mainstream media.
  • While not as bad as the other examples, they also get frustrated if someone confuses the recorder with the flute, as seen in their reaction when Katy Perry makes that mistake.
  • In a rant video, Brett has clearly had enough of the comments telling them their channel isn't funny and mocking them. He looks sternly at the camera and asks why "the fuck" are the haters still following their content. Coming from the often dead-faced Brett, even Eddy appears to be taken aback by the sudden temperament change for a split second.
• Beyond the Impossible: Apparently, disrupting the fabric of time is one of Ling Ling's many achievements; he practices the violin 40 hours a day. In fact, any skill you can think of under the sky, Ling Ling can do it while doing something else at the same time.
• Bilingual Bonus: Plus Freeze-Frame Bonus. Editor-san snuck in an "ok boomer" meme in Japanese in one video.
• Bonus Material: If the charades is smooth sailing for the majority, they often include a bonus challenge, often with the justification that they need to hit the 10-minute mark. Also, random snaps and videos with either of them saying or acting oddly out of character will sometimes be posted with no context until a new video is dropped and revealed that it was a punishment.
• Boy Band: B2TSM, a fictional band consisting of five great composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Their debut single, "Duh Duh Duh Dum" is interspersed with Standard Snippets from their works and each composer rapping about their accomplishments, and includes them all dancing and seductively looking at the camera in typical boy-band fashion.
• Catchphrase:
  • Again, "Practice!"
  • "If you can [X] slowly, you can [X] quickly."
• Caustic Critic: When they do roasting videos; their criticism and snark can get pretty brutal.
• Classical Music Is Boring: They really don't like this trope, especially how mainstream talent shows usually treat classical music, and like to remind viewers that classical music can be just as enjoyable for young people as pop music.
• Classical Music Is Cool: What they believe and want to promote instead.
• Corpsing: "12 Days of Practice" ends up devolving into a mixture of raucous laughter and screaming the lyrics instead of singing.
• Consummate Professional: Subverted. As individuals, Brett and Eddy take their craft very seriously and they each have a white tie suit, proof that they have performed at the highest level with white tie formality required. As TwoSet, they have great success with their tour and live show parodies where they perform in casual wear and just act like their regular selves.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: They bumble around with geography and math in their videos, play horribly and jerkily, make skits that are way too relatable to mediocre or beginner violin players, so surely they can't be all that good right? Yes, but videos of them playing seriously will leave you wondering how you forgot that they are highly competent violinists in the first place. Fans will come to their defense that they are allowed to do so because beneath all that, they know full well what they are doing and talking about.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes display this tendency.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Stick This "God Pillar" Up a Violin's Hole to Sound Better. It sounds exactly like what you think.
• Double Entendre:
  Vov Dylan: My wife likes to say she's married to the fastest fingers in the world.
  Eddy: Does your wife also say you finish in 38 seconds?
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Their first few videos on YouTube were violin covers of pop songs, television soundtracks, and music from film (Inception and Interstellar, for example). They switched to more comedic videos after being inspired by Ray Chen, another Australian violinist who had become known for his various music-related comedy skits.
• Eldritch Abomination: Ling Ling, whose musicianship is so ludicrous it sits somewhere between "godhood" and "reality-bending". That this entity is a perpetually offscreen Running Gag only strengthens an impression of utterly incomprehensible power.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Subverted, they play this trope straight in serious performances, but most of the time they present themselves as fairly casual and relatable youths who happen to have a wide range of knowledge of classical music. That being said, Brett tends to do badly on charades and other videos involving pop music simply because he doesn't listen to popular stuff.
• The Empath: Brett maintains a cooler demeanour of the two but Eddy's frantic energy can influence his. In their vlog in Japan where they play a horror virtual reality game, Brett panics when Eddy panics.
• Everyone Has Standards/Wouldn't Hurt a Child: They're much more forgiving in their criticisms if children are involved.
  • In a video where they rate stock images of people playing the violin, they pass on scoring a young girl who's holding the violin wrong since that would be too harsh.
  • In another video where a boy claims he can play "Flight of the Bumblebee" on the piano at twice the normal tempo, the duo's negative remarks are directed less at the boy and more at the mainstream media.
  • This hasn't stopped "Interesting!" (involving the young composer Alma Deutscher) from being one of their gentler Running Gags.
  • Although they're having a ball in poking fun at the Pantene commercial, they express their disapproval at the bullying that happens to the protagonist in the commercial.
• The Faceless: Editor-san, the editor of the videos.
• Fanboy: Of most violinists in general, but they are this to a tee when it comes to Hilary Hahn. Hilary has appeared in numerous videos (whether it be in-person, virtual, or through pre-recorded footage), making her possibly the most featured guest on the channel.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: They often make jokes about their parents being disappointed in them for being musicians instead of doctors.
• Filk Song: They've made two parodies of BLACKPINK songs: "Duh Duh Duh Dum" is a parody of "DDU-DU DDU-DU", and "Sell Out" is a parody of "Shut Down". The latter actually got them in hot water with Blackpink fans, as it's framed as how Niccolo Paganini would react to Blackpink using his piece "La Campanella" as the backing track for "Shut Down"; as such, it's a Diss Track against Blackpink and their more "shallow" music. (In actuality, Brett and Eddy are fans of Blackpink and Eddy was merely playing a character, and his disses were moreso towards the K-pop industry for not allowing pop artists to be truly creative with their music.)
• The Ghost: Has anybody ever seen Ling Ling?
• Hell Is That Noise:
  • In their unboxing video of cheap violins bought off the internet, the first one they try emits a dreadful noise when played with Brett's bow.
    Eddy: This is what you hear when death approaches you.
  • Brett's terrifying Lo-fi and Pop tracks sound like they were massively unsupervised by the producer they invited... which is what happened.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: In a violin charades game with Ray Chen where they have to imitate and guess the violinist, Ray jokes that game for being unfair because it felt like he's playing against a married couple.
  Ray: I feel like playing charades with you guys is like playing against a couple. Like, who's been married. It's just so unfair.
• Hyper-Awareness: Given that they're professional violinists, they will detect even the most microscopic details whenever they're watching and critiquing violin performances. Eddy in particular has perfect pitch.
• I Never: One episode has them playing this game, with the questions related to music, of course. However, they substitute alcohol with bubble tea to keep things PG-rated.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Every time they claim they're not a roasting channel… and then go on to brutally lambast whatever they're watching.
• Impractical Musical Instrument Skills: The "Ling Ling Workout" series. Participants of this challenge must play the violin while under some sort of condition, such as while hula-hooping, while getting a massage, while upside-down, etc.
• In Name Only: What they feel about America's Got Talent in particular and mainstream talent shows in general. They think, despite the name, these shows are less about talent and more about sensationalism and cheap entertainment.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: A particularly condescending character is seen this way in the My Little Princess roast.
  Brett: It's like he's trying to find reasons to sound intelligent, but none of them make sense at all.
• Modesty Towel: Eddy in their "7 classical pieces for Valentines" video. He's practically shirtless, and has to constantly re-adjust it. The towel does come off temporarily at one point.
• Oh, Crap, There Are Fanfics of Us!: One episode concerns their reading and reacting to fanfiction about them, shipping and all.
• Older Than They Look: It certainly does not seem like it if you look at the page image, but Brett is 1 year older than Eddy.
• Old Shame: Their very first video was a music video for their cover of the theme from Saw, featuring over-the-top acting and dance moves. The video, which is no longer public, can now only be seen in the reaction video that they made in 2017.
  Eddy: Nah, man, our first video was so cringey that we set it on private. We locked it away so no one would ever see it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In one video, Brett and Eddy break with their comedic antics to address the recent rise in Asian hate. The video is uncharacteristically serious for the channel and mostly involves the two discussing their own personal experiences with racism.
• Parody Sue: Ling Ling, a The Ghost character who is supposedly an unachievably perfect violinist.
• Perpetual Frowner: While Brett is far from The Stoic, this is his resting face. "Dead inside" jokes have been made at his expense.
• Plot Armor: How Ling Ling insurance and potions work.
• Pretender Diss: Don't think you can fake violin playing and get away with it; these two can and will point out egregious fake performances and mock them.
  • That being said, they do acknowledge and appreciate effort when they see it, as seen in their reviews of The Umbrella Academy and the Live-Action Adaptation of Nodame Cantabile.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The energetic, talkative Eddy and the quieter, subdued Brett.
• Rock is Authentic, Pop is Shallow: "Sell Out" has Paganini say that his classical pieces are more musically complex, artistic, and timeless than Blackpink's pop music in the form of a Diss Track. He also states that their music is more about making money than making art, critiquing the harsh control managers have over pop idols.
• Running Gag: Aside from the examples in Arc Words:
  • "15 notes a second".
  • Jokes about how Ling Ling can do anything, no matter how impossible.
  • Brett not having perfect pitch.
  • Brett is a purebred of classical music. He does not listen to anything else but classical music.
  • Violas.
  • If you can [X] slowly, you can [X] quickly.
  • "Are you doctor yet? Come back when you doctor!"
• Shipper on Deck: The eponymous Editor-san gives the impression they are. A number of clips featuring Eddy and Brett holding hands, touching or simply lingering their gaze are zoomed in with romantic overtones added. Sometimes, the editor adds comments referring to both Eddy and Brett as their dads.
• Ship Tease: Dear Ling Ling, do they really dish it out.
  • Just take a look at their fanfiction reading.
  • The video where they talk about their university lives. Towards the end, Eddy notes that most people find their significant other/greatest love in uni. Brett strokes Eddy's shoulder out of nowhere and Eddy turns to look at him first before turning to the camera and waggling his eyebrows.
  • In their parody video of "If composers were alive today", Eddy takes the role of Tchaikovsky and proposes to "Sergei" (Brett).
  • In one Facebook stories/snap, Brett teases that Eddy was gonna propose and holds his hand out for Eddy with a "kiss my hand". Eddy actually goes for it.
  • In their "Top 7 classical pieces for valentines day" video, Brett introduces his girlfriend Edwina (which is simply Eddy in drag). The whole video is littered with Double Entendre. At the end, Brett wraps his arm around Edwina, and she pushes him down. The camera cuts to black accompanied by Brett's scream.
  • In "100 different ways to play a phrase", the video itself isn't serious and alternates between legit techniques and just made up styles. One of ways is 'straight' and then followed up with 'not straight'. Their arms criss-cross and there's quite some tongue action going on...
  • In an old video where they don makeup on one another, Brett playfully tries to smooch Eddy.
  • In "5 Most Difficult Violin Pieces", Eddy takes advantage of Brett's merch promo to smack his... behind.
  • In "What note is this?", Brett slaps his own ass — multiple times! — at Eddy's request. Seriously.
  • In "When People Bully You For Playing Violin" and "How To Talk To Girls Using Classical Music (literally)", both of them hit on Edwina. Complete with terrible pickup lines and flexing.
  • In "The Practice Police", they just happen to own a police costume, complete with handcuffs.
  • In "When You Don't Practice Enough", Eddy plays the part of Professor Wenuhin, a professor with no tolerance for mediocrity. After tearing into Brett's practice habits and playing, he describes Brett's fingers as "soft and tender", and demands that he close his eyes and touch Wenuhin's fingertips. Brett describes them as "really hard—rock hard!". Talk about getting in-character...
• Shown Their Work: Oh dear god, yes. They exhibit a great deal of knowledge of violin techniques and what being a classical musician entails, especially in "roasting" videos.
• Signature Move: Well, more like signature piece, but the point still stands. For Brett, it's "Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major"; for Eddy, it's "Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor".
  • In one of their videos, Brett asks Eddy what piece he would perform if it was his last time playing violin ever. In response, Eddy plays the second movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, and Brett looks on with a soft smile on his face and agrees that as far as last pieces go, that is a very good choice indeed.
• So Much for Stealth: Brett manages to sneak his way into the rehearsal with Lang Lang and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra none the wiser. That is, until Eddy^note The Anticipator, who is the only one to notice Brett is missing, since their seats are next to each other sabotages Brett...
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: During the roasting of High Strung, right after Eddy says they'd rather see average-looking actors who can actually play the violin in violin roles, the video cuts to a shot of a shirtless Nicholas Galitzine...
  Brett: Actually, you know what, I changed my mind, he's pretty good-looking. Looks do matter.
• Take That, Critics!: One video satirizes the vitriolic response they got from BLACKPINK fans for "Sell Out" by portraying them as Internet Jerks who Can't Take Criticism and need to leave their online echo chambers and "touch grass".
• Team Spirit: The entire premise and evolution of TwoSet Violin screams this. Eddy originally started out being better at guessing and is the more attentive and intuitive of the two. Brett later becomes better at guessing, and the Eddy-Brett combo is on par with (and even overtakes) the Brett-Eddy combo in charades. In a lot of their recent videos, Brett sometimes shoots an answer at random and actually gets it close or he GETS IT RIGHT before Eddy even starts to demo. Brett explains he does so by being observant enough and intuitive of how Eddy would think and react first.
  • The pop song guessing videos make this especially obvious, but the Guess the K-pop Song video takes the cake.
    Eddy: To be fair, I think, Brett you guessed that based on your psychology of knowing me.
  • And later:
    Eddy: How did you guess that?
    Brett: Cause that's what- that's all I know.
    Eddy: See, that's another example of Brett just knowing my psychology.
• Trademark Favourite Food:
  • It's stated on their official website that Brett likes coffee and sushi.
  • There's also bubble tea.
• Tranquil Fury: A generally comedic and easygoing duo, but that doesn't mean they can't be genuinely set off by some of the musical misconceptions they face. The two are visibly pissed off at the video of Vov Dylan, one of the claimants of the "fastest violinist in the world" title, but they do a good job of keeping their cool and cracking jokes throughout.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Eddy is afraid of cockroaches.
• World of Snark: Eddy and Brett's average episode consists of them snarking about the given topic, themselves and making fun of each other.

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