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almostholysandwich · 5 months

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Eight's weight.

Alright guys. I might be insane, but we're doing this.

In the JacknJellify subscriber milestone videos, it is stated, and confirmed to be canon that Eight (algebralien) is made of pure lead.

So, with this being, I've decided to calculate their weight based on mostly accurate (I hope) scientific data and mathematical formulas. Why? I have issues. and a burning passion for math at this particular moment in time. Let's begin, shall we?

Now, I bet you've scrolled by now, but I just need to get this down whether people like this or not. It just has to be done. Keep in mind, I live in America, so we still use the imperial system. For all my metric using folks, my sincere apologies if you're actually reading this.

The formula I have put together is this:

In other words, per cubic in of lead (Pb, just the periodic table abbreviation of the element "lead") is equal to 6.57 oz. That's 709 pounds per cubic foot.

I've figured out the weight of this incredibly heavy substance, sure, but what about the subject themself, Eight? How much "Eight" are we dealing with, here?

Well, the accuracy of this delves into headcanons, so some people may or may not agree with me here. I try to keep my designs mostly based on canon, and it has been confirmed by Cary that algebraliens are actually not human sized.

Source for said fact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zptatZhzas (Cary reacts to 'thanks for 800,000 subs!')

around 6:08 he pauses the video, and mentions the algebraliens are "not human sized" so it would be easier for Seven to get stuck in the tree.

Sources for my headcanons aside, we now know about how much we're looking at here.

I've measured Eight's body in two spheres. The top sphere (sphere x) is their head. The bottom sphere (sphere y) is their body. I didn't count limbs here, assuming they're fleshy, and not lead, and measuring the weight of those would be a whole nother thing. I measured Eight's height to be around 2 1/2ft here, so that's the dimensions I'm sticking with.

Starting with calculating the weight of sphere x:

The diameter of sphere x: 11 1/2 in. the radius (r) is simply half of that, so we end up with 5.75 (rounded to nearest hundredth). order to find the spherical area of this shape, we're gonna need to set up a formula like this.

that's the formula for spherical area. Once we punch in our known values, we get this:

which in turn gives us 415.48in. We now know the area of sphere x.

Now, we do the same thing for sphere y. Setting up our formula same as previously, we get the area of sphere y as 530.93. Fyi, I measured out the diameter of sphere y to be approximately 13in. , so I punched in the radius of that.

To refresh: We now have our values of sphere x and sphere y's area. We can now figure out just how much that weighs!

Using our formula from earlier to convert a certain area of volume into weight by the density of lead, we get our respective equations for both areas:

M Ax= 415.48in x 6.57oz per cubic inch of lead

(Mass of area of sphere x is equal to 6.57oz per cubic inch times our area)

M Ay= 530.93in X 6.57oz per cubic inch of lead

(Mass of area of sphere y is equal to 6.57oz per cubic inch times our area)

And so for both spheres that make up our model estimate of eight's body, we end up with

M Sx= 170.2 lbs

M Sy= 217.5 lbs

SO with our crazy calculations and whirls of numbers and symbols, we've ended up with an estimated weight of 387.71 lbs.

Holy moly! Eight! you weigh quite a lot! No worries, though, and no shame! They are pure lead, after all.

TL;DR...

teenage nerd uses math and science to estimate the weight of algebralien "Eight" from the BFB series, belonging respectively to JackandJellify on Youtube, and the BFDI franchise.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

and thanks for sticking around this long! I had fun with how hard this worked my brain, and even though my estimates might be off, this was fun!

#bfb #eight bfb #SCIENCE BITCH #MATH BITCH #algebralien #YEAHHH #I JUST DID THAT #I'm weird #I'm so weird aren't I #literally why #anyway

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kikuozine · 8 months

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kikuozine3 // きくおジン3

A multi-media zine anthology inspired by the music and imagery of Kikuo. This zine is made to celebrate Kikuo’s 1 million subs milestone on youtube and his evergrowing presence inside and outside the Vocaloid / vocal synthesizer community.

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#kikuozine #kikuozine3 #kikuo sound works #kikuo #きくお #zine #fanzine #fandom zine

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volticglitch · 3 months

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We just hit the 50k sub milestone on youtube!

Thank you all so much to anyone who's been sticking around as part of the ride, I need to think of a fun way to celebrate such as a vrc livestream at the weekend or something like that.

It means so much to me the reach we've had and it makes me excited for the future!

#volticglitch

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kvvzss · 3 months

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STOP YOUR WHINING.

a matt sturniolo fic; or is it ?

warnings: smut, fluff , overstimulation, aftercare, cockwarming ( sit on that dick sis 👅), softdom!matt/ chris , sub!reader, use of Y/N ( i have to.. i have no choice )

, cheating ( don’t do that guys it’s a fanfic!! )

plot;your youtube channel finally hit 4 million subscribers, as a ‘ treat ‘ from your boyfriend and his triplet brothers took you out for your favorite food, you were mad at your boyfriend for having a attitude with you earlier; but you know it’s not gonna last very long.

୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧ ୨୧

you and your boyfriend; matt sturniolo were in your room changing for your celebration, he had a certain look on his face as he was helping you get dressed.

‘ you like this, or this one. huh, pretty ? ‘

you picked out the outfit you wanted, which was one of his favorite shirts and some flared jeans with rhinestones on the two back pockets.

‘ what the fuck are you guys doing in there ? you better not be fucking again we got places to be. ‘ his brother , nick yelled from his room.

you and matt rolled your eyes and continued helping each other get dressed.

not too long later; you end up sitting on his lap at the diner, as a ‘ joke ‘ he slapped your ass and you turned to him glaring at him.

‘ oh, stop your whining, pretty. ‘ matt said.

‘ whatever. ‘ you said, rolling your eyes and listening in to the argument chris and nick were having over who had the best fit on.

since his shirt was obviously oversized on you. he pushed you up and pulled on your waistband on your jeans.

‘you want me to pull these down, pretty?’ he whispered.

‘ yes, please ‘ you nodded back in response.

he put the over sized shirt over your ass and pulled your pants down to get access to your already leaking entrance.

‘ i’m so fucked. ‘ you thought, hoping nobody catches you.

he pushed his shaft into you, letting you cockwarm him until later on, ( wink wink ).

‘ fuck. ‘ you said , lowly.

‘ what’s wrong, y/n ? ‘ his brother, nick asked in concern.

‘ nothing, i’m just starving. ‘ you replied, hoping nobody else asks you anything.

‘ me too, i’ve been waiting to come here ‘ nick replied back to you, doing a little dance earning laughs from everyone else at the table.

matt held your hips and whispered into your ear again. ‘ just wait until we get home. ‘

i’m absolutely fucked now.

you noticed that his brother chris kept giving glares at you two, as if he knew what was going on.

you then got a text from him, your face dropping immediately.

you then saw that he said that he didn’t want you to be all tied up when you got back , what did that mean?

matt was leaving out soon to go buy stuff from target and other stores for her gifts, and he only told chris.

you put your phone down and started ordering for yourself.

‘ and what would you like, ma’am? ‘

‘ uhm, i’d like the shrimp pasta please. ‘

‘ and what to drink ? ‘ the waiter replied.

‘dr pepper. ‘

the waiter walked away from the table to go get the food.

matt took his dick out of you slowly, putting it back in his boxers as you pulled back up your pants by yourself.

chris noticed this and smirked at you; he was awfully quiet this whole encounter.

chris let out a hiss as he put his hands over his pants.

later on; after everybody ate their food and celebrated her channels milestones they all got in the car. nick fell asleep ; chris was on his phone the whole time; brii fell asleep on chris’s shoulder by accident; and matt was the only one alert and awake

‘ okay pretty , i’m leaving out to go grab “ stuff “ you stay here. ‘

you kissed him and went into your room , changed into pajama pants and a regular shirt and your crocs chris got you years back.

you heard a tap at your door and got up and opened it; it was chris.

‘ what do you want ? ‘ you said, doing the handshake with him that you made.

‘ yknow what i’m here for, y/n. ‘ he said, glaring down into your eyes

‘ what do you mean, chris. ‘ you said, gaining a attitude.

he shut the door behind him, guiding you to the bed by your waist and laying you down.

you subconsciously leaned in to kiss him and he automatically returned the favor

he managed to slip his tongue into your mouth; your tongues basically fighting each other in your mouth.

he then moved his hand into your pajama pants, fondling with your sensitive clit.

‘ fuck. ‘ you said outloud, closing your eyes but trying your hardest not to give chris any of your attention.

‘ cmon, y/n. you know you wanna give me atleast some attention.’ he fake whined

stop your whining. you told him.

‘ oh really? let’s see about that y/n. ‘ he replied

then ; he moved down to your pajama pants, pulling them down and then also subconsciously pulling down your panties

you bit your lip, trying not to moan, playing this game of not giving him any attention.

‘ cmon, where’s my attention , ma ? ‘

he then started to tease your clit, making you whine quietly, atleast you thought you were being quiet.

he then got up on top of you, sticking his shaft inside you softly.

‘ tell me when your ready.’ ; he said, atleast he cared.

‘ i think i’m ready now. ‘ you replied

he then started to move inside you, already hitting that sweet spot for you. then feeling like it was time to move faster he did just as he thought; moving his hips at a faster pace. he gripped your hips as he started to go faster and faster.

you absolutely broke. ‘ oh fuck, chris ! ‘

‘ there’s my girl. ‘ chris said, holding the sides of your stomach

‘ fuck. ‘

chris kept going, speeding up multiple times and slowing down, teasing her. this caused you to whine about being teased

‘ stop your whining. ‘ he said,

chris then leaned in for a kiss, making her whine into his mouth.

she clenched around him signaling her orgasm, her legs started to shake.

‘ go ahead, cum for me. ‘ he said, then rubbing her sensitive clit to make her shake more; he started to get close himself, removing his hand from her clit and then scratching her sides, bruising her slightly.

after they both rode out their orgasms, chris took her to take a bath, running warm water for her, since she was already undressed he didn’t have to undress her all over again ; he placed her into the water .

‘ which soap do you want , pretty girl? ‘

she pointed to a scented soap , he poured it into her loofah and bathing her, letting her rest.

he then got some clothes laid out for her, dressing her and then placing her into her bed.

a/n first luh smut or whatever how u doinnn 👅👅

#Spotify #nick sturniolo #chris sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #smut #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #sturniolo smut #brusies #sturniolo fanfic #sturniolo x reader

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nizaberry · 3 months

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Super Thanks~!!

I finally reached one of my milestones on YouTube 💖

Shout Out to all my Subscribers and Viewers who tune in to watch my content. YOU have made this possible! Thank you so so much!!

Next milestone is reaching 1k Subs!

#ts4 #sims 4 #youtube #gameplay #super thanks #this means a lot #i love creating sims content #<3

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bizarrequazar · 9 months

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GJ and ZZH Updates — August 20-26

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

[Glossary of names and terms] [Masterlist of my posts about the situation with Zhang Zhehan]

08-20 → The Instagram posted three photos of “Zhang Zhehan” in Tibet and six scenery photos.

08-21 → The Zhang Sanjian TikTok account posted a video where “Zhang Zhehan” did the haizhe hand signal wrong and distinctly had breasts rather than pecs.

→ Hogan posted nine behind the scenes photos (1129 kadian) and a video from their recent shoot with Gong Jun.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. Caption: “Love is a romantic surge day and night, and it is also a brave rush across mountains and seas. In the days when we can't see each other, I subconsciously want to put everything about the other party higher, including their address. This year's Qixi festival, Fresh joins hands with the spokesperson @ Gong Jun Simon to wish all long-distance couples a happy delivery and a harvest of love.”

→ Madame Tussauds posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun for Qixi. [subbed video]

08-22 → 361° posted two photo ads featuring Gong Jun.

→ A special episode of Hello Saturday was released for Qixi featuring Gong Jun and several other actors from Legend of Anle. (Filmed 07-22, the same day as the other episode.) (Not on YouTube yet, a link will be added here once it is.)

→ The Instagram posted two photos of “Zhang Zhehan” and seven scenery photos.

→ Gong Jun’s studio posted ten photos of him from the Hello Saturday episode. Caption: “His Royal Highness the Prince (Qixi Edition) @ Gong Jun Simon is back for a limited time, adding a little sweetness to your Qixi Festival~”

→ Rare posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Gong Jun Outdoor Office posted a video of him learning a Douyin dance. Caption: “Dancing miracle”

→ Ranyi Music announced another Zhang Sanjian concert, this time in Kuala Lumpur. As a reminder, [here] is my post collecting information about how the Bangkok concerts were sketchy as fuck. The venue for this one is inside a mall that is largely empty aside from the concert hall itself and adult-oriented stores.

→ Fresh posted a promotional video spoken by Gong Jun.

08-23 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a promotional image for Fox Spirit Matchmaker to celebrate 2 million users setting notifications for its airing. Caption: “It’s hard to cool down with a passion in the blood, and he is unrestrained between heaven and earth. The number of reservations on the site has exceeded 2 million! Dongfang Yuechu @ Gong Jun Simon will see you soon!” Gong Jun Outdoor Office posted the same image without the text overlay, caption: “Posted the original picture!“

→ The Fox Spirit Matchmaker Weibo posted a promotional image of Gong Jun and his costar Yang Mi to celebrate the same milestone.

08-24 → Gong Jun’s studio posted a promotional video for 361° and the Asian Games spoken by him.

→ The Instagram posted ten photos of “Zhang Zhehan”, a dog, and scenery. The caption included 🐶😺 and ⛰️ and reeked of desperation.

08-25 → Rare posted two photo ads featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian)

08-26 → The Instagram posted a video promoting their money laundering concert.

→ Da Zhangwei, one of the other regulars from Go Fighting!, posted a video Gong Jun filmed sending him a support message.

Additional Reading: → Flora finished translating the article on money laundering that she started last week. [follow up on how this potentially relates to the situation]

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

#Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #lld timeline

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secret-subject · 4 months

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That was such a wonderfully sweet and wholesome file, and you did a truly phenomenal job with how emotionally evocative your character was, especially with how well you portrayed such earnest yearning and desire in a way that comes across with such sincerity! It's genuinely impressive how you manage to consistently fill your characters and roles with so much depth and humanity, and it always feels so natural. Your attention to the little details is one of the areas where this really shines through, the "maybe I'll edit that part out" was such a delightful addition that really helped to convey the sense of anxiety and concern that underlies the feelings of the character. I know I already talked before in a previous ask about how your ear cleaning file is already among my favorites, but I can't help but mention how that attention to detail played such an integral role in making it such a fantastic file, with how you masterfully blended the character's insecurities, the playful and relaxing use of repetition, and especially humor throughout it. I've listened to it at least 40 times at this point (if not more and I'm not exaggerating at all I swear, I ended up listening to it 3 more times while writing all this lol), and I still can't help but giggle every time at the "Damn, I've put more impure thoughts in" x3 Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making such wonderful works to comfort, relax, and melt stress (and minds x3) away!!!

Also! Congratulations on getting to 100k subs! That's so exciting and you truly deserve each and every one of them, and so many more!!! You genuinely make what are easily among the best files and songs, like I'll literally stop whatever I'm doing to listen the moment I get the notification that you've uploaded something lol. You've provided so many people with such delightful experiences over the years, and I truly can't wait to see what you have in store for us in the years to come!!! Here's to hitting 200k, and many milestones beyond that soon!

Wow, well thank you so much!! I honestly appreciate the kind words and it's nice to know that there are people who really enjoy my work and what I love to create. Like, youtube feedback is mostly positive but to hear about the impact my work has on people is just so heartwarming and sweet.

Thank you!!

#secret subject #secret qna

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kowlsy · 1 year

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The Strad Ep. 18 with Brett Yang

Me and Ash worked together to transcribe this for anyone who wanted to read it!

[Davina]: Hi and welcome to the Strad Podcast! I’m Davina Shum, I’m a cellist, and I’m the online editor at The Strad. Regular visitors to thestrad.com will know that TwoSet Violin celebrated a significant milestone late in 2022. Upon reaching 4 million subscribers on YouTube, the violin-comedy duo put on a performance of a lifetime with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, with Brett Yang playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto and Eddy Chen joining him later for the Bach Double. Not only this, but for the occasion, Tarisio loaned the pair two Stradivari Violins from 1708 –The Empress Caterina, and the Regent Superb. What an opportunity!

Brett and I chatted recently about his experience playing this marvellous instrument, what it taught him about his playing, as well as other instruments he’s played throughout his career. Here he is.

Brett, welcome to the Strad Podcast! Wonderful to have you here today. You’re joining me from Singapore so it’s quite a global collaboration today. First of all, let’s talk a little bit about instruments that you’ve played throughout your lifetime, throughout your career. Readers of the Strad will know that you’ve been lucky enough recently to play the 1708 Empress Caterina Stradivari violin for your four million subs concert in November 2022. So, a wonderful opportunity, but opportunities like that don’t just come out of nowhere – there’s a build-up to that. So, tell me a little bit about your first instruments that you played.

Brett: Well, sure! First of all, thank you for having me on board. And thank you to all the Strad listeners out there. It’s an honour to be here. Violins! It’s always interesting, I felt like when you grow up as a kid, you kind of just get passed an instrument. And you just go along with it, right. And as you grow, and as you learn, practising more and more, you start developing [an] awareness for, let’s say, quality of sound. Or, type of violin you’re playing, the playability of it, things like that.

My first full-sized instrument was a Scrollavezza, and I hadn’t changed for, honestly, a good… 16 years. 17– 18– 17 years. Sorry, I’m just adding numbers up. So, about 17 years, I played on the Scrollavezza. As a student, shout-out to my parents, actually, for helping me buy that instrument. It’s definitely… They’re very supportive. I think definitely when you play an instrument this long, you start growing with it, right? And a Scrollavezza, like … the violins change over time. The sounds change over time. So, that was kind of my first instrument. I never had many experiences playing multiple instruments. Because… back then, I was just really focused on practising. So, it was just whatever I had, then, right. Fast forward to now, I mean, right now I play on a Widenhouse, which is a new violin.

But talking about the Strad, that’s super interesting! That was on loan by Tarisio. We went to New York last year, in 2022, in April. We visited Tarisio to make a video out of it, I think they were auctioning the Da Vinci Stradivari. So they had us there to, you know, play a bit, share to our audiences what the world of instruments is like. Talking about Stradivaris, Guarneris, and all these makers. Because, there are a lot of people out there that don’t know who these makers are, actually, from our audience. So, I think they really find it fascinating how crazy expensive it can be, right. Because it’s almost like a collectible, it’s like Picasso, in terms of art works. Things like that.

The Strad [for the four million concert] came about when I reached out to Carlos, so shout-out to Carlos. I was like, “Hey, we’re doing this concert, what does it look like when you loan instruments?” and Carlos was like, “Hm, how about we get you a couple of Strads?” and I was like, “Sounds fine by me!” [laughs]

Davina: “Yeah, okay, yeah.”

Brett: “Yeah, sure, why not?”

People always ask, did we get to choose or not? I kind of left it in his hands; I knew he would pick great instruments for us. Stradivaris, I mean – – at this point, I don’t really care. It’s a Stradivari, that’s, you can’t really complain, right? And Carlos picked two violins for Eddy and myself, both from 1708. So I played the Empress Caterina, and Eddy played on the Regent. Now, I’ve been fortunate enough to play on Strads before, in videos, so I’ve had a slight taste of what it was like, playing Strads. But I’ve never had a Strad for, you know, a longer time. To practise on, to get to know. You know, I was asking like, a lot of soloists, Hilary, Ray, “Hey, what is it like playing on a Strad? Are there any tips?” A lot of them were just saying, look, it takes time to get used to. You have to spend time, you have to play it more. And that was definitely something I experienced. You have to change technique in a very delicate way to adapt to a Strad. And, you hear these stories, “Oh, a Strad, you can’t just kind of force the sound out, or really play into the string like a Guarneri or Vuillaume, you have to kind of let it sing by itself”. And that was definitely the experience.

So I actually changed my technique a little bit during the month leading up to the concert. And that was very scary. So, even though it was a Strad, I was also very nervous because I was not familiar with it.

Davina: That’s interesting, isn’t it. I’ve heard the same thing about Strads as well. I’ve not played a Strad cello before, that may change one day, who knows [laughs], but I have heard that definitely it takes getting used to. That’s exactly what people say, it’s not always smooth sailing. In a way, it kind of plays you, the instrument and you, you’re playing, you have to sort of meet… in the middle. I know you’ve just said you had to change your technique in a certain way. What sort of techniques did you have to change? In terms of the right hand, the left hand?

Brett: Yeah, I like what you said – it’s almost like a dance together with the instrument. You can’t just lead all the time, you have to work with your partner on a dance floor, right? It kind of felt like that. The biggest change I noticed, actually, was in my right hand, bow arm. The left hand had some changes, mainly just, you know, typical intonation, spacing issues, when you're shifting up and down. The size of the violin is slightly different to the violin I normally play on. But, the bow really was the big change for me. The Strad just would not give way. If I decide to press a little bit too hard, it kind of just won’t give me the colourful, velvery sound it has, that this Empress Caterina had. And so, it really taught me how to approach my bow technique, actually. Because after playing on a Strad for a month, I’ve noticed my sound production is better.

Davina: Right, when you go back to your other instrument, you mean?

Brett: Yes. Because I’m trying to recreate that same sound. And a Strad really told me how to make that sound.

Davina: That’s interesting. So, was it a change of, you know – I mean, we can get quite technical here, because it’s string players. But you know, in terms of contact point, or like, pressure, like, what sort of things had to change? And also, how much of it was to do with the setup? I’m aware that the setup back in 1708 would have been very different, the way that people would have approached the strings, presumably gut strings, would have been quite different because you really have to coax the sound out of a string, in that way. You know, you can’t press into gut strings because your instrument will just say, “No, thank you.” How much of the setup has an influence on the way you produce the sound?

Brett: Oh, a lot! Honestly, I couldn’t make any changes – I was too scared. You know, I was like, “Ooh, maybe I could…” You know, tweaking the sound post, and things like that, it was too close to the concert. But, in terms of, like, the setup and the technique, I had to use a lot more bow, in terms of bow speed. My distribution of my bow weight had to change a lot too. So, I really had to kind of change my bowing technique in a way where when I was playing piano, soft, I wasn’t just lightening the bow up, I was actually removing weight. It’s very hard to explain. It’s like, there’s still weight,so you still have that fullness in that tone…

Davina: Yeah.

Brett: But I think that’s what they talk about, what they say about pianists: your softness has to project to the end of the hall.

Davina: Yeah, that’s the hard thing about playing piano – soft — It sounds like we’re talking about the instrument.

[both laugh]

Davina: Yes, piano is very hard. But that’s the difficult thing about playing soft, isn’t it, to have that core, that still focused centre of the sound, but at a lower dynamic. And it can hurt physically if you’re not doing it correctly, right.

Brett: Exactly! And it can’t sound like it’s whispery, or like you lost contact point… [sighs] fluffy, right. It needs to still have that core in the sound. And the Strad really taught me how to do that. I mean, I’m no professional at it, but it really taught me how to create that sound. And it was a new sound, actually. It taught me, you know, it’s like you have to know what you want in order to be able to create that sound you want. If you can’t hear it, it’d be pretty hard to make that sound. So the Strad kind of gave me guidance in the type of tone I like. And actually, I’ll be honest, when I first played it – this is going to sound crazy – when I first played the Empress Caterina, I wasn’t so sure if I liked the tone. But very quickly, I started understanding it more and more. It was almost like my ears hadn’t developed the understanding for the sound I’m hearing. And then literally over the course of a month, wow, I heard the difference when I went back to my violin. I was like, no way! It’s undisputable, the tone is so much more complex. It offers a lot more colour, you know. But, when I first played it, I couldn’t hear it.

Davina: Yeah, I could imagine that if you were new to a Strad, and you have this sound, and initially, you just think, “Oh I don’t like this sound because it’s unfamiliar”, but, what it does offer, if you allow yourself to open up to it, is that it’s got [a] much wider colour palette.

Brett: Yes.

Davina: And it enables you to discover those, but you have to put in the work to actually find those colours and develop your ear, in that sense.

Brett: Yes.

Davina: I mean, I wanted to ask you a little bit about the approach to a very old instrument like this – 1708 – compared with modern instruments. You know, you mentioned the instruments you’ve played, that you currently play, and also the Scrollavezza. I’ve played a cello by him, before, once. I tried one out.

Brett: Oh, wow!

Davina: I met his daughter in Cremona, I met her, and I played her father’s cello from 2000. So, presumably, modern instruments, when you play an instrument where you’re the only owner to have had it, compared with a Strad or a [instrument from an] old Italian master that has been played by numerous hands before, you know. Tell me a little bit about how you think that has an impact on the instrument’s sound. You know, you mentioned before about how, like, [a] modern instrument, it sort of grows, you sort of grow with it.

Brett: Well, [laughs], I’m wondering, “Oh my god, do I even deserve to play this Strad right no?” That’s the first thought. But I think in terms of the sound … [sighs] To be honest, there’s so many times where I … A soloist has played my instrument and it sounds completely different, and I’m just like “Huh, wow, I got to practise. It does not sound like the violin that I play on!” [laughs] That’s kind of the modern instrument’s side.

Davina: That’s kind of the weird thing, is hearing your own instrument back, because we’re not always in a position to do that. But someone recently played my instrument and I play a modern instrument from 2005, and I heard it and I was like, “What? That’s not what it sounds like!” I mean, there are other factors as well, the fact that it’s not right under your ear, and you’re at a distance, but it’s interesting, seeing how a different person approaches your–

Brett: Oh, for sure! And especially when you get soloist to play. Eddy’s always like “Woah, I’ve never heard that from your violin before!”–

Davina: You’re like, ‘Oh, thanks.’ [laughs]

Brett: “–That does not sound lik– Oh thanks, thanks, thanks for that” [laughs]]

But I just think in terms of the Strad – it just seems like it’s more developed, over time. It’s a great maker, and time was on its side, on the violin’s side, right. And, it’s been played a lot more, and has a lot more colours to offer. Even the slightest bow change, the slightest pressure or weight that’s placed on it, different contact point. It’s very obvious that the sound has changed. And actually, the way I see it, the Strad kind of guides you do discover the sounds, which is what I mean by when I went back to my instrument. It kind of gave me tools to try to figure out how to make the sound I want, right. I started getting a bit more experimental. It’s, “Oh, okay, this is the type of sound I can make on this violin. Oh, this is the type of sound. Oh, it gives me …is kind of more … edgier sound if I’m here. Oh, here’s a bit of a more … rounder tone or warmer colour, you know, yellow, sunshine.” I don’t– things like that.

Davina: Kind of daunting, at first, because I imagine that when you’ve got something like this, you can kind of have multi-option anxiety, like ‘Oh my god, where on Earth do I start?’ I don’t know why this is the first example to come to my head, but, for example: if you have a drill with a thousand different drill bits, you just think, “Oh my goodness, like, what on Earth am I going to use all of these tiny little drill bits for?” Then, once you get a bit more education, and you understand maybe a little bit more about your craft, you’ll find the right drill bit for the right occasion.

Brett: Yes. And can I add also, I was very scared of hitting it, or dropping it, that is all very true. So actually, the first week, I was super wary of just, playing, even playing fortissimo. I know I’ve played violin for a really long time, but I just really didn’t want to chip it in the corner or do something like that. You know, of course it happens over time, it just happens, it’s normal, of course, sometimes you hit the side when you’re getting really into the piece. Everyone does it. But I just didn’t want to be that person. [laughs] In the first week anyway.

Davina: The instrument’s survived this long, this is not the end of the road, not with me!!Brett: Yeah, but that gge me a little bit of like– it made me a little bit anxious, at the beginning. Actually we made a video about it, funny enough, in the video I did, the tip of my bow hit the side of the Srad a little bit. Eddy was like “WOAH!” and I was like “NO!” So that was a bit of an experience.

Davina: Bit scary, yeah.

Brett: Bit scary.

Davina: Yeah, definitely. That would just be the time that your hand would just open involuntarily.

That was Brett Yang, and that was just an excerpt of our conversation. Keep an eye out on thestrad.com in the coming weeks for a series of web articles featuring Brett.

#twosetviolin #twoset #Brett Yang

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