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TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

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Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#51

Post by pclmulqdq »

tzs wrote: post #50
pclmulqdq wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that sort of shocks me about music in general is that fewer and fewer people are actively engaging with music. While more and more people start to pick up instruments, a smaller and smaller fraction of the population sticks with them (classical or otherwise), and even things like actively listening to a recording or going to a concert (again, classical or otherwise) are declining as hobbies. Music for many…

What people want out of a concert is also changing. There's a YouTube channel, "Wings of Pegasus" that does a lot of breakdowns of recordings, isolating voices and instruments and analyzing what kind of processing has been done on them. They had a video a few months ago [1] looking at two performances from the 2024 Glastonbury Festival. One from an '80s artist (Cyndi Lauper) and one from a current artist (Dua Lipa).…

I will offer you another thought along that last paragraph: Pitch correction and post-processing is a productivity aid for musicians, so Dua Lipa doesn't actually need to ever be able to give a good performance of one of her songs for the recording to come out perfect. Most artists are great singers/players, but it's a waste for them to spend time practicing songs when they just need to be good enough to correct. Cyndi Lauper had to be able to sing her songs at record quality, but Dua Lipa never did, so the quality gap between a live performance and the (perfect) recording will be a lot bigger naturally for the more modern artist.

Also, the dancing that happens at modern pop concerts is so difficult and lively that nobody would be able to sing well, much less at full power, while doing it.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#52

Post by implements »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #51
tzs wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What people want out of a concert is also changing. There's a YouTube channel, "Wings of Pegasus" that does a lot of breakdowns of recordings, isolating voices and instruments and analyzing what kind of processing has been done on them. They had a video a few months ago [1] looking at two performances from the 2024 Glastonbury Festival. One from an '80s artist (Cyndi Lauper) and one from a current artist (Dua Lipa).…

I will offer you another thought along that last paragraph: Pitch correction and post-processing is a productivity aid for musicians, so Dua Lipa doesn't actually need to ever be able to give a good performance of one of her songs for the recording to come out perfect. Most artists are great singers/players, but it's a waste for them to spend time practicing songs when they just need to be good enough to correct. Cyn…

As a fan I’m driven to say Dua’s been credited with “Most Improved Artist” having taken to heart the infamous criticism of her BRIT Awards performance of “New Rules”: “I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHtnxluMXMw

(Not a post I’d ever expected to make on HNs)

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#53

Post by pclmulqdq »

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #40
djtango wrote: post #24

This is a huge loss - outside of a handful of echo chambers classical music is kind of dying. Fewer and fewer young people care about it, I am grateful to TwoSet for providing a relatable way for the next generation of listeners to ramp into classical music.

Classical music needs to drop all pretensions. Silly rules about conductors walking on and off stage, no clapping between movements (or sections or whatever), dress codes, etc... I'm a music lover and I go see a classical concert once every few years and it's easily the least fun concert experience (apart from the music). Also, god forbid they have someone come out and talk for 2 minutes and tell the context of the p…

The latter part of what you suggested - the pre-concert talk - is a very common thing to have now, and often it's a 30-minute thing. Program notes are also getting better and better about this. People will also often talk about the context when they give recitals.

As to clapping: As late as the late 1800s, it was okay to clap during the loud parts of the song. Baroque music also often has long cadenzas that end in a big trill, which was a signal for the crowd to go wild. I agree about getting less strict about this, and historically things were less strict. At the same time, I recently saw a performance of Tchaikovsky 6 where the audience started clapping between the last two movements (a triumphal march followed by a tragic final movement), and a large part of the energy of the piece was lost from the audience doing this. I think this rule mostly comes from the audience not understanding when not to clap.

Also, lots of classical music is done in environments that aren't concert halls and these are much looser about the etiquette. A concert hall is a nice place to go, and many people go on dates at concert halls, and a lot of the vibe for the audience comes from the fact that people dress up for the occasion.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#54

Post by pclmulqdq »

implements wrote: post #52
pclmulqdq wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will offer you another thought along that last paragraph: Pitch correction and post-processing is a productivity aid for musicians, so Dua Lipa doesn't actually need to ever be able to give a good performance of one of her songs for the recording to come out perfect. Most artists are great singers/players, but it's a waste for them to spend time practicing songs when they just need to be good enough to correct. Cyn…

As a fan I’m driven to say Dua’s been credited with “Most Improved Artist” having taken to heart the infamous criticism of her BRIT Awards performance of “New Rules”: “I love her lack of energy, go girl give us nothing!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHtnxluMXMw (Not a post I’d ever expected to make on HNs)

Don't get me wrong - every pop artist is an incredibly good musician and most of them are capable of putting on a Cyndi Lauper level of vocal performance. My comment was mostly about how many reps they need to put in before going into the studio to record.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#55

Post by ydnaclementine »

Gravityloss wrote: post #49
thinkingtoilet wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classical music needs to drop all pretensions. Silly rules about conductors walking on and off stage, no clapping between movements (or sections or whatever), dress codes, etc... I'm a music lover and I go see a classical concert once every few years and it's easily the least fun concert experience (apart from the music). Also, god forbid they have someone come out and talk for 2 minutes and tell the context of the p…

I actually like those a lot. It's one of the few places where people are not shouting, there's no bright lights or loud background music. People don't use cellphones much. I assume a certain (minority) of the population likes those things. There sure are enough loud and flashy things for people to choose from.

In the Mozart biography that I'm reading, it talks about how the opera during his time was much more social: people openly chatted, played cards, and were busy catching eyes during the show. It was a seen or be seen type of social affair, or something to do to pass the time. It was the job of the composer to draw attention from that other stuff to the show and singers.

All this puffed up pomposity around opera or classical we currently deal with is much different than in the "hey-days".

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#57

Post by qzw »

I discovered TwoSet during the pandemic lockdowns and have enjoyed both their content and seeing them grow as people. It’s sad to see their YouTube channel coming to an end, but I think it has the potential to be a good move. One of their great qualities is that they seem to genuinely care about classical music as an art form, and even though they used their share of memes and gimmicks (the “feud” with Davie504, e.g.), I always thought they possessed a certain artistic integrity that’s fundamentally not a great fit with YT’s algorithmic gods. I know they’ve had taken some breaks in the past for mental health, which is smart. I hope this move is part of a pivot to a more sustainable and artistically satisfying venture.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#58

Post by xboxnolifes »

shermantanktop wrote: post #37
pclmulqdq wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that sort of shocks me about music in general is that fewer and fewer people are actively engaging with music. While more and more people start to pick up instruments, a smaller and smaller fraction of the population sticks with them (classical or otherwise), and even things like actively listening to a recording or going to a concert (again, classical or otherwise) are declining as hobbies. Music for many…

I’m in a jazz band of committed amateurs and most of the musicians are under 30. And this music is not easy to get good at. The modern era seems to have taken the previous distribution of engagement and hollowed out the middle. People now either don’t care much, or they care a LOT. Applies to music, art, cooking, and so many hobbies.

I feel like hollowing out the middle is another way of saying something had fallen out of the mainstream/popularity. So, I certainly agree.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#59

Post by vundercind »

shermantanktop wrote: post #37
pclmulqdq wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that sort of shocks me about music in general is that fewer and fewer people are actively engaging with music. While more and more people start to pick up instruments, a smaller and smaller fraction of the population sticks with them (classical or otherwise), and even things like actively listening to a recording or going to a concert (again, classical or otherwise) are declining as hobbies. Music for many…

I’m in a jazz band of committed amateurs and most of the musicians are under 30. And this music is not easy to get good at. The modern era seems to have taken the previous distribution of engagement and hollowed out the middle. People now either don’t care much, or they care a LOT. Applies to music, art, cooking, and so many hobbies.

The middle in music (and most arts) is increasingly worthless, especially as displayed in public. Has been for decades, but we're finally past "generations are shifting" and into "generations have shifted".

Nobody needs a slightly-talented pianist for family sing-alongs (or: anyone who can sing halfway on-key, for that matter, because who's singing around other people in a typical house unless it's to Disney songs on the TV?) around Christmastime or that old guy who knows some folk & sing-along pop songs tolerably well to bring his guitar to the pub or whatever. We have Spotify. Fuck, the church bells anywhere that doesn't already have a set from 50+ years ago are just speakers playing recordings now.

The only remaining value unless you are very good and also put in a lot of time to sell, is personal, and that's not enough for a lot of folks who, in decades and centuries past, would have been hobbyist musicians. The social value started declining in the early 20th century and took a nose-dive in the last half of it. The generations who even remember their grandparents clinging to those habits, and their parents half-assedly attempting to keep it up out of nostalgia but then not really doing it because nobody wanted that anymore and forgetting how to play, are now old.

That's where the middle went.

Re: TwoSet Violin 'ends chapter' after eleven years

#60

Post by throwaway19972 »

dspillett wrote: post #32
throwaway19972 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's more to art than simply producing commodities to consume.

A fair chunk of their output (that I saw) was commentary on other stuff (performers/performances/other) which is pretty much commodity content for easy consumption, not really art¹. Perhaps this is the reason for taking it down: they want to concentrate on a more commonly accepted-as-art part of the careers and not have the other content distract from that for now? If so then perhaps once they've moved far enough for…

> A fair chunk of their output (that I saw) was commentary on other stuff (performers/performances/other) which is pretty much commodity content for easy consumption, not really art¹.

In what way is this excluded from being art? These are overlapping categories.

I do get your point. However, this might be incidental to the art they want to produce rather than central to their project.

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