I need a haircut.

How's isolation doing for you guys?

Hair's getting longer.

But that's okay, more time to practice.

Today we're going to be roasting...

I mean...

What?

Reviewing, with facts and logic,

Ben Shapiro playing the violin.

Most people might know this guy as a

political commentator.

Obviously, we have no idea.

We're not a political channel.

Yeah, we don't know anything.

But also, we're the internet violin detectives.

- Yes. - So we had to...

Review some violin playing.

Alright, we need that Ling Ling insurance.

Alright, Ling Ling insurance, guys.

- Just in case. - This is just a YouTube video.

Enjoy this episode.

Alright, it says here...

- Okay... I was... - Sorry, can I just say, why is the camera angle like...

Yeah, yeah, I was like...

Violin is the solo part.

It's just hard to critique his violin playing

when we can't see his violin.

He's so early.

He's so early like...

That's how prepared he is before a debate, probably.

- Yeah. He's like... - He has all his arguments ready.

Ten seconds just waiting.

I can't want to play all my facts and logic.

It's like, dude, you have like three, four bars...

How many bars, like...

As a musician, we normally just kind of stay there.

Listen to the music and then...

Like, let's play with it, alright?

Probably come up around here.

Yeah.

Check.

Now, bow...

Yeah.

Yeah, his bow was also hanging up here.

Yeah, that's very uncomfortable.

- And it's very stiff. - It makes you tense.

Imagine that you're a pianist

and then you're just sitting here like...

Well, you're very tense...

And then see this motion we start the string.

- Yeah. - The bow kind of -

There's this paintbrush feeling. It's delayed effect.

- Yeah. - Rather than...

Dude, he's -

Can I just say, he's getting closer and closer.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.

- Not bad. - Yeah, I'll give it to him.

He's got a nice sound.

Um...

His vibrato while it's not 100% consistent...

It's just a nice tone.

- Yeah. - Ba-ah~

Yeah.

He loses sound at some points, but...

The sound doesn't disappear.

Yeah.

Can I just say, the way he ends the phrase is so abrupt.

- Yeah. Some facts. - It's just like, an argument, fact.

He's already ready for the next argument.

Next argument!

Okay.

Just being nit-picky.

You can see when he shifts up...

There was tension and the speed caused a jolt.

Which causes bow to kind of...

The sound was inconsistent.

Ah, yeah, yeah.

The shift and the bow change wasn't smooth.

The shift needed to be less tense and...

Timing, the coordination of it so it works.

And also his uh...

I'm actually kind of saying this,

in case Ben you're watching this.

You seem like a smart guy that likes playing violin,

so this is just our thoughts.

I would not neglect the...

- Oh, I was gonna say that. - The vibrato.

I think the tension started when

he put the first finger down.

- Yeah. Yeah. - With no vibrato.

So all the tension happens before the event.

- Yes. Left hand was already... - It seems like that when he first started, his left hand...

- It was already locked. - Tensed on the 1. That's so true.

And musically...

That also, if you listen to it...

Ah~ Like this, beautiful vibrato.

Ah~

Neh...

Ah~

It's like, it doesn't make sense.

No consistency.

Ooo...

- Going for a gliss. - Ben, I didn't know you were that moody.

Gliss is all subject to taste, so...

No comment there.

- Um... Yeah. - Intonation doesn't care about your feelings.

It was a bit sharp.

But maybe you like it sharp, I mean...

Maybe I'm hearing it wrong.

Ah~

Alright, I just wanna say, as a tip,

and this actually to everyone watching this...

One of the hardest things about

playing violin is the tension.

Because this is not the most natural position.

It takes time to be able to play like this without tension.

And you can kind of see...

Here.

And his bow definitely, the wrist looks tense.

The elbow looks tense.

Now, you can hear the effect of that...

- That. - Yeah.

There's just...

Inconsistencies in tones, especially when he shifts.

The shifting and bow change combination.

Yeah, when you play violin, it's easy

when you tense one hand, the other hand also tense...

- Yes. - With it.

But I think in this one both needed to be relaxed.

He's got an interesting vibrato.

- It's - Wrist-y. - It's very -

- Finger and just... - Finger, wrist, yeah.

I mean, it works for him.

But you can always vary it up.

I think you can do with more variety.

Or speed and width.

You can use your arm too.

To get a bigger sound.

Can I just say, that was funny.

It's so mechanical.

He wasn't like...

That's what I meant, the way he finishes notes.

It's just very abrupt, very dry and cut.

Usually, you might want to... Yeah.

Bit of taste.

Yeah.

Like...

You can see Eddy there, there's a bit of a breath, like...

My body - but he went...

You can even hear the...

The way it ends on the string.

Can I also say something?

Every time he shifts, most of the time,

the first finger is never vibrating.

He goes...

Rather than.

He's got tension in his first,

probably tension in the thumb and this area.

Probably also because there's no shoulder rest.

It's different for everyone.

But of course, some people use no shoulder rest.

For me, when I don't use a shoulder rest...

I tend to have to hold my violin up

with my hand a bit more.

If you don't have the technique trained for it,

it's easy to just tense up.

These aren't just arbitrary like you shouldn't tense,

like you can hear it affecting the sound.

Rhythms don't care about your feelings.

Nah, let's not.

Ling Ling insurance!

I'm actually genuinely impressed.

He's quite in tune, quite on time with a good sound.

But I think here was an example of one where...

There's two phrases that mimic each other in this shape.

Da-la-la-la-la-la~

- Da-la-la-lal-la- - Yeah, you don't -

You don't want to play it exactly the same.

Point of all those musical composers

when they repeat things in phrases...

Is to make -

Usually to tell a story, make a point or something.

It's to make a point.

For musicians, when we see that, it's an opportunity...

To show what we want to show.

- Yes. - Through music.

He has - What's that bow grip called?

Pretty much like a Russian bow grip.

- Yeah, he has that very... - Like...

I would say my biggest constructive feedback would be

to find ways to be less tense.

- That would... Solve a lot of problems. - I think that is the main thing. Yeah.

- Oh, he's vibrating the open G string! - Ooo!

Nice, I like that.

- He ran out of a bit of bow on the C though. - Ooo!

Yeah.

Oftentimes his down bow...

- There's always accent and... - Accents! I was just gonna say that.

The speed is often too fast.

So that's why on that note C, he ran out of bow.

- Probably because he's tense. - Yeah, probably because of his bow hold.

When you're tense, the lower half is like...

A dangerous place, which is why tense players...

Will often avoid the lower half

and try to get to the middle.

By the way, that was actually quite beautiful.

If I'm looking at it from just a non-musician,

- I'm quite impressed, I'm actually impressed. - I will be impressed.

I know despite saying all these things are wrong,

I'm glad that he's honest about the performance.

There wasn't any editing involved

or actually changing things to pretend

that he plays at a different level.

And this is just a self-expression of him

playing the violin.

As it should be, I think.

- This - - Which I respect a lot more than...

And I think music is more about the rawness

rather than painting a facade.

Making everyone feel like we should be that.

But music is just making music, you know.

It's always...

Da-la~ Da-la-la~

You might want a bit...

Yeah.

To keep this phrase going, despite the down bow.

- It's a bit too short, the phrases. - Da~ It's always...

Da-da-da-da-da~ Da-da-da-da~

Da-da-da-da... It's too predictable.

And again...

We're just offering our opinion.

Someone could easily look at our videos

and destroy the heck out of them.

Yeah.

So, on that note, he posted another one.

- Ooo, this has more views on instagram. - Yeah. Ooo!

- On insta - Wow! - 400k!

Meditation from Thais by Massenet.

We all know this one.

Okay. Okay.

I was gonna say, at the beginning,

Ooo, he actually did a bit of a...

- That was nice, he phrased away. Yeah. - He took time.

He knows that's the end of the phrase

and start a new one.

- Da-da~ - Da-da~

Da~

But man... Ben...

- Can't rush. - Yeah.

String crossings.

- Yeah. - They're not easy.

I think it doesn't help that his arm is all tense.

Yeah.

If you can hear that is a string crossing,

it's not a good string crossing.

Yeah, and it needs to seem seamless.

- Yeah. - There's no...

Jitter and accents of sound.

He's kind of like...

He lost the power.

Dah...

- Yeah, he does the wrong bowing. - He should sustain the -

- Oh really? - I mean, it's preferable, you'd rather go...

Yeah.

And you have more sound, the...

- Sustain to the climax. - Dah~

And that keeps moving, right?

Yeah.