Musicians Dying Inside (Try Not to Cringe)

your shoulder rest dropping not one, not two, but THREE TIMES in performance really gives you the moment of dying inside

Props to the pianist on the first one. He just improvised on the spot, and tried not to make it any more awkward for the poor girl. I could tell he practiced.
Edit: Wow! Thanks for the 3k likes guys!

The pianist with the memory slip was more of a win than a fail, the fact that he was able to recover and finish the piece without giving up or freezing is really great. Kid's gonna go far in life.

For the boy at 5:30, it was probably the camera's flash that set him off. When you're performing and really nervous, even the tiniest of things can distract you. That's why most concert venues ban flash photography.

I’m impressed with how Eddie can just sit there peacefully with the leaf in his ear…! 🍃 🌱 🪴🤣🤣🤣

Fun story: I recently went to Hilary Hahn's concert in Spain. They were playing Sibelius. Towards the end of the first movement, when the orchestra was playing a very powerful part, the conductor BROKE his baton! And he had a spare baton too, which he grabbed immediately, while like the whole theatre burst into laughing

5:44 I’m pretty sure a big part of the memory slip was the camera flash, which had to have been very distracting. The slip came almost immediately after the flash (maybe 2 seconds at most). Which is why people should never take photos with flash at recitals or concerts unless the performers are prepared for it and explicitly OK with it.

Confession time:
I was on keys for a band, responsible for opening the introduction for a song.
For unknown reasons during stage performance, I started in the wrong key (1 semitone up) and didn't realize until a few bars after the singer had started singing.
The rest of the band was going to come in after Verse1.
I had to make a split decision to decide if I should keep going or change back down, but I was sitting at an angle where I couldn't look at my bandmates to check if they noticed.
I decided to sacrifice the singer so that we wouldn't hit a massive disaster.
Switched down a semi-tone at the end of a bar.
Singer was thrown off, did a warbly note trying to find her footing.
The rest of the performance was saved.
Singer is STILL MAD AT ME to this day.
Entirely my fault.

The first pianist really said _the show must go on_ and then gave her a cue to come back in

Eddy used to lean against the wall. But now he's trying to lean against a palm tree, huh?

For the little boy, I would argue that his recovery ability (because I probably would have given up and left in tears) is an indication of talent! Resiliency is important too

I, too, rocked out too hard on the cello practicing the Shostakovich and snapped my bow in half once. That concerto needs to come with a warning label.

3:35 I mean...dude...he dropped the baton, kept conducting without it, reached down to get the spare while conducting with his LEFT hand, then resumed conducting with the spare AND NEVER LOST THE BEAT OR STOPPED CONDUCTING ONCE. There is no point, as a musician, where I'd not have something to keep me in time. What a talent Leonard Bernstein was.

Memory slip story:
I'm a vocalist and I was asked to do a number at my churches Christmas program this past year. Long story short, I memorized the piece fully 2 days before the performance (as one does). I had sung/spoken the lyrics all day and had it absolutely down. Come that evening, I sing the song. First verse, wonderful, perfection. Second verse, pretty decent. Third verse, it was gone. I got to the verse and I just blanked. So, I literally made 75% of the verse up until the final line (when I finally remembered what I was supposed to sing). I think I told all of 5 people I made it up. But no one otherwise questioned it.
Moral of the story: be confident when making a mistake. The majority of people won't notice/question it. Act like you're enjoying yourself even though you're pretty much dying inside your head. You got this

7:32 I just love how Eddy is constantly being attacked by a plant, but still continues talking like nothing happened

I’m a flute player and the night before the biggest audition of my life my cork popped out of the head joint. If your a flute player you will probably be just as shocked as I was because I never have even herd of this and nobody could fix it in time 😭

Always love how empathetic they are--offering encouragement & explanations as they go.

As a trombonist, that was an alto trombone. He most likely plays tenor a lot, and so thought 7th was a but further than it really was. I can confirm though, trombonists are centimeters from disaster. Always.
Edit: I wish to share a small anecdote. I was playing bass trombone in the collegiate band and had to go for a low C in 7th position with the thumb trigger (my second trigger broke DURING THE CONCERT). As I went for the low C, my slide came clean off and launched across the stage, ending about 2 rows up from me. The bassoonist in front of me grabbed it, handed it back to me, and I finished the concert. Worst performance of my life. 🤦‍♂️

When I was taking conducting in college, one of my professors favorite lines was, "You're not Bernstein so you are not allowed to look like you are flying away." He played under Bernstein several times and apparently the man would often wave wildly in certain sections, so I would not be surprised if he had 5 or 6 extra batons in his podium.

I was the only percussionist at the concert, so playing Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh ride" required me to play what is normally played by three or more percussionists. The very last few measures required sleigh bells, temple blocks, and slapstick at the same time. I managed to painfully pinch a finger in the slapstick.
When I came back with ice on my finger, I got an applause.

The conductor who accidentally launched his baton sent me back to high school. My band director was so emphatic during our Halloween concert that he launched his baton weight-first right at one of the second clarinets. It hit him during a rest, right between the eyes, with an audible THOCK. It took everything we all had to not lose it and keep going with the song.
(And of course, he apologized later!)

The kid on the piano who messed up broke my heart, poor kid! But I'm glad he finally got back into it. As a pianist who sometimes performs in front of people, it hurts seeing people mess up, get flustered and sometimes they never get back into the music because they feel embarrassed. :(

At a halftime show back in HS (long time ago, far, far away, lol) we had sleeves over our slides with the schools letters. As I was going for a ( really sweet) glissando, it slipped out of my fingers. Of course, being winter in the snow belt, there was a nice headwind. That sucker glided from the 10 yard line past the 40 on the opposite end. 50 yards.
At the end of the season, the football team gave me an award for longest pass of the season

8:20 it sounded like a string snapped.. worst feeling ever as a guitarist 😰 it scares you too

The first one... She took like a champ. And the accompanist was very kind. Imagine if it was a complete silence, it would be soooo awkward

At 7:08, the guy is actually playing an alto trombone, so the slide is shorter and positions closer, it's way easier to go too far than with a regular trombone. Though you guys are right, when playing the farthest positions, trombone players ARE only a few centimeters form a disaster haha.

Once my E string started loosening so I had to play higher and higher just on that 1 string... another time I was playing in an orchestra and a marching band were rehearsing behind the stage - half the orchestra followed their beat and half followed the conductor. And then there was the time I turned up to play and opened my case to find I'd forgotten my violin 🤦‍♀

7:38 the plant 🌱! 🤣

“Trombones are just 2 centimeters away from disaster” is a quote i now live by.

I felt the one with the little boy so hard. I struggled with severe performance anxiety when it comes to piano for a long time because I had that exact thing happen to me. I forgot my piece that I always knew so well completely and couldn't find a way back into it. So I just stood up, bowed and walked back to my seat crying 😥 The worst part was that it had been my first concert in years and after that for a very long time I wasn't able to play in front of everyone and was very self conscious. I'm still not super comfortable with playing in front of people but I did find my joy in playing piano again, improved immensely and practice a lot more regularly than in the past and try to push myself to play in front of people whenever I see a piano somewhere. It seriously helped. So for anyone struggling with a performance trauma: just keep pushing, find supportive teachers and built up your self esteem again. I believe in you ❤️

Kudos to both TwoSet men for their compassion. Everyone, no matter what they do in life, makes mistakes sometimes, and what's needed is to get back on the horse. Having others commiserate and be gentle is the best balm for embarrassment and shock.

6:12 that title actually annoys the hell outta me, everyone slips up like that but this dude managed to recover from forgetting a part of the music

can I just say I’ve been watching twoset for years and it still excites me when they bring back the old series!! :)

I can relate to the memory slip boy, once I played Für Elise and I had a really bad memory slip and I turned around and looked at my mum. Fistly everyone knows this piece. And secondly mu mum was my piano teacher. EmoTiOnaL DaMagE

As a kid I was forced to sing in the school choir. He were singing at the opening of the new trainstation. It was our first appearance outside of school and some local politicians and other somewhat important people were there. The issue was that we only prepared the first verse and the refrain of the song and never got the text of the second verse as we thought we would only be singing that. But the other musicians who accompanied us with instruments thought we would be doing the entire song. It is worth mentioning that we prepared by our selves and those other musicians did as well as their schedule and our schedule from our school clashed and again, we were school kids who had their first real appearance. So when we finished singing what we had prepared and they kept on playing most of us awkwardly froze up, while some looked like they were about to run away and only very few kind of recovered by at least singing the refrain again. It likely was the worst appearance of a choir ever and we never had an appearance after that again.

8:52 bow drop!! The violinists version of a mic drop!!

I can relate to the boy forgetting his music. This happened to me even when I practiced the song, I even practiced it that morning. My mind just went blank and I made up some of the song. I acted as if I hadn't made a mistake. Moral of the story, act natural when making mistakes.

I genuinely think the audience claps as a message to the performer that its alright dont worry. its the only way they can communicate apart from coughing. remember most of us our biggest form of anxiety [ musicians or otherwise] is to mess up on a stage so the audience clap during a mess up is to put the performer at ease. like its okay bro you got this dont worry about it.

The worst experience I had, was once during a piano recital I was playing a long piece and when I was turning the page all my sheets fell off the piano and I had to get down to collect them, but they got disarranged so I spent 5 minutes trying to find the last pages and get them in order so I could finish the piece while the audience sat in complete silence.

This reminds me of the time our orchestra was preparing for a performance, and my friend walked up to me, cello in one hand and *holding his fingerboard in his other hand.* It had actually just popped off of the cello. He was first cello, and had a solo during the piece. Our director managed to get him a backup cello (don't ask me from where-- I just blame it on the magic of directors) and he was able to perform, but I heard from him later that the pegs were loose and he kept having to adjust his fingering throughout his performance to account for the cello progressively becoming more and more out of tune. Yikes.

The accompanist for the first one deserves a medal!

I’m a clarinetist and my stand partner dropped their clarinet in a concert and it fell in pieces.

9:35 Brett explains he always caught his bow. But that reminds me of the blooper section of their video of How Violin Techniques Were Invented... 😅😆

3:45 Bernstein being Bernstein: A legend 😂

I feel so bad for the kid at 5:30. I had the same thing happen to me when I was 12ish? At a recital where my piano teacher was trying to showcase her best students. I couldn't remember past the first two lines, sat there in silence for a few moments, then said "I don't remember" and walked back to my seat. It was so awkward and I was crying as I sat down.

I just love how the audience were chill with it in the first one:) musicians do love a good audience

Looks like that trombone around 7:00 minutes in was an alto trombone- much smaller slide. Very easy to accidentally go too far and pull the slide off.
During a particularly sloppy and sacrilegious rehearsal in university orchestra one day, where the string section was out of tune and had many wrong notes, the violins still ended the piece with a big bow flourish which kind of pissed me off as my section has worked hard to sound really good for that day. I then finished a trombone section of the piece by mockingly removing my Alto trombone slide in the same flourish. Made a few strong enemies that day, but the rest of the Orchestra got a good chuckle out of it

8:25 That was his foot stool folding flat or breaking. His guitar is fine.

That classical guitar oops brought back a memory.
When I was in college (music composition major) I took classical guitar as my performance class, and during the end of semester recital the stool I was sitting on snapped. I heard it, I felt it, and the seat became very unstable, but it didn't collapse. If you thought playing in front of an audience that was only there to judge you and assign you a grade for the entire semester was stressful, try doing it while fully expecting to fall at any given moment.

I honestly thought I was the only person who's had a slide fall off a trombone during a concert! I was about 10 years old, and it was an outdoor concert. My slide fell off and clanked around on the pavement, ending up underneath the chair in front of me! It was traumatizing. I gave up playing trombone after that. But I think that happened for a reason, because later I discovered that guitar and piano are the instruments I love the most. Fifty years later I still enjoy practicing 40 hours a day on each of them.

Memory slips. If the audience don't know how the piece goes and you continue playing improvising, nobody would be the wiser.

One of my band's first gigs: I regularly bring 3 guitars (usually two Super Strats and a Les Paul for various songs) and the second song of our set was I Love Rock & Roll (Joan Jett). First song went perfectly, then on the first riff of the song, I snapped my low E string on a blues bend. Restart the song with my backup Strat. Snap the A string on the first chord. Start with my Les Paul. A string snaps again. I ran out and drove to Guitar Center to buy more strings while the band played without me for the rest of our first set. The rest of the night went smoothly now that I had fresh strings :B

6:00 I think it was the idiot taking pictures with flash that messed him up.

I don't like flash photography at young kid's concerts. It's really easy to throw them off, no one practices with a ton of flash going off behind them. Watch right before he forgets someone hits a really bright flash.

I've never been critical when somebody has some issue. The only people who never have a problem are the ones who never do anything. Be fearless. Do something. If a problem happens, fix it and move on.

3:15 people in restaurants applaud when the waiter drops a tray full of dishes. you can't let opportunities like that pass unappreciated; that would be rude. applause is only good protocol.

Respect to the musicians who continue to perform…
I’d probably run off stage and cry 🥲

7:21 that's also an alto trombone, which is a lot smaller than a tenor trombone, so it's super easy for those new to alto to have their muscle memory throw the slide completely off

Memory slip story: I’m a vocalist and a couple of days ago I literally had a memory slip on EVERY SONG in my barrier jury (5/5) and somehow still passed. Sometimes muscles forget 🥲 especially when you’re a singer and wake up with a sore throat hours before your performance 💀 it really is about recovery. One song I mixed up the last part of the verses and switched them, one I just repeated the same thing in the wrong and right place because I forgot it the first time and sang it right the second, one I literally sang a non existent word that made me forget the rest of the phrase so I elongated the notes till I remembered, one I sang the wrong note at a climax, and one I came in late after a rest because I forgot my cue (clearly I was NERVOUS) … but it’s about confidence and recovery; not always perfection!

I love how Eddy blinks repeatedly at 5:38 when the kid gets a bit delayed in his playing. It's fun to see how people have different kinds of unconscious physical reactions to things like that. I know I tend to frown and tilt my head.

3:40 CLEARLY not the first time that happened to him if he had another baton

For the guitarist, the leg rest collapsed. It's a little foldable stool to put your left leg on, as you have to keep the guitar at an angle, not horizontally like in a pop song.

My very last concert as a clarinetist was a hella cringe moment.
It was one of those “pass a solo around” kind of pieces where each solo was like a measure long. We’d gone on tour around our state doing concerts for other colleges, and our last concert was at our college. Up until this moment, I’d nailed every single one of my mini solos… but this last one on my home stage… I messed it up so unbelievably badly that I basically sat down and didn’t play the rest of the piece.
It was at that moment that I knew it was time to retire. After 10 years on the clarinet, that was it. I was done. But hey, there’s a happy ending: I had choir, and I loved that so much more than I ever loved band.
Every now and then, though, I find myself fingering along to songs I listen to on the radio or on KRplus. Maybe one day I’ll pick up a clarinet again… maybe…

On the first clip with the shoulder rest debacle... that accompanist deserves wholesale respect! He didn't just fill, he started improvising, but when the time came, wrapped it up all snug when she was ready to start playing. So clean!

Every friday I rush home after work and lock myself in the bathroom so I can watch the new video without screaming kids and husband. Best ending of the day when a new video is uploaded. Thanks TwoSet!

Bernstein is such a pro he knows to have an extra baton on hand for just such an instance ☺

The conductor picking up a new baton I empathize with so much. I play drum set and we have to have a pocket of extras sticks next to us because of how much we chuck them or drop them or get too fancy with stick tricks.

Saved watching this video for a rainy day. Thanks Twoset! You guys never fail to make my day brighter 🥰

"it happens to everyone. and then, you went through it. that's exactly what we should do. it makes you a better musician~"
Thank you Brett

Hello, great to see any amazing series back again

Thank you so much Brett, Eddy, and Editor-San, you inspired me to learn some more classical piano pieces. I used to learn classical piano from a very... traditional teacher, and she taught me for 10 or so years and eventually put me off classical piano. I kept playing, I just didn't have a teacher and learned more modern songs such as Elton John. Then I got into Jazz and practised everyday for at least 40 hours most of the time (still striving to be Ling-Ling). I was introduced to your channel a couple weeks ago by the youtube algorithm and have watched most of your videos, because of this I am now beginning to learn more classical songs like Claire De Lune, and I remember how much I enjoy playing piano. Especially Debussy ;). All jokes aside thank you so much for inspiring me to learn classical piano again. :)

I really felt that one with the piano boy who had the memory slip… brings back some childhood recital memories 🥲

Man, I love that trumpet doesn't need a shoulder rest, and tuning takes us three seconds because we just move a slide.

That accompanist is an absolute champ. I hope he gets all the good gigs.

3:52 yeet

5:40 this unlocked a forgotten memory from about 8-9 years back. this exactly happened to me but I managed to play it whole. My parents were very disappointed. I feel him.

4:19 love the moment of silence for the violin 🎻 😪😵

i was rosining my bow the other day and then suddenly when I got to the tip, the bow wood literally snapped.. It was traumatizing and now I can’t practice until I get to a luthier.. I’ve never seen situations like this and am sending help D:

I like how you two are positive / humble and normalize mistakes or just encourage other musicians and potential musicians in your videos

I remember I was reciting a 21 stanza poem I'd written for a reunion, and I completely blanked for what felt like minutes (but was probably about 20 seconds), sweating and thinking "No, no no! How can I not remember my *own work*?" I'm pausing after the pianist to congratulate his firm will for not giving up and finally finding success. Well done, bravo!

I'm not sure if cringe apply, what I know is that I felt bad for all of them (With the exception of Bernstein being a boss, lol). 100% agree with Brett, accidents and memory slips happens even to the best musicians and to be able to recover from that moment is what truly matters. (I hope the instruments that needed it were able to be repaired). P.S: from my experience I would say that the guitar is ok, if anything the support was the only affected and can be easily replaced if needed.

5:43 it's that camera flash that makes the boy get more nervous and uncomfortable which makes him get a memory slip
Edit: ALSO PLS AMONG US CLASSICAL MUSIC EDITION AGAIN ITS SO COOL

You know when you haven't watched someone in 5 months but 1 second after seeing their faces a smile blossoms on your face! Keep up the great content and work!

The boy who had the "memory slip", I felt that. I learned how to play piano but not in a music school but had one on one lessons with a piano teacher. At the end of every semester there would be a concert where everyone who had those lessons would play a piece. I never liked public performances but once, the moment I sat down in front of the piano my head went blank and I forgot the whole piece even though I just rehearsed it. I started playing from muscle memory but it only took me to one point and I couldn't go any further so I stood up and went back to my seat. I was so embarrassed and mad at myself.

4:57 That happened to me in middle school during music class!! We were practicing and then all of a sudden my bow just fell apart. My music teacher just had a look of pain on his face. Being new to violin and using school instruments, I didn't exactly know just HOW expensive bows were and looking back now, I can understand the pain on his face and I can't help but cringe at the memory now

8:31 yeah as a cellist that generally happens to me at least once a week, where I just don't tighten the screw on the endpin nearly as much as I need to and then my cello starts sliding downward awkwardly in the middle of me playing it. Luckily, it never happens very fast and is very easy to fix, but it is still incredibly annoying.

at 3:22 it reminded me of a situation in school. so we have this cafeteria with stairs down the middle and tables around it, so sometimes you wanted to pull a chair back to sit on it but pull it back at an angle and it would fall down the stairs. everyone would start clapping. also when you get lunch and drop the tray. it became kind of a ritual(?) to clap whenever something falls. always very embarassing.

5:40 I've had this happen to me during adjudications - I was playing the first of two pieces, and right dead in the middle of the first piece I completely blanked and couldn't recover. One of the adjudicators came over with the music and I instantly knew where I was after the barest glance, but I was so angry with myself for forgetting that I refused to look at the music for the rest of my time. One of the worst feelings I've ever had when it comes to playing.

lol... there was a kid during one of my piano recitals who screwed up like that, then said, "Sorry I got to start from the beginning." and proceeded to start from the very beginning. He messed up, but then owned the moment.

5:32 Ah yes this reminds me of my first piano recital, first piece went fine but the second piece was a lot longer so I had a bit of trouble. Completely forgot what came next so I just repeated the entire thing from the top hoping that muscle memory would fix the lapse. Thankfully it worked out :)

I think Leonard Bernstein used to break batons in rehearsals quite a bit and that’s why he had a spare. Used to snap them when people weren’t paying attention 😂

8:20 i think one of his strings snapped, from experience it doesn't really hurt the guitar but if it snaps back and hits you finger it hurts like nobody's business

I had a memory slip during a college audition. I had the first verse down, the chorus was great, and then nothing for the second verse. Kept going on "la" for the melody until the pianist through up a lyric and I got back on track.
Still got in and graduated from there two weeks ago.

I could never financially recover from a drop this hard 4:07

Oh how I love this series!

Funny story.
This one is not related to me playing my violin, but me acting! When I was doing my GCSE Drama performance in front of the moderator, before I went on stage I forgot my line, and remembered it literally 5 seconds before I went on stage! The closest call of my life 😅

The second trombone clip probably happened because he was on an alto trombone and went for a tenor trombone position. It’s always surprising how short an alto is compared to a tenor, and an alto is usually a doubling instrument and not someones primary. That has happened to me just messing around at home, but never in a performance.

Your brain really can tell the difference between deliberate and helpless laughter

You guys are so likeable! Please continue to make videos, because you are sure to become as famous as Siskel and Ebert (but luckier).

00:22 I feel for that first girl. I used a sponge and elastic band, it was such a pain in the neck! 😂😂
Have any of you heard of the skit "Weird Al Gets Whiplashed"? It's such a close vibe to this skits on this channel.