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  • this makes me feel like I've walked into a western saloon at the height of a gold rush

  • His hands are reading faster than his eyes.

  • *Looks at the score*

    *Looks at Tom hands*

    Something's not quite right here :p

  • @gunnerblade Yeah, that's why I zoomed in on the score -- to show just how much he is filling it out.

  • @Keeper1st Wow cool so he is instantly sight reading and ad libbing a lot? Amazing. Btw loved this game lol.

  • @zachattack19942 Yeah. I (and others) have several videos of Tom sight-reading music (including many ragtime tunes that came from game soundtracks) and in every one, he's adding quite a bit to the music. Just enter "Brier sight-read" in the search box and you'll find more than three pages worth.

  • @Keeper1st Cool yeah there are tons your correct lol. Thank you. Franz Liszt would be very proud. I re-searched a little while back that he also had pretty much instant sight reading, even on some of the most difficult pieces too!

  • :O wtf... *-*

  • How do you record him without getting the loud explosion noises that must occur as his hands break the speed barrier?

  • Aaaaaaaajuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaa!!­! xDDDD I love this game

  • I guess 5% of all my youtube time goes to listening to tom brier, it may not sound much, but it is:)

  • Chuck Norris teached him to play the piano since he was 5 years old apparently . :P

  • what's the name of the song he play on the intro?

    P.S: congrats, pretty amazing video like always!

  • @pianistmaster1 It's not a song, but the introduction to the finale part of the William Tell Overture, often associated with galloping horses because it was used as the theme to The Lone Ranger radio series than ran for over 20 years beginning in 1933 (as well as the 1950s television series). Heigh ho, Silver! Away!

  • DAT NECKBEARD

  • He just plays this off the chords without any clue of how its supposed to sound... for the first time in this video?

  • @Onuva42 Yep -- the chords and the melody line on the page. I just told him it was a fiddle tune and, as the video starts, that the Japanese title text means "Horse Race".

  • He's playing the song so fast that his hands are faster than the key's time to react lol. It kind of looks like he's on a player piano.

  • @syco125 Heh... as a matter of fact, it is a player piano! Though of course it isn't playing a roll here.

  • absolutely incredible

  • SHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII––

  • love the old rag time feel that you have with your piano

  • Please tell me you still hang out with Tom and will put up more videos in the future! :D

  • @MyGrassIsGreenest Of course. I have quite a few of him in my queue.

  • you are incredible !!!!!

  • It's like he's one with the piano. 0.0

    What I wouldn't give to be able to play like this. Holy crud. This is virtuoso level for sure.

  • my only conclusion is that he is secretly an octopus

  • Left hand, sure, but his right hand is mad

  • Good god. Get me the president!

  • Now THIS is ragtime ha ha. Who knew Nintendo music would convert so well?

  • YEEEEE HAW!!!

  • Do you think Tom might eventually have a go at the games themselves? He seems to really enjoy the music he's given; maybe he'll be curious enough to experience first-hand where the music comes from.

    Maybe he's just too busy being the Master of Rag to have time for video games ;)

  • This video has inspired me to learn rag time.

  • Awesome! Thanks for the reply, and best wishes to you and Tom

  • I love these videos - thanks so much for sharing! If I might make a request/suggestion... I would love to hear the theme from Mario 64, that plays when you're riding down the arctic slide (it's just called 'Slide theme'), covered by Tom! I tried playing it out a bit at home over the weekend and it makes for a very nice rag tune, but I'm no great pianist.

  • @trachypithecus I made a score for that recently and gave it to Tom. He was too worn out from a weekend of playing to play it then but I would suppose he has gone through it by now. Maybe I can convince him to give it another go on camera sometime next summer.

  • OH GOD I CAME BUCKETS

  • his left arm = Super Sonic on Meth!!!!!!

  • This guy used to have a girlfriend, until he fingered her and she died.

  • I don't remember how I end up here, but thanks God I did! :D This guy is pure genius!! :D

  • By the way, if this version of the song was on Majora's Mask... I would totally not care :D

  • LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SONG!!!! YOU ARE AMAZING DUDE!!!! any chance for sheet music? :D

  • This is amazing. I LOVE THIS SONG! Any chance you could show the sheet music. I would love to be able to play this

  • That is inhuman!

  • BWAAAAAAAH! 

  • Amazing talent!

  • this guy is so incredibly skilled... epic piano playing ability, epic beard, epic talent. nuff said.

  • in Ocarina of time, when you race the dude at the ranch for Epona. this is the song that plays.

  • This guy is like the piano boss

  • Put ads on these videos and with the money buy this guy an n64.

  • You should have him play "The Final Countdown" by Europe. It would be badass.

  • Is it me or did you guys made the video a lil bit faster?

  • @d35t1201 It's you. There are two videos of this same performance -- the other one posted by "verybigrifle" who was sitting just to the left. Unless of course you think we both manipulated it. But the rebound of the keys and the decay rate of the notes would make such a thing pretty obvious. This isn't even the fastest playing by Tom that I've captured. Look for "Fastest ragtime piano yet heard by mere mortals" to see him reach 174 beats per minute.

  • See, if I did this, I would play five notes before just saying screw it and never touching that piece again.

  • whats with all the japanese?

  • @skr1p7k1dd The game originated in Japan, so I include the Japanese name for the benefit of Japanese viewers who search for it.

  • @Keeper1st Oh I thought you knew Japanese or something.

    だったらすごいな

  • @skr1p7k1dd I do, a little. I studied it for a year, but that was 21 years ago. Yes, I studied Japanese before it was cool. I just wanted to learn a language that wasn't based on Latin or Greek. You can hear me speaking it in a video called "Keeper speaking Japanese".

  • @Keeper1st "Yes, I studied Japanese before it was cool." - Jipster, Japanese hipster haha ;)

  • Is he adding the ragtime? I don't remember this song... if he's creating the ragtime feel on his own, that's pretty amazing, it would also explain why he's playing ragtime in every video, lol.

  • @Skwigelf100 He's adding pretty much everything. The sheet music, as you can see when I zoom in, is an extremely simplified score meant for beginners.

  • Damn his APM is off the charts.

  • Does Tom read music like if i were to read a book and understand completely?

  • @onlyoneskiez

    Even better. You can give him only the first letter of each word and he would make up a story.

  • does he have the same problem of not having a good ending that I do? Cause honestly when you play ragtime you don't want it to stop xD

  • If you have EVER tried learning piano, and gotten around the 5 or 6th grade of it, you can attest that Tom seens the sheets infront of him as you and I read a book. The notes are like descriptive instructions to him that he sees instantly. He sees preformed chords in his head (not actually seeing them per se) and knows the progressions using the sheet music infront as a rough guidline. HE CAN READ THE MUSIC MATRIX

  • wait... is he just now seeing the sheet music for this and already playing it like he knows the back of his hand?

  • He obviously has a piano for a cutie mark.

  • What is the name of the first song he played?

  • @xBradley5000 It's not a song, but the introduction to the finale part of the William Tell Overture, often associated with galloping horses because it was used as the theme to The Lone Ranger radio series than ran for over 20 years beginning in 1933 (as well as the 1950s television series). Heigh ho, Silver! Away!

  • @Keeper1st Ohhhh......well can you please give me a link or somthing to get the sheet music because I really wanna play that song? :D

  • @xBradley5000 Google is your friend. And it's not a song. (A song is sung. The word does not apply to all music.)

  • I think I just came in my pants.. Oh, the tunes amazing too ^^

  • You are definitely the piano god.

  • O.O I am ambidextrous and even if I could think that fast I don't think I could ever play that fast o.O you sir are incredible lol

  • LEFT HAND MADNESS!!!!

  • incredible. Nintendo fans around the world should all see this.

  • 6 people lost the race against Ingo.

  • How is this even possible. So awesome. Give that guy some goddamn kudos.

  • This is so much fun to watch, I'd sell my legs for his hands!

  • O_O!!!!

  • We need a CD with all these tunes recorded on nice quality! omg that would be awesome. That zelda track is mind-blowing. And btw Keeper1st, thanks for giving Tom the Mario World Ending sheets. That was epic,I was so waiting for this. And you guys delevered. Thousands thanks!

  • @TheMotherbrain Martin Spitznagel recorded three VGM tracks on his latest ragtime album -- Legend of Zelda Overworld Theme, variations on the Chocobo theme, and a Super Mario medley. Look up "Handful of Keys -- Face-Melting Ragtime".

  • is that on fast forward?

  • @MoustacheKitten The video, no. Tom's brain, absolutely! This isn't even the fastest that Tom has been captured playing. Do a search for "fastest ragtime piano yet heard by mere mortals".

  • This song, when played like this, makes me want to flip over a table with like 5 bad dudes around it playing cards and start shooting everything while bottle 'n' shit are exploding off the bar and everyone without a gun runs out the saloon doors while we duke it out.

  • Amazing! has he ever tried Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64?

  • HOLY SHIT those hands moved fast.... and I thought getting Epona was hard

  • This is simply superhuman. It's unimaginable.

  • like every single one of tom, absolutely astounding, incredible!

    do you know the introductory chords he's playing from 00.11 to 00.19? sounds great, would like to play it, too! :D

  • he's like "yeah i'm just going to play the song again, in 3 note measure this time like a boss" :I

    amazing man..

  • six people couldn't get Epona...

  • omfg my gut felt like it was going to bust where I laughed so hard!Tom really nailed this one!

  • I'm currently trying to learn how to play the piano. But now, after seeing this video, I can say that the piano is an extremely difficult instrument to master. 0_0

  • Would it possible to have a sheet music of it ? sound really great

  • kid, play the zelda games!

  • Basically, there are two kinds of musicians. those who sight read and those who improvise. The view of the sheet music reveals that Tom does both! He not only plays the music that is there on the page, he plays the invisible notes the composer forgot to write.

    Tom is now about 40 years old. I can't wait until he's 80 and can play twice as fast!

  • @amazing763 I still remember the first time I showed Tom an old rare piece of sheet music I had. It must have been 1992 or '93. I didn't expect him to sit down and play it at all -- let alone with embellishment!

  • Heaven forbid Tom actually get into playing with an NES, SNES, or N64. Because then it wouldn't be quite as amazing.

  • Tom Brier has a musical ear...literally; you can probably get close to his ear and listen to his brain churning out tunes.

  • how the mother fuck...

  • man children

  • im assuming that u forced the guy who didnt noe the song to play LOZ ocarina of time, right?!

  • @KawaRyuu788 No. I've never played it either. Somebody just suggested to me that the tune would work well in the hands of ragtime pianist and I agreed.

  • May I worship you like a god?

  • I'm just surprised the piano didn't catch on fire.

  • @NHVideoMediaGroup Heh! I have a series of videos from a set Tom played with two other pianists called "3 Pianos on Fire". Search that phrase and check 'em out!

  • This guy is amazing. Hats off.

  • HOLY CRAP!! UR GOOD

  • he really is like  modern day franz liszt lol... i wonder if he too could sight read the opus 10 chopin etudes :S

  • ... Un grand malade ...

    De toutes les vidéos piano @ de musiques de jeux vidéos, c'est de TRES loin le meilleur. Et il découvre les partitions :'( c'est démoralisant pour ceux qui essayent de jouer xD

  • @Moolfreetmayo you are the only one not speaking english here

  • @beseggg You complain that @Moolfreetmayo wrote in French, but I guess you did not take the trouble to read what he said. He thinks Tom is "by far the best" of those creating piano versions of video game music.

    Don't complain about French. Use Google's new ability to translate, and use your own talent at picking ideas out of inadequate English, and you'll be able to read it.

    We are fortunate that music notation is pretty much universal.

  • OMG This guy is a genius!!!

  • This is absolutely unbelievable for him to be sightreading this whole thing. Asians have nothing on him.

  • what would happen if sheet would accidentaly fall at minute 1:11 he would like have memorized what would come next or he would like suddenly stop

  • @shadowjuan2 Knowing Tom, he wouldn't stop. He'd probably just keep playing -- improvising something off the top of his head if he hadn't yet memorized the tune by that point. I once gave him a composition in progress, which had only two measures written in the final strain. He just ran with that motif and completed the piece off the top of his head!

  • 1:59 PRAVA STVAR

  • @Makenor13 The full title of the games are given in the description, in both English and Japanese. But as this tune appears in two Legend of Zelda games, I used just "Legend of Zelda" for the video title.

  • @Keeper1st Yes, I was only saying that Ocarina of Time is the best ;-)!!

  • @Fynch101 Then I guess the other video of this same performance, posted by "verybigrifle", was too? Nonsense. The rate of the keys returning up makes a sped-up video truly obvious -- not to mention the rate of decay of the notes even IF you pitch-correct. Try it. Can't be done. There are other videos of Tom playing other tunes at a tempo like this -- posted by various people. It should be no surprise.

  • he is playing so fast that when he presses the keys down, they don't have enough time to go all the way back up before he plays another chord...

  • UGUUUU~

  • I have the exact same sheet music! But what this guy does with it blows my mind!

  • I believe your BAC(Blood-Awesome-Content) is over the legal limit to be playing an instrument. You are required by law to take a Breathalyzer test, and if suspected of a violation, you will have to have a blood test taken, then legal action will be taken if necessary. This could include suspension of your playing license for up to six months as well as up to one month in jail.

  • Good lord... it's like loading a new roll into a player piano, lol. This guy is incredible, never seen a sight-reader like that!

  • Echt genial :D

    Hätte nicht gedacht das du so schnell spielen kannst Oo

  • That piano must be cooled by Liquid Nitrogen....

  • If I could play this well I would play Piano non stop all day

  • @MoMember88 That's what it takes to get that good! Kind of a catch-22 isn't it?

  • wimp.com broght me here! sweet piano skills!

  • Nice.;)

  • Wow that is hardcore! Nice.

  • haha! very funny listening to! :D

  • Can he play the songs of the movie "The Legend of 1900"? Like "The Crave", or "Magic Waltz", or "Ninetheen Hundred's Madness"?

  • @Makenor13 Don't know the last two, but The Crave is a fairly popular tune by Jelly Roll Morton. It's more something you'd expect from other pianists you can see on my channel, such as Will Perkins or Max Keenlyside. Can't say I have any video of either of them playing it, but who knows -- maybe someday.

  • @Keeper1st Maybe you don't know the last two because you never saw The Legend of 1900...

  • @Keeper1st

    Or perhaps Jelly Roll's Fingerbuster? 

  • @DrStrangefate I do have an old video of Stephanie Trick playing that, and there's a much better quality that has been posted by someone else since. A search will find both.

  • @Keeper1st

    Ah yeah I saw Stephanie's video. There WAS one of Dick Hyman playing it but it has since vanished. Thankfully I have it in mp3 format still.

  • WOW *_*

  • For some reason I always start smiling when I see this vid. :D

  • @z0MfGWTF Me too xD

  • RWJ Someone?

  • Excellent sight reading :D

  • Incredible. 

  • He may have never seen the sheet music before bbut even I have heard the actual music before.

  • @DreddDwarf You must be a gamer. Even I hadn't heard the music before someone suggested it, and I'm reasonably aware of modern games.

  • @Keeper1st

    I wasn't aware thet it was from the Zelda games (teach me to read the whole description) as I've never played them so i must have heard it elsewhere.

    If you have never heard it before then your performance is more impressive than at first watching.

  • @DreddDwarf I'm not the one playing; I'm the one with the camera!

  • wow, im blown away!!!....

  • all the talent is coming from that fantastic beard, dont ever shave that thing!

  • wow that is awesome talent

  • wow amazing what practice can do

  • Bet he knows all the fake books by heart.

  • I think I was skeptical at first because I read it as "Man has never seen sheet music before" - not just THIS sheet music, haha. Now that I've cleared that up with myself, this is amazing! and completely possible :)

  • This is why you dont make fun of nerds lol. If there was a party, and a piano, this guy would get all the attention alll night.

  • wow

  • While there is no questioning that this guy is awesome, rag time pieces are fairly standard and someone being able to do this isn't particularly rare at all.

  • no time to shave, gotta play :) no seriously, amazing stuff!

  • I don't think "sight read" really does justice to what people of this playing level can do.

  • @FlyingSchwa Honestly, I only point out that these videos are sight-reads as a disclaimer against the mistakes -- not really as a means to impress anyone, though of course Tom is quite impressive!

  • I could finger bang bitches like a mother fucker.

  • that is one BITCHIN' sounding piano!! Somebody sample that, please!

  • Whaat a total pro

  • skills