Added: 4 years ago
From: mayhnaus
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  • Watching this video gives you yogic powers!

  • I hear 3/4 anyone agree?

  • @DanSemotan It is an off beat. 1,,,2,3,4

  • Amazing! To perform Reich on your own is always impressive.

  • ESO LO HAGO YO!

  • ...non ritengo musica questo tipo di applicazioni ..è piuttosto una godereccia illusione di pensare che ciò che non si suona ..sia musica di per se..drammatico davvero...

  • Wow. You're talented :P

  • Okay, to everybody else who reads my first comment, let me be clear:

    I was too judgmental with my first statement. This is art, it is music, I recognize that now. I have not gone to uni, and I do not come from a cultural or musical background that gives me a basis for appreciating this piece as anything more than a really neat trick. But it is more than a neat trick. It is frickin' genius before our very eyes, okay?

    Now, please resume commenting on the video, and not on my comment.

  • Is he shizophren?

  • Comment removed

  • @sendit2brian I don't think you can really judge based only on this video, which is an edited, short version, basically IT IS just a demonstration, but the full audio recording of this tremendous performance do exist (check link in description for free download), and by listening it, you can very well enjoy the act of expression. Though the form, chosen by Reich, can't suit every listener, definitely. But I can't agree that this performance have no artistry in it at all.

  • @mayhnaus Point well taken. I did overstate my criticism, which measures the performance by a standard it was not designed to meet. As you noted, the piece is easier to digest in it's full length. It is an amazing exploration of a single musical phrase. Just not the sort of piece that I can "understand" as communication, or that induces an emotive connection for me. But that is a personal judgement that may only be a product of my cultural conditioning (as @scsteeledrums pointed out).

  • @mayhnaus I totally agree with you. Somehow, contemporary classical music was looking at a new sound, a new color, which is why this is a real piece of art and an INCREDIBLY hard song to play. I doubt it was really meant to be enjoyed, but art in some way, is about traveling an emotion, a reaction. The simple fact of hating this song or thinking it's bad, is, in fact, a reaction that some artists are really looking forward to hear from us.

  • @sendit2brian I would disagree. It's like examining a patch of your own back garden, and finding millions of species unknown to science. Simply by taking one melody and juxtaposing it with itself, multiple rhythms and melodies and ideas are born. What demonstrates Reich's artistic ability is the fact he doesn't try to make these motifs what they're not - he just lets them stand, and lets the brain discover them for itself.

  • @EdwardWouldNot Thank you for pointing this out. I am, of course, more accustomed to musical pieces that take more of a macro-view (much more movement, exploring the whole garden). The thought of a musical microscope that examines the beauty within the tiniest phrases -- that is an excellent analogy for this. The piece still holds as little meaning for me as the view through a microscope would, but I can appreciate that such is my own limitation, and not the fault of the performance.

  • @sendit2brian Take a more eastern listen when judging this kind of art and you will see it (if you want to).

  • @scsteeldrums Good point. I am certainly hardwired with a western musical perspective. I'm not sure I could ever set it aside completely enough to truly "enjoy" a piece of this nature. But I can appreciate that the performance was not intended to fulfill western ideals of musical expression. The piece is much more meditative than emotional in nature. Even Peter Aidu himself seems disconnected from the present while he plays. And that is a very eastern quality.

  • @sendit2brian you're very wrong. Maybe with some visual art to accompany the piece it would have a stronger impact on the listener, but this piece IS music whether you like it or not. It's fine if it's not your taste, but don't discredit the artistry. You're also saying then by this point that something like 12-tone music isn't art, just math, just because the typical Western listener wouldn't find it attractive? No. Respectfully, you are completely wrong.

  • @JaymesAudio -- Clearly you didn't read my other comments, in which I altered my position on this issue. But I still defend my first comment on one point: Art is communication. The artist is trying to express something, and the audience is trying to understand something. If there is no audience to appreciate it, then it fails to be art. This piece has an audience, but I am not that audience. I don't understand this piece artistically. So for me the art fails, though it is still art.

  • @sendit2brian I like the way it sounds, what more do I need than that?

  • @sendit2brian then you need to go to uni and learn a bit more about what music is and critical analysis

  • @njapostol Okay, to everybody else who reads my first comment, let me be clear:

    I was too judgmental with my first statement. This is art, it is music, I recognize that now. I have not gone to uni, and I do not come from a cultural or musical background that gives me a basis for appreciating this piece as anything more than a really neat trick. But it is more than a neat trick. It is frickin' genius before our very eyes, okay?

    Now, please resume commenting on the video, and not on my comment.

  • @sendit2brian lol ok sorry man. if it makes you feel any better it took me a while of learning about experimental music before i became so opinionated. the good thing is that you're on this video learning and critiquing work that most people haven't heard of yet. :)

  • @sendit2brian Some listeners are too stupid to find anything to contemplate or examine any music, be it the St. John Passion, the Military Polonaise, Hey Jude, or Nothin But a G Thang. That doesn't say anything about the music itself. Thanks for the worthless comment.

  • @schmetterlink -- If I were you, I would consider reading a little bit further down the page before I comment to someone about how stupid and worthless. Thoughtful comments from others have convinced me of the error in my first statement (in part by explaining this piece to me and pointing me toward the full recording). And I have admitted my error several times.

    Thankfully very few have resorted to the venomous drivel I just received from you, or else I may not have listened.

  • You can get so old as you like or are allowed to - sometimes there is a big surprise that is amazing you. Thank you Mr. Aidu for this great performance. Thanks mayhnaus for posting it.

  • Mostruosamente bravo!!!! Ai limiti dell'umano!!!

  • I applauded to my computer, alone in my room when this ended.

  • this is experimental muisc, so it is not really music, yet.

  • @justinneversleep It shakes your comprehension, huh? This is beyond music.

  • @TerrierBram i think it's my comment that is beyond your comprehension. to be honest, nowadays the music industry is filled with "money"-music--those that appeal the general public, which accepts music that are easier to listen to, and that will be pop music. general classical music, however, can be understood by much less people. but if you wanna talk about experimental music like the one in this video, there is only really few people who can understand it.

  • @justinneversleep I really don't know what you are talking about, and it has nothing to do with this piece. One calls it minimalistic. I call it Steve Reich. The fact you call it experimental reveals the fact that you aren't on this level. I suggest to hold your high horses a bit. It is embarrassing. The fact the guy doesn't wear a white wick doesn't mean it is experimental. This is Steve Reich, you dig?

  • @TerrierBram wooo, this is steven reich, so what. things with label appeal to you guys that much? i call it experimental music, and someone else comes up a fancy name of minimalistic music, and all the sudden you guys go all crazy for it. i bet you if mr. reich farts you can also call it the music of nature. stop following others and i beg your pardon certainly im not on this level of stupidity.

  • @justinneversleep I didn't mean stupidity ... you use that word. Steven Reich isn't just a label, it points to important work in the development of music. I place Music for 18 Musicians near Die Kunst der Fuge. The style is totally different than contrapunctus, but similar, because Reich uses this shifting in phases often.

  • @TerrierBram many music nowadays have gone too extreme.so they are unpractical,please tell me who normally would listen to stuff like this.i myself went to many of those concerts as i have said,and i can tell you,no audience liked this type of innovative music. as for people like you who seem to argue for the meaning of those music,i have also seen some. all i can say is,i pity you guys.so far so clear,im done with talking with newbie like you. do whatever you want with this stupid contrapunctus

  • @justinneversleep My dear, Die Kunst der Fuge, is a contrapunctus masterpiece of J.S. Bach. In fact it is the masterpiece of music out of the masterpieces ever. If I didn't proof my claims towards your comprehension and knowledge of music ... I do reveal you now as some body who is embarrassing, and mainly yourself.

  • @justinneversleep while i recognize that you're "straight trollin," I feel compelled to inform you that the view of music having to be practical, functional or utilitarian to be effective is disconcerting at least, and I would say it's borderline fascist. I'm going to write you off the same way I wrote off an ex-girlfriend when she told me that "music is only good if it helps me during working out."

  • @TerrierBram and my point is, no one really enjoy those experimental music. for those who pursue it, they are the people who want to come up with something new, and a lot time those work are very unsuccessful. if anyone claims that he enjoys experimental music, i ensure you that he is lunatic. I have seen many contemporary performances, this one here is actually not among the worst. many people here are just fooled by this repeated notes being played on two pianos...its experiment, not music.

  • @justinneversleep The fact that you don't know Steve Reich and call it experimental because it doesn't fit in your frame of comprehension or taste is far from a clear and intelligent view on this music. Steve Reich has written Music for 18 Musicians. Nobody dears to call that one experimental or even not music at all. In Dutch we say that hollow vats sound loud.

  • @TerrierBram notice how i never assumed what kind of person you are but you have been assuming things like i don't know steve reich. and im glad that im the first one that you know who calls this experimental music :) im sure if you know more musicians you will realize how unpractical music like this is. and in english we say fuck off to people like you, but im nice, i just want to point out that all i said was my own opinion nor did i ever trash talked about reich.

  • @justinneversleep Unpractical music? Since when is music practical? Should it ever bin practical? I guess you better stop to speak out loud about your profound misunderstanding of music in general, so much becomes clear so far.

  • this guy is clearly the first graduate of professor X's school of minimal classical musicians.

  • :|

  • It is a good idea but can you please play some music!!!

  • Hypnotic and sedative...

  • Amazing and unbelievable!

  • I guess i couldn't even play that stuff with one hand on one piano .. respect dude!

  • Genious.

  • unbelievable, almost...

  • this is so awesome...

  • Shit!!! It would have been easier with some multiple delays!! ;-)

  • Ooh putain !

  • i want 2 pianos :D

  • Le lot quotidien du "Batteur" .. au piano c'est autre chose

    résonance, décalages, tout y est : vraiment très bien !! !

  • The two pianos seem out of phase, but impressive nonetheless!

  • @HitfulVids Ahaaaa...

  • @HitfulVids That's the whole point

  • @HitfulVids Jesus christ that's the point asshole

  • @bboy46239 How can you be sure, bitch? It's just called "Piano Phase" not "Piano Out of Phase," dogfucker.

  • @bboy46239 Jesus christ it's a joke asshole.

  • @HitfulVids It should be out of phase because Reich used phasing technique in this piece. In the beginning two pianos are played synchronously but slowly become out of phase until it has gone full circle.

  • @HitfulVids Its minimalism, part of the composing technique is for the different voices to phase away from each other.

  • @HitfulVids This out of phase effect is a meant effect by the composer. Steve Reich did something similar with tape recorders.

  • holy fuckballs

  • wow, that's insanely difficult.

  • wowowowow I am impressed!!

  • trippin' ftw

    

  • playing 1 piano is a talent

  • Awesome shyte!

  • Technically any well trained pianist can do this, i would be blown away if some famous pianist could actually play a piece of music, like one of bachs. Then i would shit my pants.

  • @TheNdfGraphics If you judge this song by dexterity alone, you are right. However, the piece requires a very high level of concentration and mental stamina. Its the sonic equivalent of watching a man walking along a tightrope. As a pianist, I'm not sure I'd dismiss this song as something any well-trained pianist can play...at least not in the same way I would tell my non-pianist friends that its nothing special for a 12 year old to reasonably execute a song like Fantasie Impromptu.

  • So awesomely op.

  • In soviet Russia....

    .....

    I think this guy is in soviet Russia O___O

  • damn, that was cool :)

  • The Fourth Reich, and better than all the others put together. LAD.

  • 60 people are easily-phased! BANTER

  • I think youtube forgot to take off the dislike button for this. I'm 5 and I think this is better than Black. ZOMGLOLMAOBBQ

  • I'm 6 and I love this kind of musics! So much gooder than Bieber! LOL

  • I think you can see how hard this is. amazing

  • I think he missed a note

  • la cosa più triste è che ce le fai pure vedere queste stronzate

  • olha,

    para o imbeciloide que disse vai pegá na inxada, fala errado pra caramba, só deve

    ter a quarta série primária, eu sou formada em artes e já estudei/trabalhei na

    europa tá?

    eu tenho humildade mas, sei quando algo é mediocre, e isso ai é mediocre

    demais só agradam pessoas como voce, mediocres também.

    vai estudar !

  • Pity he left out the beginning. And it's not that difficult to phase with both hands. Tried it years ago on a split keyboard.

  • this is incredible! :D

  • the last seconds sound really like they added a phaser..

  • eu faço melhor.

    quero ver ele tocar chopin com dois pianos.

    

  • @etoilezoraide

    Óia que eu duvidu: já viu a partitura desse trem, fio? Humirdade num faiz mal prá ninguém, viu? Vai pegá na inxada, vai...

  • Kind of wish he started it like piano phase should be started... not in canon/phased, but with both pianos in unison, so we can actually hear the frist phase.

  • Check out another amazing duel piano performance by searching "Josh Wright plays two pianos" it is also INCREDIBLE

  • BRAVO, MUY INGENIOSO

  • that was the stupidest song ever.

  • i play piano for 'bout 7 years now and i have to say that THIS IS INCREDIBLY HARD!

    most people fail at clapping triols while stomping even notes. like 99% of humanity can't do that.

    the thing is that this "phasing" is no triol. it's harder than that. it's like a computerprogramm that says: run that pattern in 182 bpm and the other pattern in 181 bpm. for the computer, no problem. for human, barely imaginable.

    this requires a lot of motivation and TRAINING.

    very good performence

  • God I would hate to have to practice this piece.

  • and so??

  • Fabulous. Isn't it supposed to get out of phase? -- responding to ivorytickler. That's what makes it float and undulate. I can't remember the original tune well, but when I heard him get out of sync, at first I thought, "He's losing it." But then when I noticed the effect, I figured it wasn't a flaw.

  • those 58 dislikes are probably depressed pianists after watching this video :D

  • "that dude looks like moby" lol

  • @ivorytickler8888 i think it's clear in the video that each hand is playing the same rhythm. even eighths.

    @1399jn reich leaves that to the performers' discretion

  • Someone should give this man a custom built piano with two manuals! It would be a nightmare to tune, but this guy deserves such a piano.

  • its amazing that he is doing this, but i think he sped up to fast. shouldn't it be more gradual?

  • @leatherman33 - the rules of Piano Phase is they have to be pianos of identical timbre, and they have to be the same notes, not octave pairs. Plus the genius, is that it'd be difficult even with one piano and two hands. Piano one is playing the melody over and over at a constant rate while piano two is playing the melody and gradually speeding up at a constant rate. Can you imagine trying to speed up only one hand at a constant increase of tempo? Blows my mind.

  • @leatherman33 rythm. its like dividing your brain in half: one side following one metronome, and the other another, at different tempos. = awesome

  • wasn't this part of intro to "different trains"? that is a personal favorite for late night relaxing.

  • Just curious...is this being done as an arrangement, or is Peter playing each solo part in each hand? It looks at first that the RH is doing way more work but I don't remember the score being different between the parts, just that one phased against the other part (perhaps I'm just remembering it wrong).

  • @ivorytickler8888 - He's probably focusing on the RH because that is the one that is constantly speeding up, which is what is bringing it out of phase.

  • Oh my God. Just amazing. He looks like some sort of piano phasing test subject, bred and trained for only this purpose.

  • Amazing !!! O_O

    I'm in a conservatory in Belgium, we're at that time studying Steve Reich's music and that's our music history teacher who told us about this video, that's really stunning and impressive, congratulations !

  • This is a very interesting performance, I would guess he was influenced by computer made recordings in which, after time your mind, if you are a musician (or perhaps any mind) converts these phases into digital rhythmic values rather than a literal process of phase shifting - I believe that a human performance will always be fundamentally different from a computer one - each approaching their own definition of perfection from a collection of very different methods.

  • @lostpianist - I don't think so, Steve Reich wrote this before the age of digital music in 1967.

  • @leatherman33 There are note unisons.... there are many many different effects produced by using the two pianos, much beyond just the clashing of identical notes

  • I am very curious to hear what SR thinks of this performance. I have heard that he is very particular about variations of his music being performed. Many people play Music for Pieces of Wood on instruments not even close (like drums...duhhhh) to what the piece was originally intended for, and have received harsh correction by SR. This version and the original are compelling, intense, and challenging to perform.

  • Wow - this is truly impressive (and a great camera angle too)

  • This might be easy to do for somebody who has had a split-brain operation.

    On the other hand, I'd probably have a heart attack trying to do this.

  • pro~!!!! bt i'm getting headache O_O

  • my friend rob kovacs did this at bw in 2004 its pretty incredible in person. i was actually there when he realized he could do it in the 1st place. he was practicing scales with both hands when he noticed his left hand was slightly slower then his right. from there he thought i wonder if i could control this. he practiced until he could then thought of the reich piece

  • trash

  • Amazing.

  • 57 people thought this was going to be a video of a guy in a Wolf Courage t-shirt playing Stairway To Heaven on a lute.

  • 1:49 is an awesome shot.

    This man is incredible.

  • Is that even possible? Could the guy who wrote this play it? It's amazing! Imagine practicing that!

  • Outstanding performance.

  • @rose

    You tard, minimalistic style isn't even intended to exactly sound "nice"

    You missed the point entirely. And the fact that he's skilled enough to play both parts adds enough already sheesh...

  • I mean he's good.. but it's not Great to listen to. Why play someone's piece of art if you're not adding value to it?

  • @RoseQuarantequatre why not ? why do anything for that matter ?

  • Holy hell, man. Holy hell. This is too fantastic.

  • I'm speechless, this is amazing. The harmonics start to float after a while (if you know what I mean). Beautiful!

  • I close my eyes and I feel as if I am flying through the sky at a hundered miles an hour with whisps of cloud whipping accross my cheek. Long hair is tangled and flailing wildly as the cold, brisk air joins me in my flight above the worlds.

  • Wow... just wow!

    Amazing music!

  • compare this with i.e.

    Seventy by Wouter Joseph Smekens, Philip Glass

    it's on iTunes - much is similar, as much is not at all similar

  • I can't imagine how hard that must be. Even though this is one of my fave Reich pieces I NEVER would have thought about performing it this way. Awesome! Thanks for posting!

  • reminds me of the guy from the movie Pi, right before he drilled his brain. An admirable performance.

  • this guy has some serious concentration skills

  • Seriously... This is fucking a-fucking-mazing. This should be like impossible. How is that possible?!!!! XD

  • This has to be, like, entirely muscle memory.

  • I want theses scores pleaseeeeee!!!!!! :D :D :D

  • as I was saying, the old star wars films came along and were VERY FAST PACED>

    but watch them now, and they seem slow.

    Kick ass dude.

    your gonna make it as if "one can't really phase" until they can phase against themself. (sp). inspiring.

  • good godamn job dude. how the hell'd you learn that? to phase with YOURSELF. HA!

    I bet it felt "as fucked up" to just phase the normal way for reich himself back when he first did it, yeah? and look at you, fuckin awesome. (its funny how that happens, aint it? something emerges, its hard as hell, cutting edge, and yet some time later, someone fucking destroys it in such a way as to render "the original" awesome thing as not as original and awesome anymore (like the old star wars films.

  • awful music man...jesus

  • @jackass1234R who the fuck are you, man? get outta here if it aint in your taste dude.

  • @Stimulator7 haha lol man, look at your comments you act like a watchdog!, calm down man, not everyone can like this "music".

    haha

  • @jackass1234R woof

  • Amazing!

  • FAZIOLI rules !

  • Attempting this would break my brain.

  • This isn't "absolutely unique." Rob Kovacs played this in exactly the same manner, at Baldwin Wallace conservatory in Berea, OH. Let me add this was with Reich in the audience and back in the spring of either 2003 or 2004.

  • This is technically impressive but musically disinteresting IMO.

  • @Envergure musically disinteresting? you are obviously looking for something else. go find it then. 

  • stupendous and stupefying.... love it! added to my playlist: "Ambient Outdoors"

  • you are incredible, dont stop playing!

  • @lillivplayer54 it's not the speed he's playing at thats impressive its the fact that one hand is playing slightly out of time with the other so they go into phase and out of phase.

  • @lillivplayer54 you have no idea how much of a mindfuck it is to play at two slightly different BPM on two instruments of identical timbre AT THE SAME TIME. what this man does is extremely impressive, and while it might not sound all that difficult, it is. effort in playing the piece aside, what's most important here (in my opinion, anyway) is the resulting patterns of the phase shift. beautiful stuff!

  • @seaofwhoas BRILLIANT! :| The complexity of this is far superior than everything i ever listened. Even Flight of the Bumblebee. The Original is made from Machines.

  • @seaofwhoas Agreed. Having never even played the piano myself, this video is absolutely mind blowing. The Difficulty of the perfomance is simply staggering.

  • @lillivplayer54 its IMCREDIBLY hard to synch notes like that. i've been trying for about 4 years, and unlike guitar hero, its not just muscle memory. you have to be totally focused.

  • Steve, do you really have something to say, musically?

    /watch?v=6GAHFrLAxzM

  • Comment removed

  • bbbboooooorrrrrriiiiiinnnngggg­gggg!

  • @picasso18115

    you didn´t heard the resulting patterns?

  • It sees into your soul o.O

  • the piano playing here is unbelieveably good.

  • @MrPracticallyPerfect its called minimalism buddy and anyway if you think this is simple then watch 4'33 by john cage

  • This is a great performance. Thank you.

  • 0A0

  • I don't know much about music, but can someone tell me whats the difference between playing on one keyboard and on two? It seems kinda pointless to me(no flame please, like i said, i don't know much about music)

    i can understand a guitar, because you can only play one sound at the same time, however it is normal for one keyboard to be able to play up two ~10 soudns at the same time, isn't it?

  • @Kibate I believe it's because the two parts are using the same notes. You can play more than one sound on a guitar at one time too.

  • It's cool but Rob Kovacs did this in a performance in the spring of 2004 at Baldwin Wallace conservatory in Berea, Ohio - so it's not quite "absolutely unique."

  • I think it´s rediculous to discuss if it´s unique.

    Maybe it´s not, but it´s a rare performance and got it´s own quality and i´m thankfull that someone uploaded this fine piece of music.

  • This is so incredible. How it goes in this cycle, where, for a while it seems like it's locking in, and your brain starts to desperately hold onto it, and try to stay in the groove, but then it slips back out into the chaos. This is song is remarkably like an acid trip. Also, the shot where you can see his hand and the reflection of his other, is really cool.

  • hah! what snobby comments! you guys might as well be talking crap about racism and abortions on a justin beiber page.

  • talent works, genius creates.

  • Well done! Would love to hear the whole piece. I've performed Piano Phase as a solo several times on the pipe organ (with at least two keyboards). It works very well with two enclosed pipe divisions on opposite sides of a large church or concert hall. Surprisingly, the phasing part is not really so tricky. The biggest difficulty in performing the work solo is keeping your wrists/fingers completely relaxed and having a Zen-like concentration. It's these elements that take the most practice!

  • Comment removed

  • really impressive... can i ask how long it took you to master?