MEET ROB
Rob Landes is a classically trained, crossover violinist turned content creator who utilizes his incredible skill-set to create online videos, often of a humorous nature, covering mainstream music from video games, movies, memes and anime. Much of his content relies on his phenomenal ability to learn music by ear and improvise complex arrangements on the spot through layering multiple riffs with the aid of a loop pedal.
A MUSICAL MAGICIAN WITH A COMEDIC FLAIR
His widespread appeal is built in large part on good-natured pranks and the positive reactions of shock and awe his playing evokes from unsuspecting individuals. A true musical magician with a comedic flair, his bag of secret tricks include hiring pro teachers while pretending to be a beginner, and acting like a “human jukebox” who will create an impromptu original cover of whatever song you listened to last.
When pursuits of a career as a professional orchestral musician proved unfulfilling, Rob achieved what others told him was a “one-in-a-million chance” as he hurdled the barrier between the classical world and that of main-stream, popular music. No longer limited to a single genre, Rob enjoys inserting his violin in places where it is least expected, giving familiar songs new meaning and making the violin relevant to an audience formerly dissociated with it.
SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS
What Rob does is first and foremost about people. With the combined powers of music and technology, he reaches out to connect with others and light up screens with something positive never seen before. An equally important part of his mission is inspiring others to break free of limiting beliefs and expectations that prevent them from pursuing their dreams. He encourages people of all ages to try new things—including playing the violin—and asserts that everyone has something unique to contribute.
THE JOURNEY OF A CREATOR
What Rob does is first and foremost about people. With the combined powers of music and technology, he reaches out to connect with others and light up screens with something positive never seen before. An equally important part of his mission is inspiring others to break free of limiting beliefs and expectations that prevent them from pursuing their dreams. He encourages people of all ages to try new things—including playing the violin—and asserts that everyone has something unique to contribute.
THE JOURNEY OF A CREATOR
What Rob does is first and foremost about people. With the combined powers of music and technology, he reaches out to connect with others and light up screens with something positive never seen before. An equally important part of his mission is inspiring others to break free of limiting beliefs and expectations that prevent them from pursuing their dreams. He encourages people of all ages to try new things—including playing the violin—and asserts that everyone has something unique to contribute.
MUSIC WITH PURPOSE
“Ultimately, when I look back, I want to know that I made a positive change for people.”
—Rob Landes
What Rob does is first and foremost about people.
With the combined powers of music and technology, he reaches out to connect with others and light up screens with something positive never seen before. An equally important part of his mission is inspiring others to break free of limiting beliefs and expectations that prevent them from pursuing their dreams. He encourages people of all ages to try new things—including playing the violin—and asserts that everyone has something unique to contribute.
THE JOURNEY OF A CREATOR
JOURNEY OF A CREATOR
The path of a classical musician seems to have been chosen for Rob from the beginning. At 3 years old he was given his first violin for Christmas by his grandmother and diligently mentored by his mother who enticed him with M&Ms and video game time in exchange for practicing. Little did either of them realize just how influential this approach of motivation would later prove to his musical journey.
By the time he was 11 years old, Rob was practicing 3-4 hours a day, winning competitions and soloing with notable pro orchestras like the Utah Symphony and San Diego Chamber Orchestra. It was about this time the young prodigy determined violin would be his life’s work.
After a full scholarship and BM in violin performance from Brigham Young University, tours performing at Carnegie and across Europe, and finally an MM in violin performance from Rice University, Rob began pursuing a full-time position with one of the major orchestras. Fate, however, seems to have had other plans as each audition turned out inexplicably fruitless.
Discouraged, Rob set aside his violin and took a job in sales. Still convinced music was his life’s calling, he groped for ideas of what that, for him, was meant to look like—until one day he saw a video with a violinist using a loop pedal. His interest immediately piqued.
With some experimentation, Rob discovered he could use this rock-genre tool to harmonize with himself, creating full arrangements of songs in real-time. Thinking this might be the answer he’d been searching for, he shared his new hobby with a close friend. But the friend insisted that without lyrics he could never be successful in the world of popular music.
Fortunately for his fans, Rob chose to risk rejection rather than live his life wondering, “What if?”. So he made a video. It was the first real step towards achieving his dream.
At the request of his ever-supportive mother, the second video he made was a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. The viewer response to it was overwhelming and the video quickly went viral. Feeling that he’d finally found a way to blend his love of the violin with the creativity he’d yearned for but missed in his earlier career, Rob made more videos of a similar kind.
For the next two years Rob made video after video, trying to duplicate his earlier success, quitting his job and dedicating himself wholly to his new craft. During that time he held fast to the belief that he had something unique to offer the world, something that it would like. He knew if he just kept trying different ideas eventually one would land.
The breakthrough finally came—and from an unexpected source—as he drew inspiration from his childhood love of video games. Combining his crowd-pleasing feats of musicianship with a series of amusing game-character costumes, Rob developed the idea for his video, “The Evolution of Game Music”. This fusion of skill, creativity, humor and popular gaming material attracted a broad spectrum of audiences, including a community of gamers with little prior exposure to violin music. Their enthusiasm for it caught like wildfire and Rob’s signature performance style was born.
While indeed “talented on another level” as viewer comments proclaim, Rob is the first to acknowledge that his success is largely thanks to amazing parents, some world-class teachers and an incredible support system. Additionally, he reminds anyone with a dream that it takes a lot of work and dedication, but success is inevitable if you’re willing to put in the time and sacrifice to make it happen.
As his career moves forward towards more videos and recordings, greater collaborations and building a legacy teaching future violinists, Rob strives to pass on his message of positivity and hope to all who listen.
AS FEATURED ON
