Evan Petrone is the typical AU student; he’s in the Blends With Benefits a capella group, works at the campus UPS store, is a member of Phi Alpha Delta...Oh, and he has a viral YouTube video.
At 625,578 views and counting, the YouTube video of Petrone playing the piano backwards has caught national attention.
For those who haven’t seen this video, find the nearest computer, get on to YouTube, search “Evan Petrone backwards piano” and watch. Amazing, right?
Now, the first thought that comes to mind is probably, “How on earth does he do that?” The answer: he uses his right hand to play left hand notes, and his left hand to play right hand notes. Petrone can do this because he has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome — type three of the syndrome, known as the hyper-mobility type. Translated into English, Evan has extremely loose ligaments, allowing them to stretch and do seemingly impossible tasks, like playing the piano backwards.
Petrone began playing the piano backwards in high school and continued practicing for fun. Last year, he made a video of himself playing “Clocks” by Coldplay and put it up on YouTube for “the heck of it,” he said. The video only received 600 views the first nine months it was up. Then in just one week this past September, the video went viral and gained 600,000 views.
“I was just really excited to have a video with half a million views,” Petrone said. “By the time it reached 600,000, I was focusing more on licensing at that point.”
Petrone’s video not only gained popularity among YouTubers, but also got attention across the country, and even across the world. “Tosh.0,” Comedy Central’s television show that displays the most interesting Web videos, put Petrone’s video on their website, which led to it acquiring an additional 30,000 views. The native Rhode Islander was interviewed by an Australian news site, Skyped into a news show in Arizona and was even asked to audition for Britain’s Got Talent. Petrone was extremely surprised by how big his video had become.
“I really wasn’t expecting to get any real attention for the video,” Petrone said.
The biggest recognition Petrone has received is from the iconic comedian Jay Leno. A talent coordinator from “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” contacted Petrone asking to be part of a segment on the show called “Will this thrill Bill?” — Bill as in William Shatner from the original “Star Trek” television series. Evan didn’t end up “thrilling Bill,” but that didn’t matter.
“Being on Jay Leno was easily the most surreal thing I have ever done... I personally don’t think that playing the piano with my arms backwards is worth a $1500 trip to Los Angeles,” Petrone said.
Petrone’s 15 minutes of fame have also given him some financial perks. With his video going viral, he has gathered around $700 in YouTube ad revenue.
Petrone hopes to develop his unique talent to play an entire song on the piano and is looking forward to the future.
“Maybe I’ll audition for ‘America’s Got Talent!’” he said.
