Watching a video recording of a Bach Festival concert is obviously going to be very different than enjoying a concert in person, so we’ve published tips below intended to help everyone have the best possible experience. While you can easily access classical music videos on a mobile device (smart phone or tablet), using headphones/earphones or a Bluetooth speaker would be much better than the built-in speakers of the mobile device. Similarly, on a computer, it would be best to have good quality external speakers connected that have full fidelity (a subwoofer would be ideal for the low tones of a pipe organ). This page also has tips designed to help you watch the concerts on a “smart” TV, but not all TVs have high-fidelity speakers, so you’ll have to use your judgement about which audio/visual options to choose in your household.

As each concert video is fully edited, we upload them to YouTube and then broadcast an email containing the YouTube link to purchasers of the Festival Video Package. The videos will not be listed in the Arizona Bach Festival’s YouTube channel, because they’re only for viewing by those who have purchased the Video Package. This makes them a little more difficult to access in the YouTube app on a smart TV, so keep reading for some options.

Here’s an excellent tip from one of our patrons: if you have a laptop and an HDMI cable, you should be able to easily display the concert video on your TV by playing it from your laptop through the HDMI cable to your TV.

For those without the HDMI cable option, we recommend that in preparation for streaming the concert video on your TV, that you sign into YouTube using a Google account. if you don’t already have a Google account/login, you can create one connected with your current email address (it doesn’t have to be a Gmail address). When you go to YouTube.com on your computer, if you see “SIGN IN” in the upper right corner, you might not yet have a Google login.

If you click on “SIGN IN,” you’ll see this screen, from which you can create an account.

To create a Google Account, fill in the boxes indicated below and click “Next“

Proceed through the steps, log in, and you’ll be ready for a better YouTube experience, especially if you also sign into the YouTube app on your smart TV using the same address/password. Here’s the official help article about how to watch YouTube on your smart TV.

Once you have a Google account and are signed in, any videos you watch (or even start to watch but don’t finish) will be available in your “History” (found under “Library” on smart phones) and available in your YouTube “History” on your smart TV (if you sign into your Google account).

Another way of getting the right video to the YouTube app on your smart TV is called “Link with Wi-Fi” so here’s a graphic with the instructions (this may or may not be available on every TV:

Yet another way of getting the right video to the YouTube app on your smart TV is called “Link with TV code” so here’s a graphic with the instructions (this may or may not be available on every TV:

There are MANY different brands of smart TVs and many other streaming devices (Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, etc.) and even if you don’t have a manual for yours, it’s easy to search for helpful videos on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, or other search engines. You might also go to YouTube.com and search for help with watching YouTube videos using your particular TV setup. Also, don’t be shy about reaching out to a family member or friend who has “geek skills” for a little assistance — they really enjoy helping!

We hope you enjoy the four excellent concert videos of our Festivals, and we would love to have you as “subscribe” to our YouTube channel (click on the “bell” icon and select the option for “All” notifications) youtube.com/arizonabachfestival.