What Does the Future Sound Like?

As I'm getting into teaching more, I've been trying to incorporate technology into my practices. I use speakers, iTunes, video practice aids, Google sharing yada yada... But what about the bigger picture? The further we press on into this lifetime, the more unclear the relationship becomes between music and computer technology.

It started with music recordings, even before iTunes. Buying records. Then tapes, then CDs, all the way to iTunes 99 cent songs. Now most pop artists make their money on tour sales and merchandise than actual albums.

So what about us classical musicians? Most of us have never seen the day when Tubby the Tuba was topping the charts for record sales. Many of us only know what records are because of thrift shops. (Isn't there a song about those?)

Will the momentum of the digital age carry us to a place where it's normal for our performances to sound like this?  Streaming Internet Used to Play a Duet Between Performers

And if so, what kind of help or harm will this do to our fragile state?

The Metropolitan Opera has already ventured into this virtual world by broadcasting live performances at premiere movie theaters across the country. For a fraction of the cost (approximately $20) and all the latest audio advances at your disposal, you can experience world class art almost at the instant it happens. Educational institutions across the nation are now integrating this idea into their music programs. The University of Arkansas does it for every band concert it puts on.

Of course that brings me back to teaching. More and more people, even ones I know, are exploring the idea of providing private lessons via the internet. It started with Youtube and its seemingly endless database of regular people showing and teaching others how to do things such as cook, change oil in a car, tie a bow tie, etc. But now you can learn how to sing, to play guitar. Even still, with faster internet connections, live lessons over Skype and Google Video Chat are becoming common. There are even specialized websites (here too, and article on subject here) dedicated to the study of instruments with professional musicians as internet teachers. Music programs are suffering all over our Nation's school systems. Reasonably, music could be the next technological frontier. It seems extreme but in many states a student can complete high school courses almost entirely online. Of course, there would have to be real people teaching these courses. But what would the cost for that be? Cheaper labor? Higher quality learning? Less effective teaching?

On the one hand, the accessibility of all this is great. As internet connections move toward a ubiquitous reality, those who may not have geographical access to certain educational opportunities can increase their knowledge.

Music should be enjoyed by everyone. I believe that.

But as this digital force becomes more permanent, what is the trade off? Is the reaction an era of music with a distinct sound created by the lack of human connections? Does it feel colder or less connected?Don't get me wrong, talking with my mom over Skype is great since we live thousands of miles apart. But it's not the same as a hug. This concept is likely true when involving music in many of its facets (teaching, learning, performing). Yet brilliant musicians have seemed to achieve an element of humanity and authenticity using the very thing that simultaneously unites and divides us:


This is the Youtube Symphony's Grand Finale performance. It launched a project in which musicians auditioned by submitting videos. They eventually met in Sydney Australia to perform and rehearse together, lead by one of classical musics well-respected conductors, Michael Tilson Thomas (San Fransisco Symphony).

A more extreme example involves a project called Virtual Choir. It is the brainchild of Eric Whitacre (composer). He uses voices from around the world to create a completely original performance experience. Whitacre combines visual technology with masterful sound mixing with his own compositions.

An extremely, crazy, ridiculous example comes from the Coachella Festival in April 2012. Tupac Shakur, one of raps greatest artists, is resurrected. The hologram was made presumably using samples of the rappers voice but it was also programmed to interact with the other (living) rappers on stage for this "live" performance. The figures spent on this haunting project still remain secret but are estimated in the mid six-figure range:











We have to decide. What does the future sound like?

Django Unchained - A Review and Rant

Well, hot damn, Tarantino. You did it and you did it good!

I loved the movie. It was full of passion, romance, action, butt kicking, and most of all good acting. I loved the music too. It was The Good the Bad and the Ugly meets crooning meets the body-thumping bass of hip hop. It was hardly flawless but I think the flaws are greatly overshadowed by the spirit and realism of the story.

The story begins in 1858, Texas, USA. Django (Jamie Foxx) is rescued by a German "dentist" named Dr. Schultz-who is really a bounty hunter. He needs Django's help in identifying some wanted men, as Django was once a slave of these wanted men. The good doctor, in my opinion, carries the show. He's funny, against slavery, and is a smooth talker. Django, was separated from his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) and desperately wants to find her because they are in love. A ton of chaos and adventure goes on... you'll have to see it. There is a lot of Tarantino-style blood, where it looks like guts come out of people no matter if they're shot in the arm or the stomach. A bit graphic, but that's Tarantino's fantastical nature at hand.

What truly makes this movie a success is its polemic. Not since Roots has there been a mainstream slave-time depiction on film, television or otherwise. When it came to the true horrors of slave life, Tarantino did not go the route of fantastical and cartoonish. He went the route of what was dark and real; frankly, things that aren't talked about anymore. When I was growing up in middle and high school, slavery was a bad thing that happened long ago. End of story. Django, very realistically, showed exactly the kind of bad that slavery was. It rehashed the severity of 300 plus years that is largely trivialized today; many kids naively conceive black slavery as a bunch of people working in fields, who were sometimes whipped.

So to Spike Lee and other dissenters of the film, get over yourself.

People need to be reminded what it was like. The story is fictional, obviously. But the N word was not.  It was 1858. That's what black people were called back then. Anyone criticizing that lives in a bigger fantasy world than Tarantino. Hot boxes were something I never learned about in school. But they were very real, as were the mandingo fights, mammies, field slaves, comfort slaves, and courtesan (mistress) slaves all depicted in the movie. And frankly, if you research these slave functions, you'll find a surprising "family tree" of how these functions have manifested themselves in today's society. The brutality in Django was nothing short of accurate. It wasn't any less true than the chained slaves thrown off ships during the Middle Passage journeys (Roots).

Was the "Spaghetti-Western" style fictitious? Yes. Was the overall storyline fictitious? Yes. Were some of the guns in the movie not invented until after the Civil War? Yes.

But that's the nature of Tarantino's work: extreme, hyperbolic. Who doesn't want the underdog to have power?  Who can make that a downgrade of the movie when so much of it welcomed an unadulterated depiction of slave life?

In the end, I'm forced to think that Spike Lee is mad for two reasons: He has become irrelevant. His last big hit was He Got Game. He has released movies since then but not with as much positive reception. And I'd like to add that Summer of Sam was a movie that said the F word more times than any movie that had existed until then. It's hard to say that this expletive was even a little bit historic as was the use of the N word in Django Unchained. It is easy to say, however, that there is a lot of unnecessary hypocrisy going on. Spike is drinking some haterade.

In my opinion, the movie was both entertaining and educational. I don't think you can ask for much more than that when so many movies are trash today. If people decide that they dislike the movie, they should evaluate why. It was gory because slavery was gory. It was depressing and cruel because slavery was depressing and cruel. It had an unrealistic ending because Quentin Tarantino wrote it.

If you can't handle the heat, then get out the damn kitchen.

Pop Culture and Why I Like It Lately

Lately, I've been more and more interested in pop culture, which is weird because I'm a bit of an old soul when it comes to how I view things. But on second thought it's not weird because pop culture has been gradually moving backwards in time. I don't know which came first, but it's happening in mainstream fashion too. I'm saying all this to say, I LOVE IT.

Take this guy for example:


Nerlens Noelle. He was born in 1994. In 1994, I was 5 years old and I was sporting this exact same haircut, the high-top fade. It wasn't as high and I didn't have tattoos. But the idea was there. When I look at this, I get nostalgic. I don't know if nostalgia is the case for the popularity of this kind of stuff but I wouldn't be surprised. I mean, things are totally upside down in our country. Perhaps the past is a comforting thing to think about and be reminded of. Nerlens isn't the only one nodding to fads that were popular decades ago. Rhianna's last SNL performance was a blast from the past. So is Kesha's latest video for her single Die Young. And sorry University of Arkansas girls, the leggings, side pony tails, and oversized shirts you took from your dads' closets were around long before your parents even thought of having you.

None of this is really my main point. What I've enjoyed most about pop culture's obsession with resurrecting the past is the change of music sounds and practices. Pop artists from about the mid 70s on to today have been decidedly futuristic, pushing the limits of synthesizers, sound engineering, and live performance production. The last 10 years have been shifting back to something my "old soul" really values.

Music.

I think the technological advances for the sake of music hat have been made over the decades are great. But the robotic precision and auto tuning of popular artists supposedly "expressing themselves" left a lot to be desired for me. Today, the fallibility and rawness of human nature is coming back to music. Adele is a wonderful example of this. Her music is beautiful but simplistic. It allows your ears to hone in on the words and appreciate the emotions in her voice. Who cares that it isn't immaculately tuned from beginning to end. I don't. It sounds good. It sounds real. I feel connected.

Another aspect of reviving the past that I love is the sound that is infiltrating popular music. Beyonce's most recent album, 4, is overflowing with aesthetics of Prince, Whitney Houston, and old R&B girl groups. The music on the album reaches beyond simple influence and has turned into a full on reincarnation. Party is one of her more successful singles from the album and it sounds like something right off of an SWV album. And if you've seen the video, it looks like it was filmed about 20 years ago.  It's incredible. What I like most about the song is that the music backs up Beyonce's voice much in the way that Adele's music backs up hers. The beat does not constitute the most important part of the song. The singer does.

On Beyonce's single Schoolin Life,  you can hear the rhythm, guitar, and keyboard of Prince and vocals that sound like it was written for Whitney Houston herself. While I wasn't really around when either of these people were at their heights, the music takes me back to the sounds that my mom enjoyed while riding with her in the car. It sounds good. I feel connected.

One of the last things I really enjoy about this music trend is the instruments. More and more artists are utilizing the talents of real musicians. Less famous, more independent artists have done this for years. But it's been a while for pop artists to have bands with live brass or orchestras with live strings. Beyonce comes to mind because of her all female band Suga Mamas. But rappers are on this wagon. Kanye did a performance with ballerinas and orchestra about a year ago on SNL of his song Runaway. I think highly visible people like this are putting instrumentalists back on the map. They are making it possible for the revival of second line style brass bands to be successful. Opening up the door for kids to ask what that cool thing the dude is blowing on behind Jay Z. It makes kids demand that they be just like the genius sax player (Clarence Clemons) in Lady Gaga's song. Pop music is reaching to the past to transform itself.

Meanwhile, us "art musicians" are starving for work and playing for quarter full concert houses.

Pop artists are opening doors for art music, the music I love, to become relevant again. This is why I really love pop culture today. It is a sort of connecting vehicle between the present and past. It gives a reason for young folks like myself and those even younger to talk about things that would have otherwise been boring, out of date, and uncool. Face it, art music is the ultimate resurrection act. 200 year old music played for audiences who can remember FDR's Fireside Chats.

One of my strongest beliefs in education is meeting students where they are. If we "high art" musicians don't meet potential audiences  where they are, we won't be dying anymore. We'll be dead. No more morbid resurrections. Just gone.

I think people might like what we do musically a lot more if we showed an interest in what they do musically. It doesn't mean that we play "pop classical" music on every concert we program. But it might mean that we perform something with more contemporary influences and sounds, which doesn't mean a-tonal, tone row inspired crap (not that it's all crap). Rather, commission composers that are writing in traditional forms but use hip hop sonorities. Try programmatic music that sounds more like being on a mission in Call of Duty than it does the city sounds of Chicago. Meet the people where they are.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has done recent work with some famous DJs, video game music, and Kid Rock. And while they are not the prime financial planning example, they appear to be an orchestra for the people. After all, what is music without an audience?

Is our music so great and our egos so mammoth that we will resign to kill ourselves slowly rather than"taint" our empty sanctuaries sounding of Bach, Hindemith, and John Cage?