visual recital workshop





The pianist and fellow technology aficionado Hugh Sung Is one of the nicest persons I know of, and his blog is always worth reading. I noted from a recent blog post of his that he was going to be be giving a virtual recital workshop today in my neck of the woods up in Willow Grove, PA. So of course I took Isaac with me and went to the workshop at Jacobs Music, sponsored by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Music Teacher's Association. That's me next to Hugh---he's holding his Fujitsu tablet PC while I'm wearing my finest Che Guevara shirt I brought back from Rome a few months ago.

It's always a pleasure to see Hugh, and he demonstrated his visual recital technology for a very large and welcoming audience. What Hugh does is provide visuals to the music he plays, using a tablet PC controlled by foot pedals (one to turn pages on his tablet, the other to fire off each visual effect). His command of a variety of presentation and video software is incredible, and he made it very non-threateninig for the audience of music teachers and some of their students. To be able to take new technology and make it less scary for a general audience is a great gift, and this is coupled with Hugh's incredible willingness to use the visuals to make music more accessible to audiences.

I know there's a faction within the new music community that believes what we do is haughty and shouldn't be “dumbed down” for the masses (BTW, I hate that term “dumb down,” incidentally---making music more understandable isn't “dumbing” it down). I don't agree with that faction---what we do is something that should be enJoyed by audiences and composers alike. I have no desire for people to sit glued to their chairs and pay rapt attention to my music like a drone out of the old Metropolis silent movie by Fritz Lang. If people need visual cues to better relate to my music, then great. If they want to get up and dance to it, that's wonderful (I've yet to see this happen, but I'm not averse to it). Hugh recognizes that classical music will be consigned to an even smaller niche unless we make it less mysterious. I often hear people lament “I'd love to listen to classical music, but I don't know anything about music.” This is a huge tragedy; you don't have to know anything about classical music to listen to it. Why is classical music so different in this regard from rock, hip-hop and other genres? Why can't people listen to classical music, particularly new music, regardless of whether or not they have had relevant training? What's wrong with classical music that we've reached the point where it is perceived as elitist and something only the educated can and should listen to?

I would love it if people from all walks of society listened to new music. Some people within the new music community needs to get off their high horse and do more to address the issue of accessibility. That doesn't mean “dumb down” the music or meld it with the latest Radiohead video. But it does mean communicating with audiences in such a way that classical music, and new music in particular, is less mysterious and, frankly, less scary. Hugh's definitely onto something important here, and it's to his credit that he not only recognized this need, but is doing something about it.

Posted: Sat - January 12, 2008 at 05:14 PM          

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