Musical Performance in the Information Age
When I think of the intersection between music and the internet, two projects immediately come to mind that succinctly represent that coupling. Here are their introductions followed by sample performances:
The Introductions
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra
YouTube was leveraged as a tool for auditions for this project. What I find neat about it is the accessibility that it allowed. Non-professional musicians from all over the world, who normally would never pursue anything this grand, were able to audition out of the comfort of their own home. After, what I imagine, was a lengthy discernment process, the lucky chosen performed in a concert in the Sydney Opera House (which of course, was live-streamed on the internet).
Eric Whitacre took this idea a step further and actually pieced together all of the audition videos to make a virtual choir. I can only imagine the thousands of hours of work that went into the mixing of this.
The Performances
What are the final products of such colossal endeavors? Here are two samples:
Arnold Schwarzenegger The Musical
Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan are brilliant musical comedic geniuses! Stop what you are doing right now and feast your eyes and ears upon the following Arnold Schwarzenegger movies reimagined as musicals!
I haven’t laughed this hard since I was a little girly man.
There’s also a Terminator 2 Musical and a Total Recall Musical. If you want more, definitely subscribe to their YouTube Channel.
via io9
Gotta Love the 80s [Atomic Tom]
Can you name all of the 80’s references? 
via FirstShowing.net
3D Printed Concert Flute
Object fabrication technology isn’t quite at Star Trek levels yet, but I have to admit that I am completely floored by this flute that was created using a 3D printer at the MIT Media Lab (which I had the honor of visiting).
via Engadget
Talented Musician + Maker Genius = PVC Pipe Instrument v2.0
Not only is this gentleman a talented percussionist, he also created the instrument he is performing on. Great medley, too.
Great find, Tim!
Jingle… All the Way
Here’s a great rendition of variations on the theme of Jingle Bells by the awesome Lola Astanova.
I am, all at once, inspired to practice more piano and inspired to set my piano on fire. Maybe I can practice playing on a flaming piano.
VexFlow – HTML5, Canvas, JavaScript library for music and guitar tablature
Imagine if writing guitar tablature was as easy as taking what’s pictured above and having it transformed automatically into what’s pictured below.
What about markup language for traditional stave notation?
Great find, Angelo!
via the changelog via @AngeloAlcid
The Next Mozart?
I’ve seen a lot of incredibly talented young musicians in my life, but this 6-year-old girl has something really special. Keep an eye out for her.
Thanks for the link, Kevin!
The Four Chord Song [Axis of Awesome]
I’ve complained for many years now that all pop music is composed of the same chord progression. I even went as far as to demo this for friends with a handful of songs.
The Axis of Awesome takes this to the ultimate level with way more than a “handful” of songs.
Thanks for the link, Angelo!
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