That's an old joke from my music school days. A guy gets into a cab in New York City and asks the cab driver, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" and the cab driver replies, "practice, practice, practice."
And if you graduated with a classical performance degree, that's what you had to do 8 hours a day - and then audition. You had to audition in person - sometimes behind a screen. You'd be one of hundred(s) or thousands to play for the jury making the decision - and if you were lucky you'd get call back for the finals.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra released the first performance, a premiere of the Tan Dun composition "Internet Symphony, Eroica" The performers were selected from thousands of video auditions from around the globe. The finalists winnowed down by a jury of professional musicians, not unlike a traditional audition, but the winners were crowdsourced by YouTube users via online voting. The resulting "mashed up" symphony orchestra, had more than 90 players representing over 30 countries.
They performed live at Carnegie Hall last under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Sympony, who has used technology innovately throughout his career.
Was this just a clever publicity stunt or could this be the auditioning process of the future? Does represent a possible new business model in the light of crumbling arts nonprofits? And wondering why Michael Tilson Thomas doesn't have his own Twitter account?
See Marc van Bree's Orchestras and New Media E-Book and Presentation
Update: CoolCat Teacher Blog, Vicky Davis, wrote about the YouTube Symphony quoted the title of this blog post. What's funny is that Conductor Tilson Thomas says it in this video - that I didn't see. Alan Levine suggested on Twitter
that she give linktribution. As a music student - everyone knew that joke (and whole bunch other stupid music school jokes) - and so it was the first thing I thought of when I heard about this story. Little did I know that the PR people used it in the press release!
Here's the origin of that joke
Here's more remixes of the joke
Okay, here's a sample of some of those other stupid classical music jokes:
"What happens when a piano falls down a mine shaft on a miner? A flat minor"
Thanks Beth, for linking to my ebook.
Here are three other insightful comments on the YouTube Symphony concert from three music critics:
Greg Sandow
Anne Midgette
Anastasia Tsioulcas
It seems that they all agree that the concert itself was somewhat of an anticlimax, but the real point was what happened before the show, or as Anastasia writes: "creative activities are about the process, not the result."
I think I tend to agree. And some food for thought: maybe that's also a key point of social media; it might not necessarily be about the end result (and how do you measure success anyway?), it's about the process and the participation.
Posted by: Marc | April 16, 2009 at 09:59 AM
Although I'm pretty sure the online auditioning process can't be as neat as the real ones, I believe it does open up a fair chance for anyone to show off their talent. People who want to participate in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra might not aim for perfection, but people around the world get to see they have tried.
Check out this video for a quick look at different angles the media cover the project: http://www.newsy.com/videos/youtube_makes_music/
Posted by: TDoc | April 16, 2009 at 12:32 PM
I've performed in Carnegie Hall... back in high school. :-)
Posted by: Stephen | April 17, 2009 at 05:16 AM
See Allison Fine's post on this - takes a bit further in thinking about the business model
http://afine2.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/orchestral-answers-on-youtube/
Posted by: Beth Kanter | April 17, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Hi Beth, I've just been diving into performing arts organizations using social media. I think that the performing arts are way behind the visual arts in using social media, but your example gives inspiration and joy to see one innovation that intersects You Tube and the performing arts. The performing arts are a great potential user for social media - audience reviews, votes for performance series, pass along great visual video (how many people passed along Susan Boyle's audition tape?!) and other ideas. I wonder if you have any other examples of performing arts orgs using social media creatively and effectively?
Posted by: Debra Askanase | April 19, 2009 at 05:16 AM
Hi Debra:
Lots of examples here in my wiki
http://artssocialmedia.wikispaces.com/
Posted by: Beth Kanter | April 19, 2009 at 11:52 AM