the practice room cyborg

Jason Heath wrote a post recently called "Nine Dynamite Practice Room Accessories." He starts with some basics everyone should have: metronome, tuner, a pad of paper -- and then moves on to some more high-tech stuff: iPods, notation and editing software, a laptop computer.

Personally, I don't want a laptop computer anywhere near me when I'm practicing. It's just too much of a distraction visually. I can see how certain functions might be useful, and I know some people who can incorporate computer technology into their practice very effectively; I just don't see the point.

My deeper philosophical argument with all this stuff is that it makes you practice like a robot. If you constantly have a metronome, tuner, or computerized MIDI-file playing along in the practice room, you're training yourself to sound like an electronic device. That might mean more precision and clarity, but I think it's inevitably going to compromise the things a computer can't simulate:

• a warm, rich, resonant sound, with a varied palette of tonal colors
• a sensitivity to inner lines, and harmonic voicing
• a sense of bulding phrases, dynamic contours, and the larger architecture of the piece

You might make a case that these aren't so important, within the specific skill-set demanded to win an audition. I think they matter very much to anyone hoping to have an enjoyable, extended career, because these are some of the main qualities that make orchestra playing enjoyable and fulfilling.

So while I appreciate Jason's suggestions, my own contrarian advice to anyone looking to tech out their practice room is this: give it a try, but don't go crazy. Don't think you can't have a worthwhile practice session without plugging into ever power outlet in the room. And at least one day a week, turn all the gadgets off and just remember the simple joy of drawing sounds out of a big, resonant chunk of wood. No accessories required.

podcastaway

My iPod, Terpsichore, recently succumbed to a grave illness. It started with fainting, freezing spells, becoming gradually more frequent, and soon the sad iPod icon began to appear as well. Eventually, nothing would revive her.

I'm tempted to blame an Edifier iF200 iPod charger and speaker, shown below, which I bought for $36 at Wal-mart a few weeks before my iPod bit it. Whenever I placed Terpsichore on the stand, the Edifier emitted a violent beeping sound and there was an almost palpable sense of gadget revolt and struggle. Of course, it could also be that Terpsichore, nearing her 2nd birthday, was just getting too old to live. Her predecessor, Mrkgnao!, died just before his 1st birthday, luckily qualifying for the Apple warranty.

To the question of whether to replace Terpsichore, I'm sort of ambivalent. These newfangled 80 GB models with video are attractive -- it would be cool to watch some of those video bits that Jason Heath has been posting on Contrabass Conversations lately -- but then again, maybe I could wait a few months and get the next next generation thingamawhatzit. My Inner Luddite seems to be gaining strength, while my desire to walk around with 1,500 albums and a crappy set of earphones to listen to them slowly subsides.

Life without an iPod has been okay so far, though I do miss some of the recordings I only have in digital formats. It gives me time to listen to lots of other things, though -- lately I've been listening to Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, one of the first operas ever written that's still worth hearing.

I realize I'm in a bit of a technological recession lately -- first the car, and now the iPod. What's next to go, you might ask -- cell phone, refrigeration, flushing toilets? I'm not sure, but I'll let you know. Assuming that I'm still blogging, and haven't switched to publishing leaflets.

New World webcast this Saturday

This weekend the New World Symphony will be webcasting a concert from the Lincoln Theatre, featuring Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Gil Shaham playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Here's the press release:

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND VIOLINIST GIL SHAHAM,

LIVE FROM THE LINCOLN THEATRE, MIAMI BEACH

NEW WORLD SYMPHONY TO INCREASE FREQUENCY OF WEBCASTS

AS A MEANS OF ENGAGING AUDIENCES,

MAKING CLASSICAL MUSIC MORE ACCESSIBLE

MIAMI BEACH, FL – New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), will webcast the Opening Night performance of its 20^th Anniversary Season, Saturday, October 13 at 7:35 P.M. EST, featuring founding artistic director / conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and violinist Gil Shaham, from the Lincoln Theatre on Miami Beach (541 Lincoln Road).

The webcast will include Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.

The vision of the New World Symphony is to be known as the nation’s premier educational laboratory for innovations in the teaching and experience of classical music. NWS is intent on exploring ways to use the internet to distribute contextualized performances and preparing for a time when video and audio playback equipment will provide the highest levels of sight and sound, even at the level of the personal computer.

The October 13th performance will include pre-performance comments from Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Tilson Thomas is acutely aware of the value of informing audiences in an effort to enhance their experience of the music. The New World Symphony, under the artistic leadership of MTT, has been experimenting with new forms of audience engagement for the past 10 years. Working with architect Frank Gehry, NWS is designing a 21st century rehearsal/performance/ webcast laboratory to further its efforts.

Those wishing to view the webcast should visit www.nws.edu prior to 7:35 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time), and click the banner on the bottom of the page promoting the webcast. Webcast patrons will be automatically re-directed to the webcast page. Additional information about the New World Symphony may be found at www.nws.edu.

This will be the second live webcast by the New World Symphony - last spring we performed Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka, and I think it's great that they're continuing the project. I've met a lot of people in Calgary who are curious about the orchestra, and alumni like me who are eager to reconnect, and to see and hear our friends play.

Richard Goode over Internet2

I've seen lots of lessons and masterclasses being taped for Internet2 broadcast, but yesterday was the first time I'd watched one from the other end. It was a masterclass with pianist Richard Goode, taped in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at Northwestern University (which was my graduate school). The pianists I heard were doctoral students, playing sonata movements by Beethoven and Schubert.

The sound quality itself was great, as was the image - we were watching a wide screen television, but there were moments when I felt like I was right there in Evanston, wondering if they could hear and see me as well as I could them. (I'm pretty sure we weren't being taped...) They used several camera views, so I could actually see a lot more than I would at a live masterclass - peering over the pianists' shoulders, sneaking in for close-ups of fingerings, etc.

I was especially impressed by how Richard Goode coached the pieces in terms of orchestrational possibilities. A playful eighth note figure in the left hand should sound more like bassoons than trombones and tubas - the sound of a theme in the Schubert should be drawn out like a slow bow. I'm not sure I've heard another pianist who seemed so attuned to the colors of other instruments, and constantly applied them to the piano repertoire.

Watching the class was so cool and enlightening, I've been wondering how Internet2 is going to develop in the next few years. Maybe every masterclass around the country will be taped and offered for broadcast, and each music school's students will have remote-control wars whether to tune into Yo-Yo Ma or Dale Clevenger or Edgar Meyer - every school will have an Internet2 studio to tape and watch broadcasts, and you'll be able to channel surf to performances and classes around the world. It seems like the technological capability is there already; it's just a matter of getting the equipment out and making people aware about all the possibilities it offers.

iPoop

I have only good things to say about the Apple iPod. This past summer mine got wet and broke, but it was still under warranty so I got a new replacement, absolutely free. And all my music was on my computer, so nothing was lost. My old iPod was named "Mrkgnaaaooo!", but I named this new one "Terpsichore", after one of the Greek muses.

When I got my iPod replaced, I resolved to treat the new one better. I decided Terpsichore would not be coming along on any jogs or walks in rain storms, and I bought a nice leather cover so I wouldn't scratch up the screen. (It's made by Covertec, in case you're interested.) This past week or so I've been shopping iPod accessories again, because I managed to lose my headphones and also my USB cable and charger. The cable and charger seem to have gone missing from my checked suitcase after flying home yesterday; the headphones were stolen while I was in Buffalo, though that's a much longer story.

Anyway, this post is not about my recent penchant for losing stuff. Maybe I'll get around to that topic in another post. This one is about the astonishing variety of iPod accessories being sold. Covers, cords, headphones, there are so many of these, but they are only the beginning. I have no good explanation, though, for the AFT iCarta. This thing, as self-explanatory as it may seem, just leaves me asking rhetorical questions....

Do we really need an iPod toilet paper holder? Does this really enrich the bathroom experience, or can the toilet enrich the iPod experience? Can such an object have any real benefit, besides gag gift? And who spends over $100 for a gag gift?

One of my favorite things about the iPod is the simplicity of its design, the elegance of that single button right in the center. There's something wonderful about a gizmo that you can use without reading any instructions, that makes you forget that you're even operating a sophisticated gizmo. That simplicity not only makes it useful, it seems to encourage people to superimpose their personalities on it, to clothe and feed and accessorize their iPods. I'm just wondering if we've reached a point of ridiculousness, if the iPod has jumped the shark. I guess until I meet someone with an iCarta, and try it myself, I won't know for sure. For now, though, Terpsichore is staying out of the bathroom.