| Title: | * * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * * |
| Notice: | Conference has been write-locked. Use new version. |
| Moderator: | DYPSS1::SCHAFER |
| Created: | Thu Feb 20 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Mon Aug 29 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 2852 |
| Total number of notes: | 33157 |
From the Boston Globe, 22 May 1987:
ORCHESTRA-BY-COMPUTER RAISES FUROR
Tonight the Merrimack Lyric Opera in Lowell is performing two unusual works
by Debussy, "L'Enfant Prodigue" and "La Demoiselle Elue", accompanied not
by orchestra but by a computer and synthesizer which have been programmed
to reproduce the timbres and colors of an orchestra.
In making the economic and artistic decision to go with electronic
accompaniment, Merrimack artistic director John B. Bates has stepped, like
the hero of a Ludlumesque spy novel, into something bigger than he
realized, and his performances of Debussy are now swirled 'round with
controversy.
The Boston chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, the union
representing orchestral players, has expressed its opposition to the
Merrimack Lyric Opera's performances - just as chapters in other cities
have protested the growing use of synthesizers in all forms of music. The
Merrimack Lyric Opera has used a union orchestra in it previous
productions of "Faust", "La Boheme" and the Verdi "Requiem".
A notice circulated by James J. Romeo, a composer and computer expert who
programmed the synthesizer, accuses the musicians' union of "threats of
picketing, automotive vandaslism ("Gee, the performance is in a bad area,
you should be careful about where you park your car..."), cut power lines,
and a competing free performance of the same pieces by the Musicians' Union
on the same night."
Steve Young, president of Local 9-535, says the union did talk about
putting on a competing, live, free concert and "explored the possibility
of an informational picket line", but finally recommended to the national
office that nothing be done about the Merrimack performances because "they
are not in an important hall and do not merit the attention."
He categorically denied the other charges. "To say those thiings is a
sleazy, underhanded attempt to draw attention to an event that does not
deserve it. We are not going after the synthesizer; we have to live with
it. We cannot object to new pieces that are composed for the
synthesizer,or for the synthesizer with live musicians. But we must
object to the attempt to substitute synthesizers for live musicians in
professional performances of older masterpieces. A synthesizer is not a
substitute artistically for live musicians. I firmly believe that the
essence of any artistic performance is the interaction of the human beings
who are participating in it."
Bates emphasizes that Romeo's accusations against the union were circulated
without his knowledge or consent. "We want no trouble - we are just trying
to survive, do a good job, to bring wonderful music to this area. There's
no way a machine could ever replace the sound of an orchestra, but the
sound is better than we could get with two pianos and an organ or something
like that. We thought this was interesting and innovative." In a letter
that will be distributed to the audience tonight, Bates writes, "Debussy
was extremely innovative with his approach to music and we are trying to be
the same."
Romeo says he regrets "the way things got out of hand" in his press
release. "Basically I am just trying to do some Debussy pieces and get the
oboe to sound right. Some of my friends are in the union, and I use union
members all the time for demonstration tapes. I think this project has a
real social utility - once the programming is done, the works can go into
schools and libraries without further cost, and they can be used for
community enrichment. The arguments against this project are as old as the
industrial revolution, and they appear with the introduction of every new
technology."
Young argues against taking further steps in what he calls "the cloning of
America".
"Music cannot be like MacDonald's and Burger King. You don't know where it
will stop. They say something like this is good for the singers, but the
next step will be to clone the voices, and then bring in the graophics
computers to do the whole thing on machines, in three dimensions. The
alternative to this is to expose people to high-quality live music as often
as possible."
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 809.1 | Grrr! | ECADSR::SHERMAN | Things get curioser and curioser... | Fri May 22 1987 12:32 | 10 |
Seems to me the consumers are out to buy entertainment and if it
happens to be art, fine, but otherwise no big deal. The fate of the
union will depend on the $core. The fact that the performance is
controversial sure doesn't help the musician's union - sometimes
controversy is the *only* thing that will draw some people to pay to
see some artists. The point about having to use live performers
for performance of old works is poppycock. That's probably what
they would say if the phonograph record were to come out today.
Steve_who_performs_best_in_step_time_anyway
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| 809.2 | Beethoven's 8500 Overture | MARVIN::MACHIN | Fri May 22 1987 13:17 | 18 | |
re .-1
I think you're right about it being like the experience of early
phonograph-listeners. Or like listening to a 'live' concert on the
radio, in which the music is relayed digitally over landlines to
the sound studio, where it's given a final tweak here and there
before broadcast. Unless the radio is particularly attractive
to look at, you may as well do something else while you listen.
I think I'd rather see a bunch of musicians than a bunch of hardware
-- but that's just personal preference.
I suppose a CD player's just a complex sort of digital oscillator
anyway...not that far removed from the 'live computer' performance.
There's a rathole here somewhere, if only I can find it...
Richard.
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| 809.3 | QX/MC Sequencers Local 37 (rev. 2) | PHUBAR::WELLS | Left of Center | Fri May 22 1987 14:04 | 7 |
What about the converse situation? Why aren't the techno-weeny
composer/programmers of techno-pop-swill upset when members of
the musician's unions perform their songs either for Muzak tapes
or in `pops' concerts? ;-)
Richard
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| 809.4 | misplaced priorities | JON::ROSS | Network partner excited first try!{pant} | Fri May 22 1987 18:41 | 9 |
ARG!
(why?)
NO MENTION AT ALL OF THE HARDWARE USED!
OR THE SOFTWARE!
OR THE MIDI NEWORK CONFIGURATION!
misplaced priorities.
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| 809.5 | OSI net -- great for the unfinished symphony | MARVIN::MACHIN | Sun May 24 1987 16:23 | 6 | |
re .-1
I think the net was a Wangner's Ring -- favourite for classical
performances.
Richard.
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| 809.6 | Furor a Hoax, says composer | SALSA::MOELLER | There's no film in this chimera! | Tue May 26 1987 15:43 | 9 |
Gee, they're just one step away from making their own cassettes..
"Don't bother to come, we'll mail you the performance."
Actually, since this be opera, the audience's attention ought to
be primarily on the singers. Bet it's a MIDIed PC or Mac driving
a rack of samplers.. just like home.
Perhaps I can get some mileage out of this here in tucson.. I'll
make up an outraged opponent and get some press out of it.
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| 809.7 | No more prima-donnas! | STAR::MALIK | Karl Malik | Tue May 26 1987 18:39 | 10 |
...not to mention the player piano.
Live performance will go the way of the harpsichord - enjoying
occasional revivals but by and large remaining a novelty.
Of course, when expert systems start replacing the composers,
then I'll start complaining (unless I've written the program).
- Karl
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| 809.8 | BARNUM::RHODES | Wed May 27 1987 09:43 | 5 | ||
This is not much different than the auto workers in Detroit being outraged by the use of robots in auto construction. It is this continous whining by the workers that just accelerates the replacement process... Todd. | |||||
| 809.9 | Wining in Bars | MARVIN::MACHIN | Wed May 27 1987 13:32 | 6 | |
.-1:
At least the whining is done by real workers and
not a b*oo*y computer.
Richard.
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| 809.10 | The future? | PHUBAR::WELLS | Left of Center | Fri May 29 1987 13:02 | 29 |
Gee, the guy who `plays' the player-piano in Harvard Square *always*
draws a crowd. I don't know where he keeps the thing, but he's
there all the time, sometimes by the Au Bon Pain, sometimes on the
bricked area on Mt. Auburn (Charles Square?), with the piano, his
chair and *racks* of music rolls. People just stand there watching
and singing along to the old favorites.
Just think about the future, when the venerable W. N. Won is out there
in a light drizzle with his slighty banged-up MIDI ("Oh look!
62.5Kbaud, how quaint!") rack, and boxes full of microfloppies. ("I
can't believe they really used magnetic particles to hold
information. It seems so slow and unreliable.") Suddenly the sound
of Michael Disney HoJohnson n�e Jackson (remember how he decided to change
his name in honor of the men who were pioneers in cryogenics?) is
heard, as W. N. plays a sampled Edward Van Halen (yes, of the
Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and Programmers Union) solo on his
scratched up KX-7 remote MIDI controller. Ah, it takes you back.
And everyone joins in on the chorus. Grandparents take it to the
pavement, breakin' and moonwalking. ("What a gas! D'you remember
the Weird Al parody! Hey everybody! EAT IT!")
It'll never happen, huh?
Or will it? ;-)
Richard
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