You Tube!!

In our previous class we had talked about you tube and uploading our videos on you tube.  This is my very first video that I have posted on you tube!! I always thought you tube was a fun and interesting website but I never really took advantage of you tube till this semester.  

When I started my lessons this semester with my flute professor we had started working on the e minor Bach Sonata.  My professor liked my interpretation and said just for fun lets see what Jean-Pierre Rampal does, so I just assumed we were going to listen to the cd.  The next thing I know he is pulling out his itouch and he clicks the you tube button and we are watching Rampal play Bach on you tube. I thought oh my gosh here is Rampal and I am watching him play this. It can't get any better. Listening to him play is one thing but watching him play was amazing!  We finished that and he said lets see what Julius Baker does and he scrolls down and there is Julius Baker playing Bach on you tube.  After that he told me he has hundreds of videos on his itouch from you tube. From that lesson on I have realized how much I can take advantage of you tube and listen to theses great flutist play the piece I am working on, and it won't coast me anything!!

I feel you tube is a great resource for students.  There are endless amount of videos that can be found which is a wonderful thing for poor students!  I am glad we got an assignment to post our videos because I am not sure if I really would have ever posted something and after searching through you tube I found some pretty cool videos. 

Braille Music Technology

While I was at a master class this whole weekend, there was a flutist their that was blind.  Although I really did not have any interaction with him, I left the class wondering how does he play?  I mean I know how he plays but how does he learn a piece? What resources are out there for him and other blind musicians? I have thought about this once before when I met another blind flutist a couple of years ago who learned every piece by ear!  I thought to myself, geez sometimes I have trouble understanding and playing a piece of music when I can read everything on the page.  I did some research and found out some very interesting technology that has helped blind musicians. 

I learned a tremendous amount.  There was actually a camp they started in 2006 in Texas for blind and visually impaired musicians.  The musicians learned how to use technology from a product called Dancing Dots. In Dancing Dots you can prepare pieces by entering individual notes by typing on a keyboard or playing on a musical keyboard.  After they did that they actually turned their music into braille by using a program called Goodfeel.  I think that program is amazing. You can compose a score or individual parts, you can even transpose parts! You can also choose how many lines per page and the braille cells per page. 

I thought the articles that I read on this was amazing.  I think that the technology out there for blind musicians is amazing and it sounds like they keep trying to improve it!

Tech Trends and New Music Ensemble!

This is the second class I have taken where I was asked to post blogs.  When I did a blog for my previous class a couple of semesters ago I never understood why more professors don't use blogs! I think it's a great way to connect with your class and discuss different topics.

Since this is my first semester at NYU, I was not sure what to expect and how classes were going to run.  I feel like I have taken this tech class at a great time, since I am also playing in new music ensemble.  I go to new music ensemble right after teach class and I relate tech class to the ensemble. When the ensemble was deciding pieces to play for the concert Dr. Lamneck played us a couple of compositions and some of the works did work out for the ensemble, and some did not. I find it fascinating how these composers compose these pieces, while they use this amazing technology. I have always wondered what goes through composers head's while composing electronic music.   Dr. Lamneck handed us a copy of a score we are playing and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to read and understand the score.  Hearing Dr. Lamneck play this new music is really exciting for me especially since I did not do much with technology and music in my undergraduate classes.  I try to figure out how she takes the music apart and the score apart and what she is thinking about during the piece.  I feel these composers who compose this genre of music are absolutely amazing.

I will be perfectly honest and say I did not realize till I started these two classes how much technology has influenced music today.  I guess I never really sat down to think about it.  I feel like the creating of this using technology is amazing, and then when it's applied to a musician it all really comes together!