Gruesse aus Wien!

Technology can do some amazing things, like allow me to get email from hotel rooms in London, Berlin and Vienna. It also allowed me to keep up on my reading for school without carrying a ton of books -- I had the pdfs on my computer. And, I even had four bars in most of Europe. (When I turned my phone on, that is. The rates are a little ridiculous!)

But technology -- at least in the current state -- still can't replace the experience of a live concert. I heard the MN Orch with Joshua Bell at a sold-out concert at the Barbican in London. Incredible. (Josh Bell may be a diva, but that boy can sure play the violin!) Modern recording technology is getting pretty good, but it still can't capture the full power of the fortissimo louds (without distortion) and the barely audible pianissimos. You could watch a video recording of the concert but you might miss some of the looks of intense concentration on the faces of individual musicians, or the beauty of all the strings bowing together, or the percussionist dancing in the back at a part that's really fun to play. (I highly recommend "Slonimsky's Earbox" by John Adams if you have the chance to hear it live! I didn't think I liked Adams...) With any kind of recording I'm sure that you would definitely miss the collective intake of breath before a difficult passage, and the collective holding of breath at a tender moment. A group of 80 professional musicians produce vibrations that you can hear AND feel -- and this is an incredible thing. Also, the communal experience of being a part of an audience -- each member having individual experiences but having those experiences all together -- is pretty amazing.

So I don't think live music is going to die any time soon. This is why some of the rock bands are willing to give away downloads for free, right? They know that the real money is in touring. The recordings are just a way to get more people to come to live concerts.

And one thing about Second Life... Yeah, I did my "experience." It is SOOOOOOOOOO not for me! It frightens me that people spend hours and hours online in virtual reality. GET A REAL LIFE! I even signed up for a "neighborhood" in Vienna -- I thought that might make it more interesting for me, but it really didn't! I'd rather just GO there and meet people face-to-face. I can't get a decent bottle of Gruener Veltliner in the States anyway...