Media Inventor
I love it when someone else's thought crystallizes your own:
http://robinsloan.com/2010/1727
what’s a media inventor, anyway? Here’s my (totally made-up) definition: It’s somebody primarily interested in content who also experiments with new technol ogy, new processes, and new formats. Allen Lane was a media inventor. Early bloggers were media inventors. Right now, the indie video game scene is full of media inventors.
Fundamentally, I think, a media inventor is someone who isn’t satisfied with the suite of for ats that have been handed down to him by his culture (and economy). Novel, novella, short story; album, EP, single; RPG, RTS, FPS—a media inventor doesn’t like those choices. It turns out a media inventor feels compelled to make the content and the container.
(Thanks to Antony Pitts of MusicDNA)
Impact
I detest not blogging, and I detest unplanned silences. I was hoping to podcast monthly and blog daily by now.
"Events, dear boy, events."
Ultimately, I'm an agent of change, and I must focus on creating the most impact. Right now, that's elsewhere. It will return here, but it may be another month or two. Or maybe longer. Who knows? I don't. Sorry. It will be worth it!
Blog Upgrade
My new blog will be here.
Update 18th Oct: Not sure why only 2007 has imported… checking it out and will be back soon!
The Psychology of LIVE
Do you know people who tape the grand prix and avoid looking at the results, then get home and watch it in one go? I do. But they're significantly outnumbered.
There's something about knowing that something is happening right now that gives the possibility that, ultimately, anything could happen. I think that that knowledge makes something more exciting, and more engaging. It's a subtle difference, because if know that you're watching it not in real time, but still don't know what actually is about to happen, then anything can still appear to happen.
Yet, at the back of your mind, there's the thought that whatever has happened has already happened. Maybe it's my imagination? (Well, it is without a doubt my imagination, that's the point!.) But I think there is a noticeable difference in your state of awareness if you genuinely believe that something is happening in real time. I admit therefore that it is purely psychological. But I do think that there is a future of web broadcasting every bit as exciting as live TV of old, for this very reason. Either way, I'd love to hear from fans of live sports who have experienced a definite difference in the way they consume sports TV in real time to when viewing a retransmission or highlights programme.
Train of thought: I'm watching Matthew Barley live on the Plushmusic website . They're amazing and have webcast production really right, I think. Webcasting will be de rigeur in a year or two, mark my words. It's a massive part of the future of music.
Second To None
Dear NAME,
I hope this finds you well.
I am writing to invite you to be part of a new orchestra I am launching called 'International Orchestra of Me & Friends', which is a vibrant ensemble of award-winning musicians with a unique mission of bringing innovative programming to the world concert scene through dynamic musicianship, hallmarked by collaborative partnerships that transform communities by creating dialogues with individuals and diverse organizations over the long term, and through the promotion of transformational experiences by way of live events that feature the top young musicians of London, second to none, and rapidly developing a brilliant reputation as some of the most imaginative, energetic performers of today's Classical music scene, who engage audiences through our award-winning conceptual programmes, resulting in the creation of extraordinary synergy with every person that we touch through music, as demonstrated by our uncommonly expressive, critically acclaimed prize winning events that showcase our distinguished and successful young artists, the stars of tomorrow, hand selected graduates of the finest conservatoires, who in partnership of some of the most brilliant cultural figures of our time, display a passionate understanding and interpretative brilliance that only our wealth of new talent can provide, and because of whom we are already having some interest from agents, sponsors and record companies, all talking to us about possibilities for planning about some potential concerts, in the world, bringing joy and transcendence to hundreds of thousands of souls across the globe.
I would love to hear from you if you would be interested in being a part of International Orchestra of Me & Friends, and although at the moment we are still looking for a sponsor so we cannot offer you a fee, I'm sure you will see that it is a really prestigious project and great for your CV, and also I hope you will like to be part of a new and exciting top innovative group of the most vibrant musicians like yourself. Please do get in touch with me at monkey@chides.net and we can discuss further!
Best wishes,
Simon Hewitt Jones
PS – the real tragedy? I barely made more than 10% of this up. 90% of it is a word for word amalgam of the publicity material of the unique dynamic websites of the top young new ensembles of London, passionate and engaging, second to none…
Live Webcast – Today!
Today's concert starts at 1.10pm UK Time! Click 'full screen' to see a bigger picture.
<sorry, tv no longer available>
Programme:
Stravinsky: Duo Concertant
Kreisler: Three Pieces in the Style of Couperin
Poulenc: Sonata
Piano: Daniel Swain – http://www.danielswain.com/
Love it? Hate it? Something wrong? Send a message (can't help with tech stuff sorry… I'm playing a concert!)
<a href="http://courtlanemusic.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4m1/" mce_href="http://courtlanemusic.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4m1/" title="Contact Form">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a>
Collective Energy: Sacrificing The Individual
I was walking along past the Royal Albert Hall one evening when I bumped into a line of riot police, as you do. Taken on their own, they're not so scary, but en masse , they're terrifying: men in big black suits and balaclavas, with hefty helmets, shields and batons; unknown creatures with a threatening power and no visible identity.
I didn't realize they were blocking the road completely, so I walked up to them. Only when I was fairly close did I become aware of their ferocious beating; pounding on their shields, they were marching slowly forward to a rhythm, like primal warriors advancing into battle. Bang, bang, bang, bang, Halt! Wait!… Forward! Bang, bang, bang, bang, Halt! Forward! Bang, bang, bang…. And so forth. It was mesmerizing.
And yet so timeless. This wasn't the modern Guerilla warfare we see so often in our lives now. The urban jungle of our modern existence thrives on fragmentation, pure cells of energy, many interdependent yet independent shards of intensity.
Primal beasts aren't like that. The power comes from the mass, the subversion of individuality into the whole, the overwhelming force of something that holds its own momentum. You get something of it with an orchestra, but not entirely, as individuality is still at play. Not with riot police. Or so I thought.
"Mr Hewitt Jones! You'll need to turn around. You can't come this way!"
I'm not used to riot police knowing me by name. For a split second, I was in Orwellian big brother land. But the shock quickly passed. "Who are you?"
The creature shouted back his name; it was someone I knew from school, a singer. For a brief moment the chain of menace cracked. "Oh, Hi!" "Yeah, you'll have to get out of the way now, you can get down that road there."
Immediately, the shouts began again: "Forward! Bang, bang, bang…" and on they marched. I scuttled out of the way down a side street, and watched as the big black creatures screamed at each other and swarmed to block it off, forcing the cascade of protestors to surge onward down the main road.
That brief glimpse of an individual personality, so quickly submerged back into the whole, just highlighted the raw power of the collective motion. No one person controlled events or was entirely able to stop them. Sure, there must have been someone controlling the hierarchy of the policemen, but the crowd behind them had no such organization. A big creative tension was at play: many large structures were grinding against each other, hanging aggressively in a sustained compromise.
You can sense when a structure is greater than the sum of its parts, even in the smallest groups of people. At the one extreme, string quartets talk of a fifth personality, the essence of the group; at the other, a massed crowed such as a protest or a big celebration can cause a sweep of emotion that everyone is at the same time subject to, part of, contributing to, yet unable to control.
What a beautful thing when it has inherant control and poise, when the mood and emotion and the speed and the motion come together in a coherant rhythm, when the synergy flows without a second's thought.
And when it doesn't have that harmony… what a frightening, raw, powerful, dangerous, yet gloriously primal surge of energy it is then.
Either way, the individual has to give way, and dedicate themselves to becoming part of the whole.
Hello
In case you're wondering where I've got to, I'll be back before March, but until then my blog will snooze. I'm working on a large number of projects (Court Lane Music has finally moved out of three years of development and there's loads of new repertoire and groundwork to prepare). Concerts start again in March/April and I'll update the concert schedule again soon.