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Realtime Concert Program Notes on a PDA
PoisonousPhat writes "NPR has an article on a new idea for concertgoers at the Aspen Music Festival. Dubbed the 'Concert Companion', the concept used a PDA (a Sony Clie PEG-NX73V for those of you that MUST know) as a 'listener's guide...that updates you with information about what you're hearing, in real time.' The concept seems similar to the audio headsets available in museum tours. Read the bleeping article here."
Yeah and theatre geeks are upset.
I sit on the fence. On one hand, I would find it horribly distracting to have a gadget in front of me. However, it's nearly as distracting as all of the other people in the world who are so important that they need to be fucking with their cell phones at every moment of the day. Perhaps the PDA would at least turn their attention away from a device that does a poor rendition of Beethoven's Fifth everytime someone calls.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Get a bloody booklet about the concert before the concert and read that. Keep your shitty, glowing, backlit crap out of theaters. Cell-phones are bad enough
My favorite piece from the concert was "Your Battery is Low!" but I also liked "Unexpected Application Error."
preload the score on the devices and broadcast a synchronization signal? (you'd probably need somebody to follow the score somewhere and, say, tap a key every 8 measures, don't think it could be done automatically).
The screen is a bit small but with a half-vga resolution (320x480) in landscape mode it should be feasible to show 2-3 staffs and at least 3-4 measures.
The user would probably also be able to select what instruments they're interested in (say, violins & brass, or choir & organ, or whatever) because you wouldn't obviously be able to show all the staffs at the same time.
I'd find this much more useful than comments like the ones written in the article.
-- the cake is a lie
I'd certainly prefer it over one of those little hand held talking things like you can get at the National Gallery in DC. :\
But what was wrong with paper? guess their just trying to save a few trees.
I've seen PDA's used for guides for conferences, seminars etc.. and they always seem like overkill. But I like the techy stuff as mutch as the next guy and I've been looking for a reason to use those little dinks so bring on the toys hehe.
[stupid]
Wonder if the'll be supported at the next metallica concert 'round here
[/stupid]
"Oh... There it goes... my brain stopped" - Ed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
Listen to this...this is where the violin section can never quite get the staccato right. Hear that? See, it should sound like this...[MIDI plays, loudly]
Oooh, now here comes the soloist. Did you know she's having an affair with the conductor? And they're both married! Can you believe it? I KNOW!
Ahhh, I love this next part. It reminds me of the time I went to Aspen. It's SO nice there. Have you ever been? [Click here to book a flight now!]
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I work at the Colorado Music Festival, and this year we implemented a similar concept. Our conductor was aware of the Aspen system, but hadn't been impressed with it. He felt that it distracted from the musical experience to have that much going on... I suspect it also had a little to do with people looking down instead of up at the orchestra.
At any rate, we elected to use a subtle projected numbering system that corresponded to each movement or theme. In the paper program for the concert, these themes/comments/history were listed. We called it "Keeping Score". (Yeah, I know...)
It was a brilliant success, however. The festival saw something like a 10% attendance/revenue increase this season. For a Colorado arts organization, that's huge: Our governor removed all funding for the arts this year, including blocking millions of dollars in matching funds from the National Endowment. Arts orgs in the state have been collapsing left and right.
I think that having a cheap solution like Aspen implemented is fantastic for smaller orchestras. Don't get me wrong, CMF is pretty big, but it's no Aspen. I'd love to see both options next season though -- a subtle projector *and* a handheld option. We had a few pieces this year that had opera or spoken parts which we were able to project English translations for; I'd love to be able to push different languages to our international attendees.
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