Big band can be 'real music' too. Maria Schneider's music is absolutely brilliant. Try this one on for size http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJegYsmlqU
It even has vocals!
I went to some free form jazz last night. Everybody seemed to be playing by themselves all at the same time and in a very random fashion. The pianist was just mashing the keyboard. I'm sure a computer could create sounds like that easily.
maybe the players were some kind of robots...
It's very possible, likely even, that the band you saw just isn't very good at performing a free jazz set that is musical. It is extremely difficult to do this, but when it is done right it can be absolutely mesmerizing.
The headline makes it sound like you turn this program on and it spits out "I've Got Rhythm." This isn't meant to be jazz; Free Improvisation != Free Jazz.
FTA:
between a laptop and a sound generator, the composer soaks up the different tones, processes them, and sends them back in ever-changing variations.
So you feed sounds into the program and it processes them in a cool and somewhat random way and spits it back out. It's a glorified guitar pedal.
The cool thing about this is the element of unpredictability to it. In the right hands this could be used to make some really awesome music.
Personally I liked the example clips a lot (for what it's worth, I am a jazz saxophonist). I know a lot of people that would love to get their hands on this and experiment with it, myself included.
When you're some parent who has no idea what a Wii is and vaguely remembers what the controller looked like, the possibility of grabbing this without second thought isn't surprising.
I am not a parent, but if/when I am, I can't imagine I would ever buy a product for my kid without knowing what it was. Seems pretty irresponsible to me. Besides, one of them clearly says "Wii" on the remote and the other does not.
Also, are you implying that today you CAN return software with the shrink wrap broken? I find that surprising, but I haven't tried to return software in a long time A few years ago I had to buy some software for a class and, of course, it didn't work properly on my computer. Fortunately for me, though, the back of the box said something to the effect of: "If you are not satisfied with this software, return it to the place of purchase for a full refund."
The lady at the store was pissed when I showed that to her!
ArtistShare, also formed in 2001, uses a similar model that you described. Maria Schneider spoke at my school last year and said that her horrific experience with her first label ultimately lead to ArtistShare's creation.
The idea is that you are buying the experience of making the album. You get access to all kinds of interviews with band members, videos of rehearsals and previews of new tracks and, depending on which subscription you choose, a ton of other things like backstage access to concerts. This is really useful and informative to me and as a musician, because I can listen to an interviews with Rich Perry and Ingrid Jensen about how they approach certain solos. I also know that I am directly supporting those musicians, which is a good feeling!
I think packages for her most recent album ranged in price from $17 to something like $15,000 and she had takers at all levels. She has also won a grammy for her 2004 album that was solely distributed through the website. So this model is definitely working for her.
Slashdot Mirror
slightly OT
Big band can be 'real music' too. Maria Schneider's music is absolutely brilliant. Try this one on for size http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tJegYsmlqU It even has vocals!
I went to some free form jazz last night. Everybody seemed to be playing by themselves all at the same time and in a very random fashion. The pianist was just mashing the keyboard. I'm sure a computer could create sounds like that easily.
maybe the players were some kind of robots...
It's very possible, likely even, that the band you saw just isn't very good at performing a free jazz set that is musical. It is extremely difficult to do this, but when it is done right it can be absolutely mesmerizing.
FTA:
between a laptop and a sound generator, the composer soaks up the different tones, processes them, and sends them back in ever-changing variations.
So you feed sounds into the program and it processes them in a cool and somewhat random way and spits it back out. It's a glorified guitar pedal.
The cool thing about this is the element of unpredictability to it. In the right hands this could be used to make some really awesome music. Personally I liked the example clips a lot (for what it's worth, I am a jazz saxophonist). I know a lot of people that would love to get their hands on this and experiment with it, myself included.
I am not a parent, but if/when I am, I can't imagine I would ever buy a product for my kid without knowing what it was. Seems pretty irresponsible to me. Besides, one of them clearly says "Wii" on the remote and the other does not.
The lady at the store was pissed when I showed that to her!
I guess sometimes you get lucky.
ArtistShare, also formed in 2001, uses a similar model that you described. Maria Schneider spoke at my school last year and said that her horrific experience with her first label ultimately lead to ArtistShare's creation.
The idea is that you are buying the experience of making the album. You get access to all kinds of interviews with band members, videos of rehearsals and previews of new tracks and, depending on which subscription you choose, a ton of other things like backstage access to concerts. This is really useful and informative to me and as a musician, because I can listen to an interviews with Rich Perry and Ingrid Jensen about how they approach certain solos. I also know that I am directly supporting those musicians, which is a good feeling!
I think packages for her most recent album ranged in price from $17 to something like $15,000 and she had takers at all levels. She has also won a grammy for her 2004 album that was solely distributed through the website. So this model is definitely working for her.