Music and Technology: A Roundtable Discussion
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Composer Phillip Glass moderates a discussion with fellow composers Morton Subotnick, Paul Miller (a.k.a DJ Spooky), John Moran and Michael Riesman about digital technology’s effects on music.
These four composers use technology in their compositions in many ways and their thoughts, suggestions and speculations are in this transcription.
Some of my favorite quotes include:
John Moran: “The head of Sony Classical once told me, with utter self-assurance, that unless I started scoring music for Hollywood movies, I would die unknown, and no one would ever hear my work. I thought that was very inspirational — maybe he was right.”Morton Subotnick: “[Technology is] here to stay and no one’s going to move away from it, any more than they moved away from automobiles. On the other hand, when digital technology and the computer came in, we tried to do everything with them. Well, as it turned out, some things are better not done on-line. […] It’s the freedom to do things one way or another. In the midst of the explosion of e-mail, for example, there’s a thriving company in France now making fountain pens. That doesn’t mean people are turning away from e-mail, it means that some people say it’s pretty great to write with a fountain pen.”Paul Miller(DJ Spooky): “I see a lot of talented people waiting to get noticed, and I see a lot of talented people putting their material on the web for free. Both categories of people aren’t making that much money. They do it for the love of the music. I like that position, but I hate being broke…”This is an excellent resource for musicians, composers, and music lovers. Check it out here.