Orchestra Hero?
Will there ever be an Orchestra Hero (aka Guitar Hero/Rock Band)? Would that be cool? Lame? Food for thought from the Michael Gordon of The New York Times:
What is the hottest thing in music right now? A pair of video games ? Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Anyone can play. The games allow you to become a member of the band. Each game offers a range of pop music hits on game controllers that look and feel like guitars and drums. What makes these video games so much more impressive than “air guitar” is that through the use of something called the instrument game controller the player actually experiences the visceral feeling of performing music. You can even improve if you practice.
So, why not Orchestra Hero? What if I could “play” the horn solo in “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” on a “controller horn” or the bassoon solo at the opening of “The Rite of Spring” on a “controller bassoon”? What if I could bang out the timpani part in the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or the clarinet solo at the beginning of “Rhapsody in Blue”? What if I could stand in front of the entire orchestra and conduct Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, or sit in the brass section for a rendition of Janá?ek’s “Sinfonietta”? The possibilities are astounding.
Read the complete post here.
The Evolution of Apple Ads | Webdesigner Depot
Mac nerds (I know you’re out there!), rejoice: Webdesigner Depot recently put out a wonderful retrospective of Apple ads over the ages. Think that Apple ads were always clean and simple? Just check out all the text-heavy ads from the 80s and early 90s. It wasn’t until the return of Steve Jobs in the mid-90s that Apple ads took on the sleek look that they’re known for today. Some of the 80s material is staggeringly ugly in hindsight (though not any different than what most computer companies were putting out at the time):
The Evolution of Apple Ads | Webdesigner Depot
CBC 144: advice from James Knabe
This week’s podcast features an interview with James Knabe, a trumpet performer and teacher who also runs a web consulting service for musicians. Learn more about what musicians can do to effectively market themselves by listening to this short interview, and check out musicianadvice.com for more information about the services James provides. Enjoy!
New iPhone-friendly format for DoubleBassBlog.org
I’ve toyed with mobile versions for my site before but have always walked away disappointed. Today, however, I was poking around online for a good iPhone-friendly formatting plugin for another project I do, and I happened upon the very cool WPtouch plugin, which renders my site beautifully for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android phones (sorry Blackberry… the regular site still works for you, though).
You have the option to drill down into all the site features, browse by category, email links to posts, leave comments, and much more, all in a fast-loading interface. If you want to look at the full site on your phone, you can drag a slider at the bottom of the mobile site and poof yourself back into the standard desktop mode. Long overdue, I know, but this is head and shoulders above the older mobile formats, which makes me happy.
The iPhone – my convergence device
Ever since I saw my first iPhone (the day after its launch in 2007), I knew that it was a revolutionary device. Getting my wife the first generation iPhone and seeing how she incorporated it into her life further convinced me of the power of this little pocket tablet, and getting one myself the day after the 3G debuted in 2008 made me a true believer.
Since then, I’ve found this little device taking on an ever-greater role in all of my daily activities, both professional and recreational. I blog on it (I’ve gotten quite comfortable typing on the virtual keyboard.. in fact, this post you’re reading was written on the iPhone as I relaxed in Millennium Park in Chicago one day), I record podcast segments with it, and I use it as my MP3 player, car stereo replacement, GPS device, camera, eBook reader, movie player, email, calendar, and contact machine, and web browsing device. In fact, I probably spend much more time surfing the web on this than I do on my desktop machine, and anything I bookmark on the iPhone is also bookmarked on my machine at home through MobileMe.
I really appreciate how this device untethers me from the computer. I love being outside and doing a little blogging if I feel the urge, then reading for a while on the Kindle app, doing some sketches for an upcoming podcast, and responding to email when I take a break. This may, for some, seem to reduce their freedom by making them too easily accessible by work, friends, and family. Not for me–I find it liberating, and I can’t wait to see how this great device continues to evolve.
I’ll have to skip this current 3GS generation since I’m only a year into my AT&T contract (though my wife got one and loves it), but I think I’m a hopeless convert to this little device, and I can’t imagine what it was like not having one of these with me throughout the day.
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