Digital Music, Digital Sound and Multimedia

Untitled, Intaglio etching, 18" x 24", Marjorie Thompson Copyright 1976

The Chicago area has always had a vibrant music scene. As I researching information about The Cellar, a teen club in my home town Arlington Heights for this blog, I found this video "How Chicago Rocked The 60's" created for a WTTW show, Chicago Stories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3p-lqKYu2g It details information about the Chicago music business and shows what a pivotal role live music events played in establishing bands. The paper "Music in the Digital Age" discusses some elements of the marketing and distribution of music before and after digital music. (Sen, 2010) This video is an interesting supplement to it.

If you've never heard of The Cellar, here's a link to a blog about when The Who played there
in 1967: http://www.undergroundbee.com/2010/11/30/when-the-who-came-to-town/(Loerzel,2010). Although I never went to shows there (too young), I have a an interesting association with it. When I was in junior high, a friend and myself decided that we wanted to put together a fashion show. We partnered with a local dress shop and modeled their Mod clothing line at The Cellar during a break between The Shadows of Knight and another band. This was before fashion and Rock and Roll were associated so I think we were trail blazers, especially for 7th graders.

In Urbana, Illinois where I went to college as an undergraduate at The University of Illinois, there were many music venues where bands played as a part of a larger college touring circuit. Legendary bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Elvis Costello Band played intimate concerts in bars which seated less than 100 people. As I would sit in the audience, I would think about how I could visually depict the experience of the live performance. This etching was inspired by the music of Miles Davis.

When MTV began in the early 1980's, the first music video shown was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the band The Buggles. Having taken film making in high school, I thought MTV would become an amazing innovative platform to showcase experimental films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8h5OEivJdA

With MTV, videos were instantly associated with music. Although most of the films were not experimental, images and lyrics redefined each other as videos associated with songs went beyond concert footage. Although I do not know if these films were created with digital technology, they are part of a journey of how music and video became combined into a multimedia experience.

In this blog I would like to look at how multimedia innovations have affected digital music and digital sound as these areas have expanded into digital publishing, apps and other multimedia expressions, incorporating visual and interactive elements.

The best lyrics are poems as well as songs. When Rod Stewart created the music video for "Broken Arrow" in 1991, for me it explored visual imagery that went beyond the lyrics into an area of visual poetry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS5Hp-LFNe0 In this video, the atmospheric natural landscape is contrasted to the dystopian urban scene to depict two people struggling to find meaning in their lives and come together, despite the circumstances of their lives. The video for the REM song "Losing My Religion" is another example of visual poetry. They have taken the style of Caravaggio and updated it to a contemporary profound discussion about the tragedy of life and the human condition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg

In the paper, "Music in the Digital Age", discusses how digital capabilities are putting production back in the hands of the artists and musicians. "The merger of audio technologies with computing technologies converted music into an information product. Technological innovations changed how music and songs are bought and consumed today."(Sen, 2010) In the Time Magazine article "U2's New Mission" the article discusses U2's decision to release their album "Songs of Innocence" in partnership with Apple. In it, Bono talks about how he is interested in creating an interactive image and music platform that people can use on their computers as a way to create a product that people would buy. (Mayer/Cupertino, 2014)

This idea is similar to innovations in the digital publishing world. In an article for the Wall Street Journal called "Blowing Up The Book" writer Alexandra Alter discusses a digital book "Chopsticks" which is a book as well as an app. The book allows readers to read instant messages, listen to the protagonist's favorite songs, and gives readers the opportunity to rearrange the pages to create a customized version of the story. (Alter, 2012)

I thought digitally enhanced version of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land mentioned in the article sounded really interesting. The author mentioned the app has a facsimile of the original manuscript (with edits by Ezra Pound) as well as 1933 and 1947 recordings of Eliot reading.(Alter, 2012) The prospect of T.S. Eliot reading The Waste Land is enough to interest me to find out what it is like.

On Touchpress Limited Website, there is an interesting assemblage of reviews, interviews with the publisher about why they decided to create an app for The Waste Land. Although I only viewed the introductory video on the Touchpress website, the percussion in the background as T. S. Eliot reads very dramatically accentuates Elliot's voice. The poetic images are further enhanced by the videos of detached crowds walking on city streets.
http://thewasteland.touchpress.com/(Touchpress) One drawback of a visual presentation is that it might interpret the images in the poem differently than the reader imagines. I imagined the poem taking place in a more surreal landscape. The background percussion creates a Beat Poet atmosphere and the crowds are from a more contemporary time than the time period of WWI. Which seems to be the goal of the the creators of the app.

There are several links to other apps such as an app for Seamus Heaney's translation of five fables written by Robert Henryson, a 15th century Scottish poet: http://fivefablesapp.co. Hearing the poems read in the original Middle Scots language of the 1500's is fascinating. The original language is very rhythmic and lyrical. As text, these poems are somewhat inaccessible to most people not familiar with this ancient language. Being able hear the text read and view the original language with the English translation next to it really brings the language from the 1500's to life.(Touchpress)

The app for Shakespeare's Sonnets http://shakespeares-sonnets.touchpress.com/ immerses one in Shakespeare's language in a new way. Stephen Fry's masterful reading of Sonnet 130 gives insight into Shakespeare's original intent. His expressive interpretation gives voice to Shakespeare's beautifully crafted language. Rather than the sonnet being an archaic version of dead English, Fry's reading reveals Shakespeare's emotional soliloquy confessing his innermost thoughts to the reader. Many people might have difficulty understanding the sonnets and hearing them read gives them a timeless voice. (Touchpress)

Touchpress is a pretty interesting company. They have created apps for many different subjects from the Atlas to Vivaldi. I really liked their approach to classical music which they characterize as "Classical music reimagined" In 2014, they received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Creative Communication.They show the score which they call a Beatmap as the music plays and you can listen to interviews of musicians and scholars discuss the pieces.  In the app for the Four Seasons by Vivaldi, one is given the opportunity to view the score as the music plays, hear interviews with experts and musicians, listen to one instrument isolated from the entire orchestra, watch videos of musicians playing the masterpiece and learn more about the piece. (Touchpress)

http://vivaldisfourseasons.com/?tpnav=1

These apps give the user a window into the creative process of music creation. The Beatmap provides the opportunity to view the musical score as the music plays. For anyone who loves music, one can see how different instruments contribute to the sound of the piece, which is further enhanced by being able to hear one instrument at the push of a button. By understanding how the music is made, one appreciates it to a greater degree. In that sense, they provide an expanded version of a live music event. Perhaps music will be released as new concepts such as apps like these which will create products that people will want to buy.

References

Alter, A., 2012, "Blowing Up The Book", Wall Street Journal Book Section, Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2012. retrieved from 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204468004577169001135659954

Loerzel, R, 2010. "When The Who came to Town" blog post, Underground Bee, November 30, 2010
retrieved from:http://www.undergroundbee.com/2010/11/30/when-the-who-came-to-town/

R.E.M, 2006, "Losing My Religion"(video),  YouTube, July 1 2011 

retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg

Sen, A., 2010, "Music in the Digital Age: Musicians and Fans Around the World Come Together on "The Net", Global Media Journal:American Edition, vol. 9, issue 16, pages 1-25.

Stewart, R., 1991, "Broken Arrow"(video), Deluxe Music, YouTube July 23, 2012.

retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS5Hp-LFNe0

The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star", YouTube retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8h5OEivJdA&list=RDW8h5OEivJdA#t=0

Touchpress Limited Web Site retrieved from http://www.touchpress.com/