The Washington Post this morning had a lot of interesting news stories. Some of them pissed me off and others made me smile but one really caught my attention. Naturally, it was about twitter.
This evening at Wolf Trap, the National Symphony Orchestra’s conductor Emil de Cou will be tweeting to the audience during the performance. They won’t be tweets like, “Check it out I’m waving my arms in front of a big crowd at Wolf Trap!” but instead things like “In my score Beethoven has printed Nightingale = flute Quail = oboe Cuckoo = clarinet — a mini concerto for woodwind/birds.” And of course anyone can follow the twitter account he’ll use, @NSOatWolfTrap.
I think this is a brilliant experiment. Every day, I feel like I see another example of the incredible ways people can innovate using Twitter. Such a simple technology–140 character messages–that is radically and rapidly altering the way we communicate and experience things such as networking, events, healthcare and now, even music. By tweeting during the concert the conductor is adding even more depth to an already cultured experience. Instead of simply listening, you have the option of learning.
With tweets about the structural composition of the music, the composer or the conductor’s interpretation of the score, the significance of certain parts or even historical information about a piece, you gain so much more insight into the concert. It becomes about understanding the music, not simply enjoying.
Of course, as the Post article suggests, there will be those that protest. Some will say this takes enjoyment out of the experience, making it too complicated. Others will say the introduction of technology muddies one of the last pure experiences we have in 21st century culture. And of course you’ll have some simply complaining of the light given off by cell phone LCD screens. Needless to say, I disagree with all of these arguments.
First, you can only be so complicated with 140 character strings of text. These tweets will be simple, easy to understand and of course extremely quick to read (the previous two sentences were over 150 characters alone). This isn’t a big enough distraction to detract from the experience, it’ll simply make you think a little more about what you’re hearing. As harsh as it may sound, if this is your argument I think you’re just lazy.
As for technology meddling with the experience–why halt progress? I can virtually guarantee every attendee to the concert will have a cell phone with them, why not make use of it–especially when it’s only in this extremely limited capacity. This isn’t a light show, this doesn’t dumb down the experience whatsoever. It’s complementary and also, completely optional–if you have a problem with it, don’t participate.
Finally, they have already announced there will be a separate seating area for those interested in participating in this little experiment, to ensure LCD backlights don’t affect others in the audience. A perfectly reasonable and effective solution, in my opinion.
I’m eager to see what happens with this and to follow it as it happens. Although I obviously won’t be attending the concert, anyone can follow the tweets simply by following @NSOatWolfTrap.
