- Part of 'A topology of musical encounter' (summary) -
The realization a ‘second life’ for the musical community in Amsterdam implies we have to incorporate the new positioning of the listeners as well. What we gain with such a virtual parallel existence of our new concertpractice goes beyond the abstraction of possibly involving a worldwide audience. What should be considered interesting is the new listening experience for audiences, as becomes clear from the ‘Placard’ concept, live-stream concerts through headphones:
The performers may be in the same physical space as the audience, or - thanks to the ease of audio streaming over the internet - audience and performers, or some of them, may be, literally, worlds apart. Attending to a performance through head phones may create an intimacy between listener and musician that in more traditional concert situations often is difficult to establish. Or too easily disturbed. Especially in the case of - less imposing - types of music. It also is a format that enables one to go and try unusual things. In unusual places and unexpected moments. It may be a means to organize very loud and very 'big' concerts in very quiet and very small places. Or very quiet and very 'small' ones in very loud and very big places. Just to give one example: using the placard format, it is easy to organize a three days-and-nights festival in your tiny rented big city apartment, while remaining friends with all of your neighbors. Concerts over the internet hence lead to a fascinating game with space and time. Because where and when does such a concert actually take place? Is it where the musicians are? Or is it there where one listens? Is here and there at the same time? Or is the actual concert somewhere in between, somewhere in this ‘internet’?
- Harold Schellinx about public music events on the internet
Alike the new dimension along which musicians are connected together, we distinguish a similar process of new connective means between certain groups of listeners. The listener is seduced to be more actively involved in the performance, participating in the musical ritual by the choices one makes where, when and how to listen to music. An adventurous addition in the application of digital media for this goal, could be to build online space for contact between these different audiences that can be practically anywhere. One could think of online discussions where listeners continue an interaction about the music from different time and space perspectives. Another possibility would be to connect different webcams in as well the actual performance-hall as streaming from people’s homes, outside on the street or anywhere the ‘reality’ of the musical encounter takes place. So different times and places in fact come together in digital space and can interact.
We know that different musical qualities work best in certain concerthalls, and musicians adapt their programmes to the volume and the ambiance of the concertstage, and to the characteristics of the listeners that belong to the place. The question rises how the innovative music we intend to develop fits the diverse media that will provide the listening. Concerthalls, headphones, speakers, mobile telephones – all of them have a different ‘acoustics’ and offer different ‘ambiances’ the listener is invited in. A next step in the pursuit of these developments would be to research the refined connections between certain groups of listeners who support certain musical collectives and how digital surroundings are applied in relation to this ‘musical scene’. We are facing a public engagement with music that is beyond the discussion of individual or collective. Musicians and listeners structure their own unique relation to music and its application in life. We are all free as birds to catch our own flight. But the reason why we continue to engage in music lies in the basic human need to connect and share, therewith transcending the individual notion. There is no distinction between folk and art anymore.
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