iMedia: Video Games Live

Civilization IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6GU5fNQq9U&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

Halo Suite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5aezS1FbiM&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

Kingdom of Hearts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c94VLFEQqbA&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
These are only some of the many video games songs covered live.

       Playing this piece in orchestra and hearing it numerous times revealed to me how our society has shifted as well as our interests. In the end it also extends to how this kind of music affects our society. When I first heard this piece I was amazed at the power of strings and surprised at how much classical string instruments have evolved. Interestingly, our music reveals the postmodern nature of our society. For example, in the Halo Suite, as the strings hit those high sixteenth notes, the drums follow each beat. Each piece has all the instruments necessary to perform a symphony, but with minor adjustments, we have a rock orchestra. Ever since music became respected and composer after conductor passed through our history, music has been categorized. When we open our little itunes app, we see the fifty different genres of music listed: rock, pop, classical, modern rock, etc. We've had many crossovers between pop and rock, but generally classical music stays pure to its nature and we leave the classical genre alone to isolate the beautiful natural wooden sound of a violin concerto from the electronic piano and riffs. However as our culture continues to mix with other cultures, everything is hard to categorize; we've definitely entered the postmodern society. This affects some people in our society who had found classical instruments bland and "unexciting" in that it changes their views 180 degrees. They see that classical instruments have more flexibility than we have normally given them. Video games live is a mixture of powerful strings singing like a choir in the background even as an electric guitar riffs away.
       The fact that our orchestra, which is known to play mainly absolute classical (and some modern) pieces, picked this piece shows a change in our society. A larger integration between sounds made by nature and technology. It affects our culture in that after the Video Games Live tour plays for thousands of people and it's likely that the same people will go home and look up these songs to hear them again, and perhaps in the end become video game designers and end up inputting the very sounds into their new video game. The reaction as our orchestra conductor tells us to pull out this piece is not surprising, loud whoops and happiness is reflected in the students, and personally this piece is also one of my favorites. This composition as well as the tour will serve to encourage other "movements" towards combining technology and music that dates back farther than any ipod.
     For me, it was also a realization of the solidifying of the convergence between nature and technology. The fact the postmodernism has now penetrated through an art form that has been celebrated by Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Corelli, etc., is amazing. However, it's also a sad realization because the things that we have tried to keep pure are subject to the constant changes in our society and changes in interests. Depending on the individual, it triggers emotions to want to keep classical instruments and classical styles pure of any pop, rock, roll, rap, while others would argue and say that everything needs to crossover. No matter what the point of view this mix will spark greater interest and perhaps less interest, but progress nonetheless. For me personally, when I hold my violin to play this piece, I'm so thrilled to be suddenly able to play music that I had thought was only possible for drums, guitars, and singers.