Via Mashable.
“A violin may be beautiful, but it always will sound like a violin.”
I hear that, and I immediately wonder: Well, what’s the problem? Isn’t it a comfort to know that a beautiful violin will always sound like a violin? Sometimes, the future of musical instruments, and the future of music—and, for that matter, the future, in general—sort of makes me sad, leaves me feeling a bit cold and confused. I don’t easily understand why we continue to replace our beautiful, fleshy things with flatter, shinier, digital devices. I see how these new objects can be exciting and cool—watching the gentleman play his iPhone like a flute even brings a small smile to my face—but I don’t see how the new objects are better than their antecedents.
What does this iPad-looking thing offer over a Gibson Flying V? (The iPad-looking thing is actually called the LinnStrument. See here.)
I am becoming increasingly aware of my old-fashioned nature; I’m more interested in preserving and restoring old forms than in creating and nurturing new, but it often seems to me that our new tools serve merely as answers to our ever-changing psychic needs, and, as such, are disposable. I want stuff that lasts.
But, then again, to answer my own question, perhaps these new devices will abolish the limitations of earlier instruments and help to strengthen communication. If Jimi Hendrix had had access to such devices, could he have realized the music of his mind?
