Oct 22: Tan (2016)

Biography

Shzr Ee Tan is a Senior Lecturer and ethnomusicologist (with a specialism in Sinophone and Southeast Asian worlds) at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is interested in impact-based issues of music and decolonization, aspirational cosmopolitanism, and anti-racist activism in music scenes around the world, with a view towards understanding marginality through the lenses of intersectionality.


“Uploading” to Carnegie Hall: The First YouTube Symphony Orchestra

This article examines YouTube’s aspiration to create a new utopian musical playing field engineered through the global, participatory, and democratizing reach of internet technologies in contrast with issues around the YSO's realization.

Lasting Impacts

This article reminded me of James Cameron's Avatar, which coincidentally was also released in 2009. There was a lot of press leading up the film's release due to the new motion capture filming techniques that were utilized during its production, but despite becoming the highest grossing movie of all time (now 2nd to Avengers: Endgame) little to no lasting cultural impact can be observed. (Perhaps the FOUR sequel films that are scheduled to be released in the next decade will change this…)

Similarly, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra was built up around a romanticized vision that contemporary media would be the key to building a more inclusive and socioeconomically diverse classical music scene. While there is validity to this outlook, the YSO's program fell victim to being perceived as gimmicky and poorly constructed by some critics (although the standing ovation at the end of the Carnegie concert suggests otherwise). This review by The Guardian suggests that the format of the performance made it more effective as a live show than as a replayable video despite the project's emphasis on internet technologies. The same reviewer points out performance weaknesses in comparison to established US orchestras which brings up the question, "What's the appeal of the YSO and is it a sustainable model?"

YouTube and its sponsors built up hype based on the premise that the YSO would be a multicultural musical experience, however, the programming primarily showcased diversity within the western cannon. Although stylistic variety was present, musicians struggled to keep up with the changes due to limited rehearsal time. Tan also points out that YSO members tended to socialize amongst themselves based on their instrumental groups and cultural barriers rather than live by the image that YouTube was promoting. While a unifying image looks good to an audience, looking at internal relations reveals that participating musicians were not given enough opportunities to form many meaningful relationships due to the relatively short timeframe that was available for socialization in New York City.

The YSO’s appeal to the general public was the result of intentional branding and excitement around the internet’s developing role as a media provider. The YSO was revived once more in 2011 and the Grand Finale concert became YouTube’s largest live stream yet, connecting with over 30 million viewers. Despite these numbers, the project faced similar critiques and has not taken place since. Classical music aficionados are likely to look elsewhere for polished recordings of their favorite masterworks and archived videos of YSO performances suffer from being unable to instill the excitement that was felt by the internet community in 2009 and 2011.

YouTube Symphony Orchestra Links

Join the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2009!

MTT wants you to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Act One: YouTube Symphony Orchestra @ Carnegie Hall

List of YSO musicians and represented countries

Questions

1. Did this article leave you with the lasting impression that the YSO was innovative and aspirational or simply a media stunt? How did you weigh Tim Lee’s original vision against Shzr Ee Tan’s somewhat negative portrayal of the event’s execution?

2. If YouTube were to revive the YSO in 2021 would you be interested in auditioning? Why or why not? Would the audition process or physical experience need to be different than Tan's description in order for it to be of interest to you?

3. Does your current understanding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives make you think that there are ways that the 2009 YSO experience could have been improved?

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion @ Iowa


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