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
Hi Keegan, what a nifty article you had this week! Talk about a throwback to when YouTube shined the spotlight onto our world!
In regards to #2, I would audition for the YouTube Symphony! I say this because this would be a good opportunity to help me better prepare excerpts and work my video recording skills. Covid-19 has brought upon the use of technology more and more than usual and I feel like it would be good practice for those of us like myself who do not normally do video recordings for auditions or recitals. Even if it were to have the same outcome it would be good practice for me and a learning experience.
I’m also saying yes because I remember being on YouTube when this first came out and watching so many oboe audition videos and being inspired by the oboists I saw play. In the end, it would be for the sake of music and playing it in any capacity at this point.
Great job Keegan! Such an interesting article! I think I would audition for the YouTube Symphony. I agree with LaBarrin and I think it would be a really unique experience to have and to share music especially during COVID.
Thanks for sharing the links, Keegan. To answer your question #2…
If I want to add one unique life experience to my CV, I would like to apply for this orchestra and spend three days in New York without any costs to perform at Carnegie hall (or wherever they decide to host this event.)!
Nonetheless, if this event remains the same and does not promote me as a musician, I wonder if I will be willing to spend three-plus days and my energy… If YouTube was to revive the YSO in 2021, I think that the participants should have expanded opportunities to grow as musicians, rather than having them just spend their time rehearsing and performing for three days.
For example, educational opportunities like master classes can be offered; other collaborative music-making opportunities that they can only experience in New York (or wherever the concert will be held.) can be beneficial. Or after the participants return to their normal lives, they can have a community to share and exchange music together. Also, how this YSO can have a cultural impact on an unequal society? If the profits from YSO’s performance or performance albums are used to support other members of society who do not have access to (classical) music or to learn (classical) music, wouldn’t we expand the impact of music in our society?
Throwbacks to the days! Wow, I remember vividly when the youtube orchestra was recruiting and people were all excited. It presented itself as a "way to bring people together" but again with my cynicism, it is more of a show to demonstrate what the platform is capable of and in a way, generate more views and interact via user-submitted content.
also with the technology available at the time, the video and audio quality are somethings to be desired. Speaking of quality, it seems "serious musicians" are "above" this so most people who actually got to participate were your passionate amateurs and weekend warriors.
They also have taken inclusion and diversity in the most superficial sense. Taking people from different countries. (how original?!) But I feel this is another topic altogether.
I’m a little conflicted because Tan’s portrayal of the YouTube orchestra is so different from my initial response to the YSO in 2009.
I really like Tan Dun’s music and I was excited to listen to the YSO perform it; I remember feeling connected to a distant world that seemed impossible to reach without YouTube, watching the YouTube audition videos and thinking that anything is possible and the internet is a true democracy for education, music and culture.
As I go through Tan’s article and read about the fetishization of the internet as new and cool, the false notion of virtual democracies, prestige within the classical music world, and even instances of accentuating cultural differences within the audition process to gain attention. I’m beginning to think that maybe the YSO could have done a better job. At the same time, I’m not sure if this is the YSO’s direct responsibility, since YouTube can only do as well as the world it reflects. Tan even mentions something similar when she asks “Might its comparatively small online presence reflect classical music’s residually specialist or elitist strands?”
I feel like this relates to a quote from the Lysloff reading from last week
Youtube as a technology believed that they were able to turn their format into an "authentic" human experience bringing people from various cultures and backgrounds together to make music together, but I agree with Tan that it somewhat failed. It was only revived once, musicians mostly interacted with people from their culture or instrument, and it's not that memorable even to those who were watching it happen (I did but I forgot about it until this reading).
Youtube does, however, work as a cultural phenomenon that influences our lives as it provides access to real people and real life that then permeate and inform us. The difference is that Youtube is simply a technology that allows people to share content, not the creator of content. When youtube does create content, it doesn't usually go that well or last that long (youtube rewinds?).
By creating the Youtube Symphony Orchestra- it takes some of the humanity out of the experience. It's no longer a platform for content, it works to create it's own content and that's not why people use Youtube in the first place.
Unfortunately I do agree with those with a more cynical view of the YTO. Though this project may have been conceived with good intentions of bringing together different people and showcasing diversity, this is almost like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. Western Classical music is system that we are all part of that has exclusive and elitist tendencies. A new orchestra with with a different purpose can't escape that system. Though new ideas can certainly provide new experiences or challenge out perspectives on things, a change towards creating a "multicultural musical experience" has to come from the ground-up, not just the top-down.
I also agree with Tom that the YSO doesn't really fit in with what people use YouTube for. The reason YouTube is so successful is completely because of the work that the individual creators put in to build their online persona and community, and the YSO doesn't fit in with that.
There are so many things that Classical Music needs, and being on YouTube, isn't one.
I would not be auditioning for this. I would be finding a group that was focused on communities and educational opportunities, removing audition fees, assisting in transportation to auditions, etc.
I'm honestly not sure if I would audition for this. but I think I would probably lean towards no. On one hand, an audition is an audition and getting a gig like that would be cool to put on a CV and I think the technology would function a lot better now than it did 10 years ago. However, I agree with some of the cynical views that YSO doesn't really fit in with what most people use YouTube for and that it does seem like it was taken seriously by many outsiders and musicians alike. I personally remember back when this was happening when I was in high school and I would watch videos and see comments from people who were more concerned with the physical appearance or other factors of the people playing and would vote based off of that rather than actual skill. After thinking about all of these factors, I think I would probably only audition if what I had to play was stuff I was already working on it would be more of a "why not I guess" decision versus something I would take super seriously.
I think even if I want to audition, they are not going to take me because they might not include saxophone………but if they do, why not? I think the reason that they were facing some problems is that technology was not as advanced 10 years ago and it is not common to have concerts and performances online. Now, because we are "force" to do so, I think it will work a little better because we know how to do it and in a way, we are "force" to do so. On the other hand, I think this will be a very interesting experience! It's cool to be able to play music with musicians around the world!!
(and… I wasn't even using YouTube 10 years ago, so I was not interested at all back then)
I'm leaning towards some of the points made by the 'cynical crowd' that the intentions of the YSO didn't quite align with the platform of YouTube. YouTube is primarily a means of self-promotion; part of it's attractiveness is that it has created such an easy and direct means of putting yourself out there. But when we start talking about diversity and inclusion, I don't think the use of YouTube to create a community actually fits those categories all that well. At least not in a way that prioritizes them. I'm not sure I see how the audition process for YSO was that much more inclusive or diverse than a traditional orchestra audition. Convenient yes, but inclusive not so much. I think what classical music is missing right now as it starts to overlap into a cyber culture world is that technology is not synonymous with accessibility.