Well – it’s been a long time coming – now the third post of this blog. As we hurtle towards the end of the year, resolutions are being thought about, and keeping this blog updated is one of them.
Recently I went to stay with a friend of mine who lives in a very small seaside town in Northern Ireland and this visit got me thinking about how technology can be used in a really creative way. A neighbour of hers has a teenage son, who is very interested in music, and is very taken with the iPad. He visits my friend and assembles pieces on the garageband app on her iPad. He is very interested in ‘multi tracking’ where people record themselves singing all the parts to a song – even including instruments and rhythm and creates his own versions of pop songs on his limited software on his PC.
When I met him the other weekend, he told me that he had been featured in a global collaboration for Sting’s 60th birthday. Some fans had put together a version of ‘Fragile’ and posted it on YouTube. This really struck a chord (!) with me – as this teenager from a small town in Northern Ireland was featured on this track with people from all over the world. The video was put together by a girl in Israel! How else could this happen but with the technology we have now – truly a global village!
I wrote the above paragraph and then found that Mark Berthelemy had already beaten me to it with his recent post. This was the idea that Eric Whitacre had with his world choir. Albeit on a smaller scale – check out George’s collaboration here (he’s the one that does the beat halfway through).
Let me know if you’ve come across any inspirational collaborations recently!
Carry On Learning! 
Hi Damian,
Great minds think a like so if you thinking of the same thing as Mr B at the same time in the same context then that’s not a bad thing.
I’ve an example that demonstrates how the web has enabled connections that weren’t possible before and has gone on to provide opportunity for collaboration and innovation. The example is around beatboxing in the UK. You may know in my younger days I was prone to pick up a mic every now and again but I was also lucky enough to meet and work with some very gifted musicians. One of these musicians was @shlomo, one of the premier UK beatboxers. During the period of 1998-2004 @shlomo was in Leeds and through global online forums (like https://www.humanbeatbox.com/forum/content.php) was able to link in with other beatboxers to share hints and tips and face to face get togethers were organised in Leeds and London where beatboxers from across the UK (and abroad) would gather to flex their skills, share, compete, record each other and learn from each other. When YouTube kicked off you can imagine what impact this had on beatboxers sharing video / audio with each other
It’s through these forums and meetings @shlomo was able to meet other like minded beatboxers and collaborations started. A few years on @shlomo is still beatboxing and creator of the vocal orchestra – you can check out the videos on YouTube of Shlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk6LFBYHDWo – on jools holland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqCM36DDyI8 – at the beat loop world championships 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvgf5CeXVR8 – Shlomo & Vocal Orchestra
Anyway check them out and see what you think, but I’ve no doubt that UK beatboxing would not be where it is today and things like the above would be happening if the web and opportunties it provides to connect and collaborate didn’t exist
Thanks for commenting Mike. I just think that these days, creative people can achieve anything!