I’m a music teacher by trade I teach at
the high school of Commerce in
Springfield Massachusetts our school was
built in 1915 here’s what the first high
school of Commerce Band looked like back
then we’ve come a long way since 1915
here’s my class today
now most of you are probably thinking
we’ve heard this talk before about the
connections between math and music
teaching like a champion or how today
it’s more important than ever to build
strong individualized relationships with
your students but this isn’t that talk
this is about how my students at the
high school of Commerce are on the
cutting edge of a 400 year old art form
one of the most important things we can
do in music education is to get out of
the classroom and go see professional
musicians we have a fantastic orchestra
right down the street
the Springfield Symphony Orchestra I had
season tickets with my grandfather
growing up and now I’m on their board of
directors a few years ago I took my
class to an open rehearsal of the
symphony this is something that music
students have been doing for hundreds of
years go to a rehearsal watch the
maestro incorporate what you heard and
saw into your own playing Mozart did it
Beethoven did it we all did it sit
listen and learn well when I took my
students much was the same but there was
one important difference the smartphone
we were studying the rehearsal like
always when I felt the vibration from my
phone it was a student two rows down you
see and all these hundreds of years of
students studying Orchestra rehearsals
the one thing they haven’t been able to
do is ask their teacher questions while
the orchestra is playing it’ll be too
loud and disruptive the maestro of
course requires complete silence and
attention but that day was different I
got a text message a silent question
from a trumpet player asking about a
particular technique someone who was
using onstage for the first time through
the power of technology a music teacher
was able to ask and answer questions
during an orchestra rehearsal we had a
rousing lesson via group chat about all
the things that were happening on the
stage in the score and in the life of
the composer that led us to be hearing
this particular piece in this particular
manner mice
didn’t know it at the time but they had
the start of an idea for what I think
will become the next sensation in the
world of attending concerts classical or
otherwise this first rehearsal has led
to the development of a new program at
the Springfield Symphony Orchestra
called real-time concert notes with
real-time concert notes we were able to
take an art form hundreds of years old
and let you experience it in a totally
new way just like a museum might give
you an audio guide to its works of
visual art we can now give you a visual
guide to our audio works of art aside
from my students sparking the need for
this new educational technology we were
inspired by some of the great musical
teachers of recent memory Leonard
Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas
Bernstein is one of the greatest
American musicians of all time in any
genre
he wrote West Side Story conducted every
major Orchestra and worked throughout
his life to find new ways to explain old
music in 1954 he appeared on the CBS
show omnibus and walked a live audience
at home through Beethoven’s 5th Symphony
the stage was arranged with a
larger-than-life score of the symphony
and Bernstein instructed the musicians
in the orchestra to move around on top
of the parts they were playing to show
the audience what Beethoven was thinking
this TV series later evolved into the
young people’s concerts between 1958 and
1972 Bernstein and CBS put on 53
nationally televised lectures about
classical music however as well
intentioned as Bernstein and his
lectures were they were not that
different than any lecture in music
history class Bernstein’s stops the
orchestra he talked to the students he
starts the orchestra up again Michael
Tilson Thomas conductor student of
Bernstein’s and former Ted stage speaker
expands on the ideas of his teacher and
the young people’s concerts with his
2006 PBS series keeping score the
maestro does a masterful job of walking
the audience through the intricacies of
Beethoven or Mahler just as Bernstein
did but he does this on location where
the composer’s lived and worked it adds
a great sense of vitality and relevance
to a piece of music that has usually
only ever heard in the abstract not only
can you get an explanation of what’s
happening in the music but you
get background information on why it was
written in that particular fashion still
these TV programs don’t change how we
experience music in the concert hall the
jazz club or your 12 year olds violin
recital for that matter when we got the
idea for real-time concert notes two
years ago we had to find a way to use
cheap available technology to use the to
do the job we ended up using a bulk text
messaging platform it was a good start
but there was plenty of room for
improvement
for starters patrons forgetting to
silence their phones would get a series
of alerts before finally finding the
vibrate button in the dark additionally
receiving a text message in a dark
Symphony Hall created all kinds of light
pollution we tried to designate special
sections of the hall for the text
portion of the program but attendees
paying for certain seats are unlikely to
move up six flights of stairs where the
elevator doesn’t go to try a new program
certainly not a new technological
program for a 400 year old art form but
more than that these bulk texting
platforms aren’t designed for precise
rapid-fire communications when I was
operating real-time concert notes last
year I had to make seven different mouse
clicks on five different pages just to
send one text as you can imagine it’s
hard to do things in real time when
you’re concerned about mouse clicks lag
time and Wi-Fi connectivity even still
with the success of real-time concert
notes 1.0 we decide to enlist the help
of a local tech startup to improve our
patron experience when the symphony
decided to use this new publishing
platform and its app xx Glen general
live event notes the symphony became
their first client today with real-time
concert notes powered by xx Glen we’re
able to precisely deliver the same
information you got from Leonard
Bernstein or Michael Tilson Thomas in
the palm of your hand at exactly the
right moment exactly when it’s needed
the most in the concert hall and during
the concert when the Springfield
Symphony Orchestra had their opening
night with the third symphony by Aaron
Copland the slides occurred on average
at 90 second intervals so it’s not to be
too disruptive to the live music
experience for the sake of this
demonstration I’ve compressed five
slides into roughly a minute and a half
and included a final slide which would
have occurred at the end of the concert
just to show how we wrap the wrap up the
program and further engage with the
audience let’s take a look at what that
looks like in action here’s what the
debut of real-time concert notes powered
by XX glenn looked like at opening night
[Music]
but this isn’t really just about
live-tweeting some notes at a conductor
score imagine for a moment what xx Glenn
can do for all types of Arts and
communities the last time you went to a
museum I bet you saw one of these or
maybe one of these or did it look like
this the smartphone in your pocket is
twenty million times more powerful than
the technology that landed on the moon
in 1969 why don’t we use the technology
we have the technology we use the most
museums invest tens of thousands of
dollars in hardware that will be
obsolete in three years and they still
have to create and curate the digital
content anyways why not leverage the
technology that your patrons come in
with it’s cheaper easier and especially
more sanitary
tour guides walking large groups through
a historical district in multiple
languages XX Glenn simultaneously
translates into any language is needed
for your tour group do you love going to
live sporting events but miss the great
color commentary and stats you get while
watching at home
xx Glenn can bring everything to your
seat are you at a TED talk and want to
know more about the speaker the topic or
see the data in-depth xx Glenn can do it
all people used to talk about the future
like it was a long ways away in 2020
we’re gonna have such and such and this
and that well the future is here we can
finally have our cake and eat it too we
have the power in the palm of our hands
to transform the way we view the world
around us you don’t have to take it all
the way to the moon
but you can at least go to the symphony
imagine all the other possibilities
thank you [Applause]
the high school of Commerce in
Springfield Massachusetts our school was
built in 1915 here’s what the first high
school of Commerce Band looked like back
then we’ve come a long way since 1915
here’s my class today
now most of you are probably thinking
we’ve heard this talk before about the
connections between math and music
teaching like a champion or how today
it’s more important than ever to build
strong individualized relationships with
your students but this isn’t that talk
this is about how my students at the
high school of Commerce are on the
cutting edge of a 400 year old art form
one of the most important things we can
do in music education is to get out of
the classroom and go see professional
musicians we have a fantastic orchestra
right down the street
the Springfield Symphony Orchestra I had
season tickets with my grandfather
growing up and now I’m on their board of
directors a few years ago I took my
class to an open rehearsal of the
symphony this is something that music
students have been doing for hundreds of
years go to a rehearsal watch the
maestro incorporate what you heard and
saw into your own playing Mozart did it
Beethoven did it we all did it sit
listen and learn well when I took my
students much was the same but there was
one important difference the smartphone
we were studying the rehearsal like
always when I felt the vibration from my
phone it was a student two rows down you
see and all these hundreds of years of
students studying Orchestra rehearsals
the one thing they haven’t been able to
do is ask their teacher questions while
the orchestra is playing it’ll be too
loud and disruptive the maestro of
course requires complete silence and
attention but that day was different I
got a text message a silent question
from a trumpet player asking about a
particular technique someone who was
using onstage for the first time through
the power of technology a music teacher
was able to ask and answer questions
during an orchestra rehearsal we had a
rousing lesson via group chat about all
the things that were happening on the
stage in the score and in the life of
the composer that led us to be hearing
this particular piece in this particular
manner mice
didn’t know it at the time but they had
the start of an idea for what I think
will become the next sensation in the
world of attending concerts classical or
otherwise this first rehearsal has led
to the development of a new program at
the Springfield Symphony Orchestra
called real-time concert notes with
real-time concert notes we were able to
take an art form hundreds of years old
and let you experience it in a totally
new way just like a museum might give
you an audio guide to its works of
visual art we can now give you a visual
guide to our audio works of art aside
from my students sparking the need for
this new educational technology we were
inspired by some of the great musical
teachers of recent memory Leonard
Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas
Bernstein is one of the greatest
American musicians of all time in any
genre
he wrote West Side Story conducted every
major Orchestra and worked throughout
his life to find new ways to explain old
music in 1954 he appeared on the CBS
show omnibus and walked a live audience
at home through Beethoven’s 5th Symphony
the stage was arranged with a
larger-than-life score of the symphony
and Bernstein instructed the musicians
in the orchestra to move around on top
of the parts they were playing to show
the audience what Beethoven was thinking
this TV series later evolved into the
young people’s concerts between 1958 and
1972 Bernstein and CBS put on 53
nationally televised lectures about
classical music however as well
intentioned as Bernstein and his
lectures were they were not that
different than any lecture in music
history class Bernstein’s stops the
orchestra he talked to the students he
starts the orchestra up again Michael
Tilson Thomas conductor student of
Bernstein’s and former Ted stage speaker
expands on the ideas of his teacher and
the young people’s concerts with his
2006 PBS series keeping score the
maestro does a masterful job of walking
the audience through the intricacies of
Beethoven or Mahler just as Bernstein
did but he does this on location where
the composer’s lived and worked it adds
a great sense of vitality and relevance
to a piece of music that has usually
only ever heard in the abstract not only
can you get an explanation of what’s
happening in the music but you
get background information on why it was
written in that particular fashion still
these TV programs don’t change how we
experience music in the concert hall the
jazz club or your 12 year olds violin
recital for that matter when we got the
idea for real-time concert notes two
years ago we had to find a way to use
cheap available technology to use the to
do the job we ended up using a bulk text
messaging platform it was a good start
but there was plenty of room for
improvement
for starters patrons forgetting to
silence their phones would get a series
of alerts before finally finding the
vibrate button in the dark additionally
receiving a text message in a dark
Symphony Hall created all kinds of light
pollution we tried to designate special
sections of the hall for the text
portion of the program but attendees
paying for certain seats are unlikely to
move up six flights of stairs where the
elevator doesn’t go to try a new program
certainly not a new technological
program for a 400 year old art form but
more than that these bulk texting
platforms aren’t designed for precise
rapid-fire communications when I was
operating real-time concert notes last
year I had to make seven different mouse
clicks on five different pages just to
send one text as you can imagine it’s
hard to do things in real time when
you’re concerned about mouse clicks lag
time and Wi-Fi connectivity even still
with the success of real-time concert
notes 1.0 we decide to enlist the help
of a local tech startup to improve our
patron experience when the symphony
decided to use this new publishing
platform and its app xx Glen general
live event notes the symphony became
their first client today with real-time
concert notes powered by xx Glen we’re
able to precisely deliver the same
information you got from Leonard
Bernstein or Michael Tilson Thomas in
the palm of your hand at exactly the
right moment exactly when it’s needed
the most in the concert hall and during
the concert when the Springfield
Symphony Orchestra had their opening
night with the third symphony by Aaron
Copland the slides occurred on average
at 90 second intervals so it’s not to be
too disruptive to the live music
experience for the sake of this
demonstration I’ve compressed five
slides into roughly a minute and a half
and included a final slide which would
have occurred at the end of the concert
just to show how we wrap the wrap up the
program and further engage with the
audience let’s take a look at what that
looks like in action here’s what the
debut of real-time concert notes powered
by XX glenn looked like at opening night
[Music]
but this isn’t really just about
live-tweeting some notes at a conductor
score imagine for a moment what xx Glenn
can do for all types of Arts and
communities the last time you went to a
museum I bet you saw one of these or
maybe one of these or did it look like
this the smartphone in your pocket is
twenty million times more powerful than
the technology that landed on the moon
in 1969 why don’t we use the technology
we have the technology we use the most
museums invest tens of thousands of
dollars in hardware that will be
obsolete in three years and they still
have to create and curate the digital
content anyways why not leverage the
technology that your patrons come in
with it’s cheaper easier and especially
more sanitary
tour guides walking large groups through
a historical district in multiple
languages XX Glenn simultaneously
translates into any language is needed
for your tour group do you love going to
live sporting events but miss the great
color commentary and stats you get while
watching at home
xx Glenn can bring everything to your
seat are you at a TED talk and want to
know more about the speaker the topic or
see the data in-depth xx Glenn can do it
all people used to talk about the future
like it was a long ways away in 2020
we’re gonna have such and such and this
and that well the future is here we can
finally have our cake and eat it too we
have the power in the palm of our hands
to transform the way we view the world
around us you don’t have to take it all
the way to the moon
but you can at least go to the symphony
imagine all the other possibilities
thank you [Applause]
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