Julia Delaney wrote:Bryan (scooter) is a great guy: good looking, sexy, smart... and he really is a terrific flute player. But you know what? This internet app stuff doesn't matter. Not one little bit. It's all about the music, not the names of the tunes, or who is more authentic or who has the “better” version. It's all about the social evening and sharing the music and the chat. The same is true of Eskin's great application that makes it easy to play the concertina on your iPhone while waiting for the lab results.
I cannot imagine sitting in with the old guys and when they ask “what's the name of the second tune?” stopping the ongoing flow of music and chat to start dialing up tunepal to get the name. Which (the name) doesn't matter a whole hell of a lot, does it? And you're not going to tell me that thesession.org or henrik's site has the “right” setting for the tune, are you? So while it may be fun and another use for a modern gizmo, in the long run (which is what traditional music is all about, right? Rather than this week's Top-40?) it probably takes you away from the music rather than towards the music.
The app for pipes or concertina might be a kick but can you imagine going into a session and playing your iPhone? It's just a temporary giggle. Temporary giggles are fun, but they are only temporary. Devaney's Goat, however, played on a real instrument (and no matter you call the tune) will outlast any iPhone app. As well as living longer than any player and most instruments.
I am glad that Bryan got his doctorate and happy for Eskin that his app is in such demand. But I don't think these things will make anybody play his music any better than if the time were spent with instrument (a real instrument) in hand.
Are these apps indispensable? I think not.
I don't disagree with you at all.
My iPhone and iPad apps aren't a replacement for the real thing nor have I ever represented them that way. Besides just being good fun on their own, they can be a bridge for someone who can't afford the instrument (have you priced a concertina or a set of pipes recently?) or who wants to get a sense for the instrument without having to make a large investment. These apps have also familiarized a large number of people with the instruments, which in the long run will be good for the builders since some of the people may want to eventually get a real instrument. Its also great for playing in circumstances where playing the acoustic instrument might be problematic, like on the bus, train, plane, or office.
Of course this sort of thing is not for everybody. The feedback I get from users tells me that there are some very fine players (including at least one All-Ireland winner) who are getting value from the apps, either as scratchpads for working out tunes, or in the case of my iPad ConcertinaXL app, the only way they can practice while recovering from a shoulder injury.
Sure, these apps may not be something someone would want, or can imagine ever wanting, I absolutely respect that.
Still, I think its pretty cool to be able to do this on something besides a $10,000 set of Woofe pipes:
"The Rocks of Bawn"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywOss7oBhMs
I learned the tune from Robbie Hannan's CD using the Uilleann-B app, and now can play it on my real set. It was just easier and more convenient sitting at my desk using Transcribe on my PC going through the tune phrase by phrase and working it out from Robbie's recording using the iPad app than it would be to have strapped on my real set and run the computer at the same time. Since the fingerings in the app and on the real instrument are the same, I have it on both the virtual and real instrument now.
There's real value it that, at least to me. But not everyone shares my enthusiasm for using technology this way as tools to aid with learning the music. That's fine, it's available if anyone wants it.
I'm not advocating showing up at your local session and bringing your iPad instead of the real instrument, that would be just ridiculous.
Here's the truly over-the-top nightmare scenario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jho-WHAHT2k
All we need now is Bryan's app at the end showing the tune name and then we can turn things over to SkyNet.
