Cynthia Turner, a conductor and a professor at Cornell University, is advocating Google Glass as a way of improving the conducting experience. “It could be a game changer for anyone who needs two hands to do something,”
For those of you new to Google Glass – it is a head-mounted device with a 640 x 360 display, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording video and audio. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in, 12GB of usable on-board storage, and can be charged over Micro USB. It is also already causing controversy before its launch because of privacy concerns in public places.
Cynthia Turner paints an image of musicians all wearing Google’s headsets, no stands or scores cluttering their chamber, the composer’s point of view broadcast on a screen above them, and intermittent notes of text appearing on screen to explain to patrons what’s happening in a given musical movement.
Our own Vida Quartet are already using iPads with page turning bluetooth units instead of sheet music. Is this the future of music performance?
Of course, many musicians are used to memorising what they play, but i t isn’t usually the case with an orchestra.
What do you think about this deviation from tradition?
Read more about it here in The Verge