YouTube is bringing together the world’s first collaborative orchestra. And though it’s too late to enter to be considered for the project, it’s not too late to participate by voting on 3,000 audition videos from more than 70 countries and territories spanning six continents. Submissions came from Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Eritrea, Venezuela, Vietnam, Russia and the U.S., and included everything from the violin to the toy piano and even an audition on the musical saw.
The selected few will perform this spring at Carnegie Hall. You can now vote from the selected finalists who have been narrowed down by a panel of musical experts from the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and other leading orchestras around the world. The final selections are based on such criteria as musicianship, vitality of performance and originality.
What a great idea to bring together musicians from around the world that otherwise would never have come together. It’s all a twist of fate and a whole bit of luck bringing together these amateurs and professionals alike to perform on one of the most coveted stages in the world.
This is a great example of social media bringing together a community of musicians from around the world to accomplish a task that couldn’t happen in a 1.0 world. Imagine the camaraderie that these musicians will enjoy… just because of simple videos and votes from strangers like myself that will bring them together for one night at Carnegie Hall. And social networks – whether it’s YouTube, Facebook or another crowd-gathering site – will keep them connected for years to come.
Had I known about this earlier, I may have tried to get a hold of a contra-bass clarinet and entered myself. There’s something about being a part of a group of people symphonizing to make music. It’s a beautiful thing, and I miss it a lot.
Read more
I just read this fun op-ed from the Washington Post by Jeanne McManus.
It comedically devalues life in a Twitter world:
Which comes first? The Twitter or life itself? Are we writing about what we’re doing or are we writing about what we’re going to do or are we doing it because we need something to write about?
I enjoyed her short musing. But now, I can’t find a link to follow her tweets anywhere on the entire op-ed page! Nor have i been able to locate her through Twitter’s “Find People” tool. I’m bummed, as she sounds really interesting, whether these are her real tweets or not:
Jeanne has measured out her life with coffee spoons. Huh?
So I write my own public request to Ms. McManus… and to any other editor, writer, reporter who covers new and social media seriously or comically – on TV, in print or online: please share how we can follow you or become a fan on these new tools which you write about.
NPR’s Science Friday does a great job of this. While driving from Annapolis to D.C. several weeks ago, @Padrepablo and I listened to Ira Flatow (@scifri) interviewing Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly). Ira repeatedly mentioned how we could follow them. And caller Jeff Levy (@levyj413) – the EPA’s web manager – who talked about government and social media also shared how listeners could follow him. I’ve since learned a lot from following Mr. Levy. I’d like to easily do the same from others.
Of course, privacy is a concern, so I understand if you don’t easily share your Twitter name with your article… but then could you consider separate public and private personas? When used correctly, I can only see sharing Twitter accounts as a great learning and conversation tool.
Read moreTaking my own advice, you can follow me @sherrymain.