Re: mixed means 2

Richard Povall (Richard.Povall@oberlin.edu)
Wed, 8 Apr 1998 09:17:19 -0600

>> Now digital technologies have increased exponentially the
>> possibilities for electronic media and sound creation, manipulation,
>> production and projection into the stage environment.
>
>Maybe. Just maybe. I think there's a real danger of the gap widening
>between practitioners who have the resources to bring digital
>technologies to bear in performance situations and those who do not.

Sorry Nick, but I think this is also a dangerous and specious argument.
You can always argue that this is a gap between those who have access to
the latest and most experimental equipment, and those who don't. There
will always be a level of research activity that takes place in a rarefied
and well-funded environment that few will have access to. If you take your
argument to it's logical conclusion, there are those talented people out
there who don't even have access to a space with a decent floor, and,
heaven forbid, even a cassette player. The truth of the matter is that
digital technologies are becoming more and more powerful, more and more
inexpensive, and more and more ubiquitous. If the educational institutions
don't react to this - is they don't accept the challenge to existing models
and ways of doing things that these technologies provide, we will only have
an increasing disjunct between theory, practice, and education.

Increasing support by academia for emering digital technologies can only
help make them more widespread, too.

R

R i c h a r d P o v a l l
Assoc. Prof of Computer Music and New Media / Chair, TIMARA Dept.
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