[ale] finally a _good_ use of midi music

[aaron]

The over emphasis on "good" in the subject
line is way out of place. Channeling the voice
of Thurl Ravenscroft* here, most everything
about MIDI music is not just good, it's GRRREAT!

MIDI is the singular case of a truly public,
openly published and royalty free protocol
standard that managed to evolve in an industry
consortium and then, amazingly, it escaped the
cesspool of corporate proprietary greed in tact
and uncorrupted without the intervention of a
commonwealth democracy.

This simple, robust and flexible multi channel
serial protocol was born in the very early days
of the digital revolution and still continues to
serve as a flexible and functional tool for
inventive technologists and creative artists the
world over.  While it's contributions to the world
of music are profound, it now serves well beyond
it's initial role as an efficient music notation
and delivery tool, having been repurposed to
hundreds of innovative control and communication
applications in other areas, from stage lighting
to robotics.  The music education application you
reference** is just one among a thousand great
little innovations that MIDI has facilitated.

While it may be a fair observation to claim that
MIDI has been used to record and deliver a lot of
mediocre musical composition, the fault is not
the format of the notation but the writers. MIDI
has made the enjoyment of music more accessible to
millions of people, both in offering an alternative
musical notation and interpretation mechanism and
in facilitating the creation of dozens of new
instruments and music delivery systems. However,
I expect that the actual proportions of mediocre
composers is no different now than in the days of
Mozart and Salieri, when the notation was pen and
ink and only accessible to the wealthy elites
of the era.

peace
aaron

*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurl_Ravenscroft>
**<http://pianobooster.sourceforge.net/index.html>


On 2009, Feb, 04, , at 5:48 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:

> http://pianobooster.sourceforge.net/index.html
>
> Now to get a midi keyboard....
>
> This can be used in schools with out the need for a piano for each  
> student.
>
> Awesome. Totally, fantastically awesome!
>
> -- 
> -- 
> James P. Kinney III
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