02 Jun 2005
Alex Ross: THE RECORD EFFECT — How technology has transformed the sound of music
Ninety-nine years ago, John Philip Sousa predicted that recordings would lead to the demise of music.
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Commentary
The phonograph, he warned, would erode the finer instincts of the ear, end amateur playing and singing, and put professional musicians out of work. "The time is coming when no one will be ready to submit himself to the ennobling discipline of learning music," he wrote. "Everyone will have their ready made or ready pirated music in their cupboards." Something is irretrievably lost when we are no longer in the presence of bodies making music, Sousa said. "The nightingale's song is delightful because the nightingale herself gives it forth."
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 Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music |
 Setting the Record Straight:A Material History of Classical Recording |
 Performing Music in the Age of Recording |