News & Events

It’s a Blue Christmas Without Live Music

Posted on December 12, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

The holiday season is here, along with all of its attendant traditions: the drinking of hot chocolate, the exchanging of gifts, the singing of carols. Unfortunately, in Boston, there is a new holiday tradition that is about as welcome as a re-gifted fruitcake: using canned music in place of a live orchestra in the Rockettes roadshow.

For the second year in a row, “The Radio City Christmas Spectacular” in Boston will not be offering the rich, fully live experience of the Rockettes accompanied by a 35-piece orchestra, as in New York City. Instead, Boston’s Rockettes will be high-kicking along to lifeless recordings.

According to many reviewers, last years’ canned production deserved nothing from Santa but a lump of coal. The Boston Globe’s Terry Byrne decried it as “painfully bloated filler…with every vocal and every musical note prerecorded,” resulting in “a sameness to the sound that becomes increasingly boring.”

Another Globe columnist, Lawrence Harmon, complained that “Audiences would never sit still for animatronic Rockettes made of aluminum alloys and powered by hydraulics. Yet somehow they pay big bucks for the halfway experience of seeing live dancers absent the live musicians.”

Despite attempts at retooling the show this year with new sets and additional songs, critics continue to scold the “Spectacular” for its lack of live music. The Boston Herald’s Jenna Scherer writes that, “…for all its glitz and spectacle, it’s hard to get past the canned elements of the show. The instrumentals are all prerecorded, as is much of the singing. What sets theater apart from other forms of entertainment is that it’s live. Take that away, and you might as well be watching the show on TV.”

It is a shame that this show, which is marketed as a family experience, is depriving audiences of the magic of live music. Some of those involved may pocket a bit more by using recordings, but the kids of all ages who see this “halfway experience” will be poorer for it.

As we know, there are some producers who fervently hope the audience won’t notice when they swap out live music for tinny MP3s. That is why we ask that you please share this post with anyone you know who cares about music, and let those producers know how you feel. Only by sharing this information about shows that use synthetic or recorded music—and by voting with our feet and our wallets—can the music-loving audience take a real stand for keeping the music LIVE!

Posted in Audience, dance, Press, rockettes

Save Live Music on Google Plus!

Posted on November 14, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

We here at the Save Live Music on Broadway campaign are proud to announce our new Google+ page! Add us to your circles to stay up to date with the latest news on the campaign to keep Broadway live. Click this icon to check it out:

Posted in Broadway

Fans Remember Favorite Broadway Performances

Posted on November 4, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

Recently, we asked our Facebook fans to share their favorite Broadway performances.  Here are some of your replies:

 

“The orchestra for Wicked blew me away. The extremely high caliber of musicianship and the terrific writing were superb and not to be forgotten.”  - Sue

 

“The Roundabout Theatre’s 1998 revival of Cabaret starring Alan Cumming, Natasha Richardson, John Benjamin Hickey and Denis O’Hare.  Without a doubt.  And the live music was part of the Cabaret set and absolutely essential!” – Maureen

 

“I love The Phantom of the Opera! I have seen the show 4 times and I just saw the 25th anniversary concert. It’s a huge part of my life and a part of who I am.” – Julia

 

“I convinced my 17 year old daughter to see Les Mis with me, rather than her first choice. As we left the theatre, she looked at me and said ‘Mom, I totally understand why you wanted to see Les Mis again. Thanks for making me go!’” – Kathleen

 

It is great to read the stories of so many passionate fans of the Broadway musical.  So many people have been touched by the magic of musical theater.  This is why it is essential that we fight to preserve the tradition of live music for future generations.  Please take a moment to sign and share our petition to keep Broadway live, so that we can all continue to enjoy the breathtaking performances only a Broadway musical with a live orchestra can provide!

Posted in Audience, Cabaret, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked

Made In China: Outsourcing Live Music

Posted on October 31, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

As regular readers of this website know, the replacement of live music with recordings is not only affecting fans of Broadway; it has become increasingly common in the world of ballet.  As we reported earlier this year, the Washington Ballet has been using recorded Tchaikovsky in their productions of The Nutcracker since 2009.   Now another, even more pernicious case of recorded ballet has come to our attention.

Back in 2008, the Texas Ballet Theater began using recordings in place of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Dallas Opera Orchestra.  Of course, the ballet company did not advertise this fact, hoping that audiences wouldn’t notice that they weren’t getting the bona fide live ballet they paid for. Worse, they also added insult to injury by outsourcing some of the recordings.  Rather than having recordings made in the USA, they had a canned soundtrack for the ballet Cleopatra recorded by the orchestra of the National Ballet of China.  For this, they paid $30,000 to the Chinese government – outsourcing both American jobs and our very culture.  It is a sad sign of what symphony and opera management are willing to do for a few extra bucks.  With some Broadway producers looking for any way to pad their pockets, could musical theater be far behind?  Will we see a revival of Annie Get Your Gun performed to a CD stamped “Made in China”?

These growing threats to live music are the reason we must remain constantly vigilant.  Over 20,000 supporters of preserving the tradition of live musical theater have joined with us on Facebook to help spread the word.  Only an informed and empowered audience will dissuade producers and theater owners from resorting to these cheap maneuvers.  That is why it is so important that you sign and share our petition to keep Broadway live.  When producers know that the audience will ask “but is it live?” before buying tickets, they will think twice before using outsourced recordings.

Posted in Annie Get Your Gun, Audience, ballet, Broadway, History

Sound Science: Why We Prefer Live Music

Posted on October 10, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

Like most people, you’d probably rather see live music performed than listen to a recording.  But do you know why?  Actually, it is in part because we get visual cues from seeing musicians perform.  These cues inform how we feel about what we are hearing.  A few years ago, psychologists at McGill University tried an experiment: they recruited 30 musically-trained participants and played them a Stravinsky clarinet piece.  Some of the subjects saw the musician play, others just heard the music.  Each subject used an electronic slider to signal the level of tension they felt from moment to moment, and the impact of the musical phrasing.  What were the results?

“At times, the experience of tension and phrasing for participants who both saw and heard the performances was enhanced compared to judgments made by participants receiving information from only one sensory modality.  At other times, the addition of visual information served to dampen the intensity of emotional response – seeing the musician may have revealed complexities in the emotional character of the music, leading to a more comprehensive interpretation of the piece or to greater aesthetic satisfaction.”*

In other words, being able to see the musician perform lead to a fuller, richer experience – one quantitatively different from just hearing the music played.  Given this, it is unsurprising that 91% of theatergoers say the best part of Broadway is live music.  By replacing live music with recordings, some Broadway producers may reap extra profits for themselves, but it comes at the cost of the audience’s experience.

But now that you’ve read this, you know something those producers don’t want you to know: that seeing live musicians perform leads to what these psychologists called “greater aesthetic satisfaction.”  That is why we need to get the word out about the threat of recorded music on Broadway, so that people know what is going on! That is why we ask that you sign the petition against recorded music on Broadway, and why we ask that you share this page.  Only when deceptive producers know that the public has wised up to their tricks will they stop trying to cut corners at our expense.

*Vines, B.W.; Krumhansl, C.L.; Wanderley, M.M.; Levitin, D.J.  “Cross-Modal Interactions in the Perception of Musical Performance.”  Cognition Volume 101, Issue 1 (August 2006): 107

 

Posted in Audience, Broadway, Musicians, Science

Read All About It! Save Live Music in The New York Post!

Posted on September 26, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

The campaign to keep Broadway live’s new ad was covered in today’s New York Post!  A choice quote:

“Fans of musical theater love to bicker, but there’s one thing they agree on: A live orchestra, preferably a big one, is key to the experience.

Driving the point home, a commercial attacking Broadway’s shrinking pits and canned music started airing on NY1 last week. ‘It’s not the same energy,’ a ticket-buyer complains. ‘It’s not cool.’”

 

Posted in Ads

Prerecorded Production’s Profits Plunge

Posted on September 23, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

The controversial Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which has drawn fire for using a recorded string section in the place of live music, continues to see its grosses fall.  Last month saw the biggest drop in Priscilla’s average weekly take since June.  Despite a massive advertising campaign, it is no surprise that it continues to struggle given bad reviews and worse word-of-mouth.   More and more people are becoming aware of Priscilla’s canned tunes, thanks in large part to word of mouth and the grassroots support of nearly 20,000 fans of the Save Live Music on Broadway Facebook page.  Thousands of people have signed a petition to the Broadway League demanding that Broadway musicals be kept live.  Given the rising awareness of the importance of live music as a cultural legacy and the falling fortunes of Priscilla, hopefully producers think twice before canning live music in the future.

Source: http://broadwayworld.com/grosses.cfm

Posted in Audience, Broadway, Musicians, Priscilla, Queen of The Desert

Save Live Music on Broadway… on TV!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

We are very excited to announce our new commercial!  If you are in New York City, you can catch it during select episodes of On Stage on NY1 over the next two weekends!

Posted in Ads, Audience, Broadway, Supporters, television

Canning Tchaikovsky

Posted on August 30, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

The threat to live music on Broadway, which goes back decades but is now rapidly escalating, is part of an unfortunate trend around the world.  A few months back we reported on the replacement of live music in several shows in London, including Les Miserables and The Wizard of Oz.  Scrapping the rich experience of live music for canned recordings is a trend that also affects other forms of live music, such as the ballet. Continue reading →

Posted in ballet, dance, History, Musicians, nutcracker, Protest, tchaikovsky

Prerecorded Priscilla’s Persistent Plummet

Posted on August 26, 2011 by The Council For Living Music

Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the musical which has sparked controversy over its producers’ decision to use recorded strings instead of giving the audience the full live musical experience you expect on Broadway, has continued to see their weekly box office gross fall.  Perhaps more people are asking that key question, “But is it live?” before spending their hard-earned cash on a Broadway show.  Or perhaps people are reading the reviews which panned it for being “synthetic to the core” (Time Out New York) and ““mechanical and monotonous” (The New York Times).   Given the failure of this overpriced karaoke show to gain traction, it is not surprising that one of Priscilla’s producers is now singing the praises of live music, as documented in a previous post.  Hopefully this serves as a wake-up call to any other shortsighted producers who would sell audiences a subpar experience in order to squeeze out a few extra dollars in profits.

Posted in Audience, Broadway, Priscilla, Queen of The Desert