Beethoven vs. Lil Wayne

In class Thursday, we were challenged with an interesting question regarding music in the 17th century and music in our age: "Has incorporating technology enhanced music or taken away value?" The answer is yes. It has done both. It seems like music was such a center of culture in the 17th century, though by saying that we mostly mean in terms of Europe. America was still a bunch of colonists trying to survive, and other parts of the world were facing their own problems. All the famous composers to whom the presenting group gave tribute with shout-outs on the violin were from Europe. The world, of course, is much larger than Europe.

This is the greatest thing I feel technology has done for music in our day. It allows us to appreciate music from all over the world. I am not so bold as to claim I am musically cultured. But thanks to technology I can easily listen to music from Brazil, Japan, Africa, or anywhere else I choose. Music still is so much a center of our culture, but by culture we no longer refer to just European culture. We refer to the culture of the world.

And yet, technology may have hurt music as well. I don't believe people can compare the works of Bethoven or Bach to someone like Little Wayne. That's like comparing apples to rotten prunes. It's very clear which one has more class and culture. Or how about Rebecca Black? Regardless of her intentions, the fact is that technology allowed for some girl of relatively little talent to go viral and make a lot of money (no matter what happened to the money in the end). Could something like that have happened in the 17th century? I don't think so. But in the end that same technology gives hope to the hundreds of Indie bands out there hoping for a lucky break. And for that I'm grateful. Technology becomes that great enabler that gives the hidden talent a chance to shine.