Musicians upload to YouTube and break down a classical wall.

When Jacobs School of Music students Daniel Stein, Dash Nesbitt, and Renee Gilliland uploaded audition videos for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra last January, they had no idea they were on the cusp of a music revolution.

“It almost didn’t seem true,” Gilliland said, “putting the best all in one place. The best venue, the best conductor, the best composer.”

Musical fame turned out to be a different kind of YouTube fame – one that would lead them to a global orchestra in Carnegie Hall, playing a new piece written for the occasion by Chinese composer Tan Dun under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. After making it to the finals, flutist Stein and violists Nesbitt and Gilliland flew to New York City to meet up with 93 other musicians from more than 30 countries. After two days of rehearsal – and a few global jam sessions – the orchestra played a three-hour concert to a sold-out audience.

When asked if user-generated content Web sites can shape the global music scene, all three said the experience gave them a new perspective.


TAKE A LISTEN

Gilliland: “I think this is a taste of the possibilities you can have with online collaboration. You think about globalization and how the world is getting smaller and smaller, but the possibilities are endless when you think about composition and how someone can start something on YouTube and someone else adds to it. I think that’s even already been done on a couple of pieces. It’s really exciting. It’s a fresh look on Western music, which is considered old and tired and trite and dying art, which it’s not.”

Stein: “For many people who applied for the orchestra, it was the first time they ever put a video of themselves playing online. That was actually harder than playing the audition music: figuring out how to actually do that with any kind of good sound you could hear. Like after this, many orchestra members know how to do it and are more likely to upload more of their stuff. It’s just a way to share your stuff. At a recital at IU, maybe 50 people will come. But you can post it on YouTube and leave it up there for a while and maybe 1,000 people will see your recital.”

Nesbitt: “YouTube is a constant learning resource for me as a musician. There are just so many wonderful ways to learn from it. So I’m constantly, like almost every day, looking at something. I’m more thankful for that now.”

Gilliland: “I also think the symphony was an effort to break down the fourth wall. I think people still think of classical music as having this fourth wall and the reason why we do it is because we’re so passionate and we want to share. Hopefully this is a way to reach out to more people about classical music and how meaningful it is all around the world.”


How they Played their way From Auer Hall to Carnegie Hall

1. FILM a virtual audition of a piece written by Chinese composer Tan Dun.

2. UPLOAD the video and hope judges pick it as a finalist piece.

3. WAIT for viewers as they vote for their favorites among the judges’ picks.

4. TRAVEL to New York City with the other winners — musicians from around the globe.

5. PERFORM for a sold-out audience.

From www.youtube.com/symphony