Month: September 2020

At this June’s New Music Gathering, Robin Meiksins and I presented about DuoTube, YouTube as a collaboration space, and our experiences presenting it. We had initially intended to present it as part of an event NMG called YouTube party where we would have worked with Portland area artists to show audience members how to play the piece, then perform it together and talk about it.

In the virtual format, Robin and I stuck to sharing about the experiences we have had sharing DuoTube and also played it together. While I plan to do a more extensive discussion about those performance and presentation experiences at some point soon, being able to share an indeterminate work can jump right into has been a special experience. It’s been played by people ranging from the high school age summer music camp class I taught, to recital halls full of professors and graduate students at conferences, by electronic music ensembles, to people passing by a UIUC community concert we’re about to do and join in. While it is imperfectly accessible (needs a computer and access to internet), it’s been eye-opening for me about how to welcome people to different aspects of contemporary music.

I deeply appreciate Robin Meiksins as my collaborator on this project. DuoTube was inspired by her wonderful YouTube channel and her drive to make YouTube a performance space.