HOTLB: How much has music really changed?
Live music has changed a lot since the staff of Samo were students - nowadays, rather than seeing new songs performed live months before anyone else would hear them, teens watch videos of concerts across the world a minute after they finish. Instead of counting down the seconds to a Spotify release and refreshing ticket sites hoping scalpers won’t buy everything, concert lovers of the past would head down to a record store and pray they aren’t one spot too late to get a paper ticket. It’s clear the live music scene as a whole has changed since the youths of Samo’s teachers, though whether it’s for the better or worse can only be determined by those who lived through both eras.
“The biggest difference I see from shows back in that day to now is the impact to presence. It’s a bummer that there are [phones] everywhere. It duplicates the moment, which is nice, but there’s something special about being at that show with this group of people and experiencing it. People are viewing everything through their phone as they video it, and something inherently within me feel as if they’re missing something.”
-Jason Battung, Yoga teacher
Quinn Forssell / The Samohi
“I think there is still more of the idea that everything has to be perfect in live performances now than when I was younger. When professionals record, it’s perfect. It’s able to be recorded so well that every mistake can be fixed, so they fix every mistake. The quest for that idea of perfection has caused musicians to focus more on every note being in tune and the rhythm being perfect as opposed to expressing something.”
-Jason Aiello, Orchestra teacher
Quinn Forssell / The Samohi
Quinn Forssell / The Samohi
“[Live music] is a little different, I think young people have access to music in a different way than I did, listening to quick snippets of music. But, I watched young musicians play at the Blue Note in Los Angeles, and I left that night thinking, [music] is safe in the hands of young people. I go to the Monterey Jazz Festival every September. I have for 20 years now, and I am astounded at how young people are keeping it alive.”
- Pete Barazza, English 10 and AP Literature teacher
Quinn Forssell / The Samohi
“The live music experience hasn’t changed that much, but [buying tickets is] better now. It’s easier to buy them now through Ticketmaster. Back before the internet, you would need to go to the particular record store that the concert promoters were working with, and buy a physical ticket. You’d have to hold onto that for months until the concert. If you lost it, there was nothing you could do. There’s always risks with putting your credit card out there [on the internet], but it’s so much better now.”
- Randy Denis, English 10 and Folktales and Mythology teacher