Technology\'s Influences on the Arts

Technology's Influences On The Arts

Technology and music was first fused when early humans began to beat the ground to create more proficient drums than their chests! Stringing animal skins across wooden frames created the first percussive instruments. Using reeds to create early flutes, stringing animal guts to develop lyres, and other early technological innovations enabled instruments to produce a range of tones far greater than the average human voice. Without technology, creating different shades of melody and harmony in music would be infinitely more difficult, although not impossible. However flexible the human voice and body, music expands the expressive palate of tones open to the composer.

It is interesting to reflect that the way classical or early music sounds, played on modern instruments, is very different than the way it would sound to the composer's original audience. Does this mean that a symphony playing a classical composer is really not authentic, and does not do justice to the true intention of the original composer? Or does a modern rendition of Beethoven or Mozart improve what was 'already there' in the score, if the quality and craftsmanship of the original instruments are superior to the ones used during the composer's era, even though a harpsichord is different than a modern piano?

Technology today has had the most profound influence upon the reception of music. People can listen to music all day. People do not need to join the company of others to hear a performance. Music can be solitary and isolating, on headphones, as well as inclusive like a performance. Also, because people more frequently buy songs than entire albums, everyone's playlist is different. Musical playlists become a creation of the individual listener, not even of the artist's design, like the series of songs on a CD. Instead of having to learn instruments, people can create music by making their own personal musical collage on an iPod -- and even a D.J.'s more social 'art' would not be possible without technology

Technology and Culture

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The primary impact of the automobile has been to make the world smaller. It has freed us from the constraints of confining our lives to where we can walk or ride a horse. People can travel, easily and conveniently, at a moment's notice. To visit a friend no longer requires a long day's journey. It also enables people to live farther away from their place of work, often opening up our employment opportunities. However, the creation of the car also created an expanded labor pool in certain areas. Thus, modern life is constructed in such a way that traveling long distances are required to get to work or to get basic goods. Some neighborhoods are designed so walking even to the corner store is impossible. This has generated a poorer state of physical health amongst the populace. People walk less. They are dependent on technology, simply to move -- even to drive to the gym.

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