He Slappa da Bass

I've posted this before on my Facebook, but it's just so good, I felt like posting here again. My second favorite part of the video (my first are the last ten seconds of the video) is when the audience begins clapping along with the groove. You see, I feel that if music is being performed, then part of the musician's (or musicians') responsibility is to engage the audience. One time I was playing Brahms's "Hungarian Dance No. 5" on the piano for one of my high school band concerts. Halfway through the audience started clapping along, and it was fantastic! Next thing I knew, people were shushing and giving dirty looks to the clappers, and I found that disappointing. I realize in some situations, such interaction is sort of taboo because it disrupts the art as it was supposed to be presented, and so, though I was disappointed, I wasn't angry about it.

I just feel that music is experienced at its highest when there is not only sending, but receiving, which makes band and orchestra and choir (etc.) so appealing. Some of the most fun I have is sitting at a piano and just improvising with some friends, even if we don't have a structured set of changes. You let the music do the talking. There is conversation happening. And finally, when your audience begins to converse with you; that's powerful stuff.