INDIE INSIDER
A Personal History of Long-Distance , Real-Time Collaborative Performance
We ’ ve come a long way to reach the “ new cutting edge ” of online performances
By Allan Molnar
To the best of my recollection , my first significant musical experience took place on Sunday , Feb . 9 , 1964 , when I found myself sitting in front of a black and white television set with the rest of my family . We were watching and listening to The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show . I was a four-anda-half-year-old drummer wannabe who was captivated by Ringo ’ s performance , and I celebrated this event by drumming on pots and pans with a pair of wooden spoons at the conclusion of the show . Our family experienced this musical event from our home on a farm near Yorkton , SK . New York was a world away , but the power of music shared over distance marked the beginning of my own future in music .
Musical performances have been shared via distance for decades by way of television and radio , but the idea of musicians performing together in real-time via the internet is definitely a relatively new and wondrous exploration . Jamkazam , Jamulus , SoundJack , JackTrip , Chrome Music Lab ’ s Shared Piano , and Aloha by Elk are just a few of the exciting new software tools that promise to enhance our opportunities to play music together online .
ALDO MAZZA & ALLAN MOLNAR PLAYING TOGETHER ONLINE IN 2021
Laying the Foundation The complexity of preparing and performing a piece of music is challenging enough when everyone is performing in the same room at the same time , but the task of performing music using a web cam and an internet connection is a formidable undertaking for even the most accomplished musicians . A high level of music proficiency is required from all involved .
In order to get musicians to this place , the ability to play along with a metronome or click track is an important skill to develop early in each student ’ s ascent to musical excellence . Learning the art of playing along with a backing track is a great way to develop this important skill . The use of prefabricated loops that are found in most music production software programs is also useful and can provide our students with easily-accessible subdivided click tracks that have musical context .
Author , educator , and drummer Jim Chapin embraced the value of playing along with backing tracks as a credible pathway to the development of a strong skillset for all up-and-coming musicians . Chapin ’ s 1948 release of his seminal publication , Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer , along with his 1963 release of For Drummers Only ( a Music Minus One playalong vinyl LP ) paved the way for all of us .
I personally embraced these resources as a young drummer in the mid-1970s , and eventually adapted these concepts to computer-based resources , such as music loops and sequenced MIDI tracks . What began as an intrinsically-motivated professional development activity soon became a very useful tool for my process of preparing students for online performances . I count myself among the many musicians who are grateful for the innovative leadership of Mr . Jim Chapin .
From Toronto to New York to Winnipeg I moved from Toronto to New York in 2003 and first started using Apple ’ s iChat videoconferencing software in February of 2004 . I began by collaborating with a long-time friend and colleague , Stewart Smith , who was also using iChat . Stewart was teaching music at a junior high school in Winnipeg and I was teaching music education students at a college in NYC , so our shared mission seemed obvious . This was to become our first experience in teaching and performing online . I was ready to “ beam in ” to Winnipeg from my home studio in New York .
Stewart invited me to videoconference in to his music classroom to give his students a lesson in jazz improvisation . He created a MIDI backing track for “ Oye Como Va ” and sent it to me to use during the lesson . I began my session by performing this piece on vibraphone in real-time with the students in Winnipeg via iChat . The question is , of course , was there any latency ? And the answer is yes , there definitely was . Don ’ t forget , we were doing this in 2004 !
Our solution , however , was very simple . We didn ’ t actually defeat the latency , but we created the illusion of the absence of latency by optimizing the use of the unidirectional audio / video signal that originated on my side of the videoconference in
10 CANADIAN MUSICIAN