The musical duo Bluebrain has created an album, Central Park (Listen to the Light), that is specifically supposed to be the soundtrack for Central Park. How does that work exactly? Well, the soundtrack is an app for the iPhone and iPad that’s meant to measure the listeners movement and location and know which piece to play. So, the music will not play until the listener enters Central Park. There are 400 tracks that play depending on where the listener walks or stops. For example, the Lake has a specific track that supposedly follows water-like melodious movements. The app is currently free, but Bluebrain hopes that it becomes a commodity, which brings up the argument of creating art for money.
Although Bluebrain hopes to make some money out of it, I don’t think that changes the beauty of the art. I feel that any artist, nowadays, hopes to make money while they do what they love to do because in the end, that’s how our society works. I actually think it’s quite neat that someone was able to come up with this idea and isn’t capitalism supposed to encourage innovation?
Honestly, I find this to be fascinating! I’ve heard a snippet of Central Park (Listen to the Light) here and I find it to be very beautiful and relaxing.The music is all instrumental and there are few instruments that are interchanged, depending on the track. I think this is a great thing to have for someone who is just looking to have some alone time, strolling down Central Park with some soundtrack music lightly playing. I will surely be downloading this app before it becomes a commodity!
Wow, it’s like the fantasies of having a band play your own theme music is coming to life! This sounds like some very smart music-making, and is certainly an incentive to get people up and running in Central Park!
It is important to note, however, that the natural soundtrack of Central Park in itself is like music. Though I definitely would try out this iPhone app, I wouldn’t let it replace the natural sound of wind going through the trees or runners’ feet thumping on the ground. If we let this manmade music always dictate our experiences in Central Park, we’ll be forgetting why Central Park exists in the first place: it is meant to help you get away from the technology and the hustle and bustle, and in this case I think music coming from your iPhone corrupts its musicality- it essentially goes into the realm of “technology” for me.
This is an occasion in which I will agree with a point Ilissa makes in her post “Real Art in New York.” http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/smaldone2011/2011/12/19/real-art-in-new-york/ She says, “I’d much rather take a walk through Central Park and experience the natural beauty than go into a museum and find works of art made by people trying to copy natural beauty.” This app, though a very creative idea, is putting manmade elements into what is specifically not manmade: nature. Why imitate nature when it is already there in front of your eyes?