New Tunes: The National Symphony Orchestra Plays Video Game Music
Monday, July 13th, 2009 by Lucinda M. Dugger
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The graying of arts audiences is one oft-cited fear among arts administrators who manage the more traditional art forms such as symphonies, operas, and ballets. Many are finding that these audiences are getting older, and younger generations are not engaging in ways that will keep the art alive.
Yet very slowly new partnerships between these more traditional art forms and technology are beginning to emerge. They push boundaries that result in new dynamic kinds of art and entertainment and attract younger audiences. I had the opportunity to experience one such partnership Friday night called Video Games Live at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia.
Words cannot accurately describe the experience – nor do it justice. But suffice it to say that it is something of a concert, with the National Symphony Orchestra and a choir playing and singing popular video game music. It is also a movie as three large screens highlight pieces of popular video games. And it is a light show with components of acting – costumed video characters come on stage periodically. And, of course, there is plenty of audience participation. (The audience was actually encouraged to shout and cheer when they found something exciting or wanted more. This is taboo behavior at traditional symphonic concerts.)
According to host Tommy Tallarico, the idea came about in 2002 to create an “immersive audio and video concert experience celebrating video games.” Debuted in 2005, it aims to highlight the complexity of the video game experience by introducing gamers to the symphonic music that accompanies each game.
The audience on Friday was amused and engaged when old favorites such as Pac Man, Tetris, and Super Mario Brothers were highlighted, and newer games such as Halo 3, Civilization IV, and Final Fantasy were honored. But, they were even more excited when Ralph Baer, who invented the first ping-pong like TV video game in the 60s, paid a visit through Skype, and Martin Leung, also known as the Video Game Pianist, played amazing renditions of video game music on the piano. (And, yes, we did see him play the infamous piano version of Super Mario Brothers blindfolded).
Though I was probably one of the few people in the audience that know more about symphonic music than video games, I think that the takeaway for all of us was similar: that video games are complex. Many people, from programmers to graphic artists to composers, are involved in creating a good video game. Without the respect and appreciation of each component, we would not have the multi-sensory enjoyment that we do now.
The importance of art and technology partnerships cannot be overemphasized. Emil de Cou, National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap Festival Conductor, says it best, “In three years technology and the modern orchestra have gone from a blind date to being fast friends. And we’re building bridges between young and old, technophile and technophobic, classical forms and contemporary idioms, from icebox to Xbox.”
So now that the National Symphony Orchestra plays video game music, what’s next?
