Well, this really throws a wrench in my idea for Wii Conductor, during which one’s friends would have to wait an hour and a half in silence while someone conducted Mahler 7 at a party, but regardless: well done, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Deutsche Grammophon, on the new Gustavo Dudamel iPhone app. iPhone or iPod Touch owners can download the app (for free), set their own tempo, and condut “March to the Scaffold” or “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath” from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with their device.
Wii Conductor really was going to be awesome, though. You would have gotten to pick the halls and the soloists, Fantasy Baseball style. Ah well, the dream is dead.
Update 9/25 5:40pm: And if you’re still on your family’s Verizon plan like some publicists/bloggers who shall remain nameless and thus can’t get an iPhone, there’s a computer game version as well.
Yeah, it’s all fun and games until your iphone goes flying out of your hand and up against the wall! 🙂
While this app is fun I would still like to see a Wii Conductor. Imagine standing in front of a 60 in. wide screen (or even larger projection tv) and fulfilling all of your conductor fantasies!
You should still totally develop Wii Conductor. After all, there’s a market for Oboe Hero.
Wii conductor? It’s been done. It’s called Virtual Maestro. Cleveland Orchestra audience members were lining up to try it at Severance Hall about a year and a half ago.
http://www.wksu.org/classical/2008/04/30/want-to-be-a-conductor/
Apparently several other orchestras hosted the “tour” too. The Minnesota Orchestra had it around Christmas 2007.
I don’t think it’s officially for sale to the general public, at least not yet. If/when it is, I expect you’ll want good speakers and a *really* big screen.
Cute idea (the iPhone app), but really annoying in execution. Realise there are technical limitations to be managed, but the music is looped and the overall effect is distorted and not very musical. I think the test with games of this kind is that, in addition to being able to go silly-crazy and mess around with the musical material, you should also be able to realise something that is musical and resembles the original piece in a satisfying way. That’s where this one falls down.