I agree with many parts of this post - especially about electronics creating a generation of "loopers and pasters" (I've often wondered if black radio's obsessions with rap hasn't cost us a potential generation of new Herbie Hancocks, Stevie Wonders, Duke Ellingtons etc.) but the other aspect of all of this is that keyboardists are taking athe bad rap in this issue for using today's electronics to their advantage, as they have for decades now. CNN's report on the strike said the cause of the situation was "computer-generated orchestras"... as if someone replaced a musician with a box that had no operator. The post above cites two keyboardists as taking the place of a string section... well, only if they were two VERY good keyboardists I'll bet.

The truth of the matter is that while keyboardists enjoy an advantage when it comes to using digital instruments, music technology is available to a broad spectrum of instrumentalists and even vocalists who choose to learn and adapt to it. There was a time when drum machines were thought to be the end of live drummers, but many drummers I know learned to program rhythms and adapt technology into their performances - for that matter, I've seen synths, samplers and sequencers used by bands to take the place of keyboardists! As a modern pro keyboardist I never felt threatened by that, but I probably would if I was one of those keyboardists who insisted on performing in the same manner as keyboardists did prior to the 20th century.

I enjoy a good string recital as much as the next person, but a symphony in a nearby city has just shut down it's entire season because they don't have the sponsorship to continue. Of the $900k they needed to operate this year they barely raised $10k, and the best salaries in the symphony were hardly more than $25k a year anyway. So what's a violinist to do? Here's something the unions had nothing to do with (we live in right-to-work states in the South where the Union is totally impotent): members of the symphony have branched off and formed their own smaller groups to play at local nightclubs and private affairs... yes, I mean at bars and with great success. They are playing innovative popular and comedic selections that may actually attract a whole new audience into nightclubs. They pack te place! This didn't happen before the symphony wnet under. Hunger can make you very innovative and I see nothing wrong with starving a few symphony musos out of their complacency. Instead of complaining that wrestling is more popular than a symphony, perhaps wrestling should be held WITH a symphony!

Personally, I could have stuck to the old ways and played piano without touching a computer or synth and I may have done okay - especially in some bands I know of thet loathe technology. But I wouldn't have fulfilled myself and become the musician that I am today. I learned to use technology to give myself and creative and marketable advantage, and given the chance I'd gladly take the place of a symphony. They in turn should seriously consider playing the bars I came up in to expand their versatility and audience, and maybe a few computer lessons wouldn't hurt either. The times they are a-changing - musos need to change with them.