Donny, I think "private affairs, weddings, corporate, clubs, etc" are only a small part of the music world and will NOT determine the direction of music in the future. One of the reasons that jazz and classical music endures from generation to generation is that it is played by real musicians on real instrument.

Although the economy will force club owners to scale back the entertainment budget (opening the door for good OMB's.....but also DJ's), the largest and most upscale of these venues will continue to have live bands.

I also don't agree with you (we can agree to disagree ) that we (whoever "we" are) are no longer producing young, trained, musicians. If the Asians in your Philharmonic reference happen to be Asian-Americans (which I'm guessing most are), do they count ("THEY (huh) are the only ones studying at the conservatories")?

If we backtrack, say, from MP3's to SMF's to Arranger styles to programmed arpeggios, etc., what we see is that the real creativity, the enduring music, comes from the flexibility of being able to manipulate the most basic elements of music.

We need to differentiate between the future of technology and the future of MUSIC. JMO.

Chas