In the news today is a story about the Broadway Musician's Union being on strike against the use of "virtual orchestras". The actors and stagehands won't cross the picket lines either, shutting down Broadway indefinitely. The Musicians want a minimum number of musicians required for each stage performance making it too costly for a theatre to use a virtual orchestra. Some theatres have paid musicians NOT to play so they can use virtual orchestras for rehearsals and showtime. My opinion is that if a theatre can attract an audience with a virtual orchestra and survive.........then so be it. Let technology prevail. However a "live" orchestra adds so much more than a virtual orchestra can. I think audiences should decide what they want to pay for. This seems to parallel the motion picture industry before talkies. How many live orchestras or pit bands did the Mighty Wurlitzer replace? Only the biggest of movie houses could afford the real thing.
Today there are more DJ's doing wedding receptions than live bands. More and more bars and nightclubs are using far less musicians than in the past. How should we embrace new technology when it has the possibility of replacing someone elses livelyhood? Your thoughts..........charley