Friday, March 12, 2010

Green Music

It seems that the music "industry" in Britain has a rather large carbon footprint. Perhaps people interested in things environmentally-friendly could consider that live small-scale classical music concerts are really quite ecological. Programs can printed on recycled paper with recycled ink, and they can either be recycled or saved after the concert is over. Only a modest lighting system is needed for chamber music concerts, and in a proper concert hall there is no need for amplification (singers with voices developed as instruments to project don't need to use microphones). It is also much greener to heat and cool a cozy concert hall than it is to heat and cool a huge arena-style performance space. With the number of highly-qualified chamber music groups around, you could hold several smaller concerts played by the same ensemble without putting that much more carbon into the atmosphere. An added environmental bonus is that when smaller groups of musicians go on tour, they often travel in one or two cars, rather than on a tour bus.

Just think about the amount of excellent music we have that was written, published, performed (all over the place), and taught before the days of electricity, or even indoor plumbing.

N.B. I HATE the idea of music being referred to as an "industry," and I refuse to even write it without the protection of quotation marks!

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