Photo by Michelle V. Agins for the New York Times

So far, said Candace Hoyte, a supervisor at the Manhattan store, the instruments have drawn a steady stream of attention, especially from children. They skip past the video game stations and head straight for the instruments, banging away at Roland electronic drums or tapping on one of the dozen or so keyboards, she said.

What–passing up video games?! Perhaps parents might now start to serve up a musical instrument to their child rather than a new video game system.

And what might it suggest about the human condition–and about music–that the desire to express oneself through music is so appealing and such a draw?

I find myself wondering what kind of music education, if any, these children receive. Will they ever learn to play an instrument? To read music? To compose? For the sake of our shared humanity, I hope so!

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Wolverine is not amused.

Here’s an example of crossing the line with copyright: On April 1, 2009, thousands of people were able to watch an online, unfinished cut of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This film is not due to open for several weeks. First of all, piracy of this sort is just plain theft. People have dedicated months if not years to realizing this film, and salaries are paid to not only Hugh Jackman but also, say, the caterer. Stealing the film reduces the economic incentive to provide work to the public.

Equally annoying is that this is not even a final cut of the film! Let’s put this in composer perspective: Imagine you have been commissioned to write a symphony to the New York Philharmonic. (It’s okay to imagine big!) Now, suppose you are listening to your MIDI mock-up of the score–and we all know how bad those can sound — and you are considering adding a section to your slow movement, and maybe cutting a large portion out of the third movement, Why? Because you think it will better serve your aesthetic intentions. Now suppose you discover your MIDI mock-up of your incomplete masterpieces suddenly hits the internet somehow. You are embarrassed because it is not your complete vision, the NY Phil is angry because they want the premiere with all its attendant excitement, etc. etc. etc.

The point: we should support the arts we like, just as much as we expect to be supported as artists. To be audiences of art carries resposnsibility.

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