Band plays a show entirely using iPhones

I should precede my comments by pointing out I studied music in high school and college, and though I am far from a purist, I expect there’s some deep-seeded music snobbery in me.

I found this video of a band called Atomic Tom playing one of their songs on the New York subway both exhilarating and distressing. What’s so incredible about their performance is that they use now instruments, yet they’re still performing. They do the whole song using nothing but apps on their iPhones.

Click here to watch the video on Youtube. The owner prohibited me from embedding it.

There’s no question that what they pulled off is original, entertaining and creative. but that music snob I mentioned above asks: is it music? From a consumer’s perspective, the answers naturally seems to be “yes.” After all, if it sounds like music, it’s music, right?

But what makes something music? Of course you don’t have to use formal, proper instruments to make it, or else everything before the creation of our modern instruments would somehow be illegitimate. But is sampling music? Is spoken word? What about the improvised rhythmic instruments used by groups like Stomp?

My gut says that it’s all music. Any time we use our bodies or other objects in a way that combines rhythm and/or melody in some way that evokes anything in us is music. But I’ll admit is pushes my boundaries of what I’ve accepted as such in the past.

Enough from me; see for yourself and make your own decision.