Easy going, enjoying every day as it comes . . .
(My first Soundclick Page was in fact Summer 2006) Ex. Pro. Pianist (in my early-late teens and 20s to age 30). Just glad to still be making music, which without internet I doubt very much whether I would have continued playing. Now a UK Senior Citizen.
During Winter here in UK 2019/2020 I'm going to be concentrating on doing quite a lot of YouTube Vids. with the instruments in the Photo above. I have neglected YouTube in recent times, which is crazy as it's the biggest Arts and Entertainment outlet on the whole web in the whole world! But the new WAV files will still keep coming to Soundclick (and nowhere else!) when I think I have something worth sharing. I'll also be keeping an ear on the music of others and adding some to playlists as I've always done.
Of course, a good Piano is timeless, and it all depends on what the performer can achieve with it. But Keyboards are interesting even though automated, and I find people like Keyboard Music almost as much as Piano Solo Music.
Wherever you are, have a good day and Best Wishes from Tony.
My first 20 years of Internet
Last Friday
Brief History: First connected in 2000 via UK On-Digital (a TV service that didn't work properly). Then AOL dial-up , Orange, British Telecom and now Talk Talk.
Biggest differences to my life: To be able to continue playing piano - even when the work was still out there in the early 00's, but I was too occupied with another business. Audio Media used: Soundclick around 75% - others 25%. Video Media: YouTube. To be able to buy and browse auto parts via Ebay etc (I'm still a petrol head and work on cars). From 2000 to 2015 to run a successful business with an online presence.
However!! This successful business was never more successful than the days of Yellow Pages Directories BEFORE internet, which Internet - mainly Google killed off from 2005/6 onwards. This is what I probably hate the most about Internet, - the death of Yellow Pages which served our family business so well from 1980 onwards. I found it easy to "manipulate" Google at first to get our site to the top of the search engine; but then from 2007 onwards it became very difficult.
Now: I really have a love/hate relationship with the Worldwide Web. The Music part is a fantastic Love. But the Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and suchlike have been a menace to Society I believe. Democracy is threatened - but also is totalitarianism too, so maybe it's a balance on this one. Online Finance: Well we spent 2 years clearing our names after several credit cards were opened up using our identities! Not an easy job I can tell you, and costing considerable Solicitor (lawyer) fees at first in letters written to these banks. So not a great experience I have to say is anything to do with money online. We now keep our money in what is called a Building Society in the UK, with passbooks, and absolutely no access for anyone, either friend or foe, from a computer! We don't use credit cards, and the one VISA card we have has regulated available funding at a very low level. Paypal I do like very much (up to now!). I try and advise people not to have loads of money accessible online, - to check credit scores frequently, - to beware of Banking Apps and suchlike, and to put all financial documents through a shredding machine before disposal . . . but I'm just another "old fart" so I guess they don't take notice :)
Yeah, so Smartphones, Pads, Computers are part of our lives and the Internet is a mind blowing source of information (both true and false). Could we have done without it at our ages (seniors) ? Yes, very easily. But youngsters are physically and mentally hooked into "devices" almost 24/7. Maybe not a healthy outlook? Freedom to express opinion on the web (within certain boundaries) is I suppose good, but these "Online Keyboard Warriors" on YouTube expressing extreme political views and gaining 100s of 1000s of views really annoys me (maybe it's because they get more views than a good pianist! - haha).
