Days of Yore: Listening to Music

I know what you're probably thinking. "Wait a minute... Didn't you already cover listening to music here?" Well, yes and no. In my "Audio Recordings" post, I covered ways of listening to music and other audio recordings in the home and in your car. That included records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and MP3 players such as iPod and Zune. I also mentioned the radio. But those are not the only ways out there of listening to music over the years.

Jukebox
LMPark Photos on Adobe Stock

Many Broadway fans are familiar with the concept of jukebox musicals. These are musicals using songs that were not written for the musical. Someone decided to use existing songs and build a story around them. There are several kinds of jukebox musicals. Some, such as Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys and others, feature the music of a specific artist or group (ABBA and Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, respectively, in these two examples). The playwrights of Mamma Mia! came up with a fictional story based on the songs of ABBA. Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons and incorporates their songs. Many jukebox musicals follow one of these two patterns. Others, such as Moulin Rouge, gather songs from a wide variety of artists. The original musical, The Black Crook, even gathered a lot of its material from existing songs from multiple sources, and also new ones.

But I wonder how many people in the younger generations, who may have varying opinions on the existence of jukebox musicals, know what a jukebox is? The picture above is a jukebox. They were common in the previous century in restaurants, dance halls, and anywhere that you wanted to have a good time. Each jukebox had a set of songs which you could see through the glass at the top and scroll through. You could select the song, put your coin(s) in the slot, and start it up. Voilà! Your song played for everyone around to enjoy! Some restaurants had smaller jukeboxes on each table. Though they aren't nearly as common now, I have seen them on occasion in '50s-style diners.

Over the years, there have been a variety of ways of playing music for a crowd. There's live music played by artists on a stage. There is recorded music curated by DJs (disc jockeys), who have used various kinds of equipment, often using vinyl records or more electronic types. Milli Vanilli got in trouble for pretending to do live music while in fact playing songs that were previously recorded by someone else. Karaoke has used records, CDs and other forms to play the accompaniment track (just the music without the singing) for someone who may or may not have a talent for singing to stand on stage and sing their hearts out, following along with the words on the screen. We also used accompaniment tracks for other purposes, such as special numbers in church. I performed songs in church and choir class in high school using both cassettes and CDs. In the Philippines, they called them Minus Ones. In my interview for a design internship a few years ago, I used the accompaniment track to parody "This is the Moment" from the musical Jekyll & Hyde and showcase my design skill set. I downloaded the track from Amazon and saved it on a thumb drive so I could play it on the classroom computer. (Disclaimer: I did not warm up ahead of time, and I could have used more rehearsal, but hey, I got the internship! If I ever perform this again for Broadway, I promise to rehearse more and warm up ahead of time.)

I did the same in a class presentation around that time period to parody "Bui Doi" from Miss Saigon, regarding my dream of becoming a graphic designer. (Note: While Jekyll & Hyde and Miss Saigon are musicals, they are not the jukebox variety.) In that same class, I did another presentation using the same way of playing, but in a silent movie format to showcase how I had overhauled my website. I was The Great Steverino, a celebrated magician of yesteryear who could magically transform websites. No sound came out of my mouth, but I mouthed the words, and they appeared on the screen. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played on the organ in the background. (Sadly, that was not videoed.)

In a previous blog, I mentioned various ways we have played music over the years. Record players, 8-track players, tape recorders, CD players, Walkman, Discman. Over the years, various websites have offered options for playing music. Napster, YouTube, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, iTunes and others. SiriusXM offers streaming radio that you can listen to in your car or just about anywhere.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I listen to most of my music on my cell phone and the computer these days. I mentioned as much in my post about Audio Recordings.

Days of Yore: Video Recordings

When I was in elementary in the Philippines, we had a dedicated room for watching movies and documentaries. It was called the A/V Room, or Audiovisual Room. It had several devices depending on the equipment required for what we were watching. The big reel-to-reel projector involved large spools of film (like the ones in the picture below). It involved a certain amount of threading through the machine, and it was projected on a big screen. This was also how my grandparents did their home videos when my parents were young. I don't know how they were recorded as that was before my time, but they were still in use when I was little. While playing, the reel-to-reel made a fast-paced clicking noise (best way I can think of describing it) that you could hear the whole time. We were used to it, so it wasn't that disruptive. (It's actually a nostalgic sound for me.)

Photo by Alexander Vasilyev
Adobe Stock

The other device I remember in the A/V Room was the TV on a cart. I think it may have been on that (or there may have been a projector) that we watched in horror as the Challenger exploded in 1986. It was on that TV with a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) that we watched Back to the Future when I was in 4th grade during a sleepover that my teacher put on. We brought sleeping bags and slept on the floor.

Video cassettes, or VHS tapes (Video Home System), were similar in concept and shape to the audio cassettes, but were larger. For the most part, they were black, though they occasionally came in other colors. The film inside was very similar to the way the film in the smaller cassettes was rolled. They fit into a slot in the VCR, which was connected to a TV. Unlike their smaller cousin, they were not double-sided, so you had to rewind when you were done. Video rental stores (such as Blockbuster) often had stickers on their videos that said, "Be kind. Rewind." Failing to rewind would put a damper on watching it again, though the next user could rewind it themselves. But if you're on a schedule, it's a pain to have to wait a few minutes while the video rewinds to the beginning!

They also had Betamax cassettes (Beta for short). They were similar to VHS, but a bit smaller (though still larger than the audio cassettes). There was a special player for them. I believe our A/V room was equipped to play both kinds of video cassettes. They weren't nearly as popular as VHS, however, and went obsolete much sooner.

VHS and Beta each had their own version of the video camera. The camera made further adjustments as other formats were introduced.

Following the success of the CD in the audio format, the DVD (Digital Video Disc) was introduced. It looked almost identical to the CD, though slightly thicker and a bit more durable. Any DVD player can typically play CDs as well, but not vice versa (an audio device kind of defeats the purpose of watching a movie). Unlike videos, DVDs did not need to be rewound, and they also allowed for navigation so you could skip straight to your favorite scene, or watch extras, such as documentaries on the making of the movie, blooper reels, sing-a-longs if the movie had songs, audio commentary by the filmmakers and/or cast, and other fun stuff.

VHS and DVD were divided into regions around the world. Region 1 videos and DVDs could only play on US and Canadian players. Region 2 included the UK and other countries. I believe there were 5 regions if I remember right. When I was studying French and wanted to watch the French versions of movies on VHS, I ordered them from Amazon.ca (Canada), because France was in a different region and wouldn't play on our VCRs. When A.R. Rahman and Värttinä's musical of Lord of the Rings (not to be confused with Peter Jackson's movies) came out in London, I couldn't wait for it to come out in the US, so ordered the cast recording from Amazon.co.uk. The CD worked great, but the accompanying DVD with pictures from the production did not work in our DVD player. To watch that, I had to play it on my laptop, which had a DVD-ROM. DVD-ROM and certain region-free players could play any format.

Sometime in there, the LaserDisc was introduced. It was never as popular as its counterparts, and it didn't last very long. We watched The Abyss in high school on a LaserDisc, and that's the only movie I remember watching in that format. It looked like a giant CD, but was about the size and shape of a vinyl record.

The Blu-Ray followed the DVD. Again, it looked almost identical to the DVD, but had more space and more options for extras, as well as better picture quality. Again, the typical Blu-Ray player can play a DVD or CD, but once again, not vice versa. The Blu-Ray does not have regions like the video and DVD, so it can be played on any Blu-Ray player.

Meanwhile, as the internet picked up steam, websites like YouTube and Vimeo offered ways of watching online. Depending on the web connection, these options involved a lot of buffering at times, though that has been gradually getting better so it doesn't happen now as much as it used to. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and other social media sites have also added video-playing capability.

Netflix used to send DVDs that members could order and then mail back when they were done watching, similar to checking it out from a library. Due to the popularity of Netflix, among other factors, video stores like Blockbuster couldn't compete. There is now only one branch of Blockbuster left, in Oregon. As streaming from YouTube and other sites gained popularity, Netflix jumped on the bandwagon. Many studios have joined the fun, introducing their own streaming platforms, generally adding "Plus" or "Max" to their name. So now we have Disney+, AppleTV+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and others. Some TV shows, such as The Chosen, have their own app.

As in my post on audio recordings, I now hardly use the other formats any more, as I can watch movies streaming on my cell phone and Kindle. It also streams to the TV.