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ABSTRACT
The Internet has inspired musicians to explore technologies to produce recorded music performances. Social media sites like YouTube provide spaces for musicians to share their works, and the advances of technologies that afford venues and opportunities for performers to share their crafts. As amateur Internet musicians develop practices to create and produce performances, educators may benefit by understanding their processes so that music making practices from outside of the classroom can be incorporated into formal educational settings. This case study explores how David Wesley François, a virtual ensemble creator who published arrangements on YouTube, acquired the skills needed to become a productive virtual performer. A narrative describes François's formal music education, which was supplemented by informal music and technological learning. By exploring cases such as this, educators may be able to translate virtual performance practices to the classroom, thus preparing students to create digital music within the classroom and beyond.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Christopher Cayari is an assistant professor of music education at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. He holds a Ph.D. and M.M.E. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree in music education from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL. Christopher's research interests include mediated musical performance, YouTube, informal music learning, virtual communities, and online identity. He is an avid YouTube video creator. Christopher regularly publishes online performances, tutorials, and vlogs. He enjoys collaborating with his students to make user-generated content for YouTube.
Video references (in order of appearance in article)
Introduction to the High School Video Archive (1998–1999) published on November 17, 2013 available at https://youtu.be/3yMLAorxg8U.
Trouble published on June 25, 2011 available at https://youtu.be/905P9NI0×9o.
The Starting Line published on August 23, 2012 available at https://youtu.be/4yRzS3Xla84.
One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails) published on January 19, 2013 available at https://youtu.be/FPxEYmk_zqg.
In Christ Alone published on June 7, 2013 available at https://youtu.be/oab9giH2cG0.
Run to You published on January 15, 2014 available at https://youtu.be/ubA-NdADX5w.
Amazing Grace Medley published on April 6, 2014 available at https://youtu.be/8plSomxS5Yo.
Sinking Deep published October 26, 2014 available at https://youtu.be/pJJ2vXC1nmA.
Notes
1 YouTube is a video sharing website that became the second most visited website on the Internet in 2016, surpassing Facebook and trailing its parent company, Google (Alexa Citation2017).
2 François chose to use his first and middle name as the title of his YouTube channel so that he could maintain a sense of separation between his virtual and non-virtual lives, developing a slight buffer of identity differentiation between the two. The YouTube channel and all subsequent videos at the time of writing this article are still available on YouTube; however, it is important to note that François or YouTube could decide to take them down at any time.
3 All analytics for David Wesley were gathered on 11 November 2014.
4 Lurking is a vernacular term meaning leaving ‘no observable traces’ (Hine Citation2000, 25) except for view count.
5 To further strengthen triangulation, François also member checked multiple versions of this article, offered corrections, and attested to their accuracy.
6 Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are taken from personal interviews conducted with David François on 19 November 2014, 3 December 2014, and 7 January 2015.
7 His high school projects, which he eventually archived on his YouTube channel, feature short films that he and his classmates created containing special audio and visual effects and extensive video editing. Examples are available in Introduction to the High School Video Archive (1998–1999). All videos cited in this article are available before the reference section.
8 To adhere to copyright laws, François secured mechanical rights from Capitol Christian Music Group, RightsFlow Inc., ASCAP, BMI, or Loudr.
9 The original score to Run to You by Kevin Olusola, Avi Kaplan, Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, and Ben Bram was available for free at http://www.ptxofficial.com but has since become available for purchase.
10 This article is also condensed from a multiple case study (Cayari Citation2016b), which expands upon David François, two other video creators and their YouTube channels, and a cross-case analysis focusing on virtual vocal ensembles.