I have a new Roland MP-70 digital piano that's hooked up to GarageBand on my iMac with a midi cable, and I'm trying out a new social media experiment. And it's actually worse than inflicting family photos on you, so you may want to have a couple beers before checking this out. (I promise it will sound better after that).

I want to find out if it's possible to use my blog, Examiner and Facebook to assault people with a virtual piano recital, then get instant feedback (positive or negative). If I get enough comments in the next couple days, I'll remix and repost a revised version with your incorporated feedback. Think of it as something like American Idol, but in the early stages when the bad singers get weeded out. But the difference is that this time you can have some real input that affects the final output. And nobody wins or loses, except me of course because I look like a complete idiot. I guess that's not so different from American Idol.

Here's my first performance: an instrumental mashup of Beethoven's Sonata N. 15. It's a symphonic version, featuring four parts: A steel acoustic guitar, a music box :-), some robotic Blade Runner-like instrument called "Sequence Element 2," and an electric piano. It's intentionally weird and wacky. Maybe it would make a good ringtone! (And if you are so inclined to use it that way, I hereby release it under a Creative Commons Attribution license).

Why am I doing this? Well, first because I'm about to go on vacation and this is just fun. But second, I think it's a good way to remind people that media is about much more than just text, photos and videos. And it's also about more than just what people think or say. Music is a language in and of itself, and there's a real revolution underway with original music composition that's driven by a combination of Web 2.0, desktop software and midi-connected instruments.

I find it very interesting to think that by the time my young daughters are in college, it will be commonplace to play a song on a midi-connected device, mix up the instruments on the computer, instantly share it with anyone in the world and get immediate feedback. I would not be surprised if by then the computer isn't even involved. Every instrument may be "jacked in" to the Internet via wifi, cellular connections and who knows what else. Our kids may even be jammming with each other in air-guitar-like poses that are more than just air, but rather part of a very real band that spans the globe. Text messaging will seem quaint to them, as will cell phones. They'll be using mobile devices to create collaborative symphonies, rock operas, movies and who knows what else.

So enjoy! Or ignore. But if you really hate it, please be nice to me because I'm still trying to get over the fact that I messed up an otherwise brilliant Brahms intermezzo at my high school's talent show so many years ago. Maybe that will be my next virtual music act. This time (yes!) I can edit out all of my mistakes in GarageBand beforehand.