Sarah Willis: Google Glass and Horn Nerds

Can you use Google Glass to bring more attention to Classical music? Sarah Willis thinks so…

Sarah Willis plays with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and was Germany’s first Glass Explorer. She shared her experience live on stage at NEXT14

Classical music needs a boost in the digital age, and Sarah Willis has been finding ways of doing that. She’s been very interested in social media – but the opportunities of Google Glass appealed to her as well. She’s a US citizen with a US address, so she got one.

She’s tried to use it while playing – but you don’t really see a lot from the perspective of the musician. Still, it turns out that people were more interested than she expected and she finds the fact live hangouts have gone from the Glass to be bizarre – that was useful. There’s a huge horn nerd community out there, and they were very interested in seeing what she saw while playing.

She hasn’t worn it in the orchestra yet. There are musicians in the US who have – and thats quite interesting, to see the experience of people amongst the orchestra.

Wearing it out and about in Germany has not gone well – people think you’re filming with them. People in other countries are more interested.

It’s great for running and cooking – any time when you’re using both your hands in other ways. And it’s great for directions when you’re in an unfamiliar country.

And we had a gathering of Glass Explorers live on stage:

Google Glass Explorers at NEXT14