At most instrumental concerts, cellphones are a distraction. For the Redlands Conservatory of Music’s Scott Sutherland, they’re part of the performance.
Sutherland, who teaches tuba and euphonium, debuted a new kind of performance in September 2025. At a Recital Rep class attended by all undergraduate music students, the professor asked them to pull out their phones as part of an interactive performance.”
The performance included aspects such as a ‘video call’ between Sutherland and another version of himself while playing his arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” as well as live performances of movie soundtracks he had previously recorded for his YouTube channel. Selections performed during this particular concert included music from “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars,” among others.
He also had students interact/engage in the performance during three of the pieces via an app he created that contained soundboards. This included an arrangement of Philip Glass’ “Interstellar” as well as his encore piece, the original Super Mario soundtrack.
“Audience interaction on phones has been around for years, like Kahoot quizzes, but I’ve made it musical. YouTube musicians like Lindsay Stirling or Piano Guys have done live performances with their YouTube videos for years, but I found a way to do it in recital halls for students,” Sutherland explained.
Sutherland began his own YouTube journey in 2016, continuing it through the pandemic. Though his training was in classical music, he enjoyed the videomaking process and found that it changed his perspective of what kind of music he could create.
“I wanted to find a way to share it to more audiences. That’s when I set on the journey to create ‘YouTube: Live on Stage!’” Sutherland wrote in response to an email by the Redlands Bulldog.
The show first premiered at the University of Redlands, and has changed dramatically with new music selections, a live guest artist appearance and the ability for audience interaction.
“All of the songs come from pop culture that I love. Film scores to movies, video games I have played for hundreds of hours, or pop music I enjoy. Sometimes people recommend music, which sometimes works, but it has to be something I love,” Sutherland continued. “I think that’s key to the show, it’s about me sharing myself with the audience, not just music. It’s deeply personal, which comes across when I share stories about each of the music selections.”
Sutherland also had some advice to give for those who might be inspired by his show.
“Find your unique voice. Ask yourself, ‘what makes me special?’ Find something that maybe is out there, but that you can bring to new audiences. Not everyone is going to like it and you will fail many, many, many times on the journey. This is totally normal. I have failed countless times and learned so many lessons developing this show. Just keep doing the work and you will find success.”
Kae Yeoh is a senior majoring in music performance and minoring in history. She has been a reporter with the newspaper since her first year at Redlands and enjoys watching documentaries, drinking tea, and listening to pop-punk and Asian rock.
