A laptop orchestra (lork or LO) or laptop ensemble (LE) is a
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...
ensemble consisting primarily of laptops. Education based laptop orchestras include BLOrk (University of Colorado Boulder Laptop Orchestra),
CLOrk
A laptop orchestra (lork or LO) or laptop ensemble (LE) is a chamber music ensemble consisting primarily of laptops. Education based laptop orchestras include BLOrk (University of Colorado Boulder Laptop Orchestra), CLOrk (Concordia Laptop Orch ...
PLOrk
A laptop orchestra (lork or LO) or laptop ensemble (LE) is a chamber music ensemble consisting primarily of laptops. Education based laptop orchestras include BLOrk (University of Colorado Boulder Laptop Orchestra), CLOrk (Concordia Laptop Orch ...
(Princeton Laptop Orchestra), SLOrk (Stanford Laptop Orchestra), SAMPLE (Portland State University Sonic Arts and Music Production Laptop Ensemble), an ELUNM (Ensamble de Laptops de la Universidad Nacional de Música in Peru. City based laptop orchestras include BiLE (Birmingham Laptop Ensemble), MiLO (Milwaukee Laptop Orchestra), and BSBLOrk (The Brasília Laptop Orchestra).
CLOrk
Concordia Laptop Orchestra (CLOrk) is an ensemble of laptop performers, consisting of up to 25 members, based at
Concordia University
Concordia University (French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the th ...
's Music Department in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
, Canada. Founded and directed by professor Eldad Tsabary, CLOrk specializes in networked and multidisciplinary performances and collaborations, such as with dance and video.
CLOrk's first performance (January 2011) was a telematic collaboration with other laptop ensembles across Canada as part of the
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being inst ...
Happening Festival. Since that performance, CLOrk has performed telematically on several occasions with other laptop ensembles (such as McMaster's Cybernetic Orchestra) and acoustic ensembles at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
,
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
,
Queen's University Belfast
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University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
, and Mustek duo (Edinburgh), among others, at international events such as Birmingham Network Music Festival, ToBeContinued, and Penta Locus.
The laptop orchestra trend began with Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) in 2005 and continued with the emergence of many laptop orchestras and ensembles around the world, each characterized by certain technological traits and artistic approaches. CLOrk is characterized by a non-uniform technological approach, based on the idea of "music first; technology follows," by its network music activities, by its collaboration with acoustic ensembles, and by its use of soundpainting conduction.
Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
The Electro-Acoustic Ensemble is a laptop-based ensemble at
Loyola University New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans is a private Jesuit university in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans ( , ,ChucK and
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
programming languages. The ensemble focuses on contemporary and classical electro-acoustic works and performs in a variety of situations with a special focus on
guerrilla performance Guerrilla theatre, generally rendered "guerrilla theater" in the US, is a form of guerrilla communication originated in 1965 by the San Francisco Mime Troupe, who, in spirit of the Che Guevara writings from which the term '' guerrilla'' is taken, en ...
.
Notable performances
''Futurist Manifesto'' was premiered at a guest lecture by philosopher
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New ...
at Loyola University New Orleans on November 17, 2009. The work was based on the manifest of the Italian Futurists and included live recitation of the manifesto with computer manipulation. This work was also performed at the New Orleans Museum of Art on April 1, 2011 as a part of the museum's ''Where Y'Art?'' series.
On December 4, 2009, the ensemble performed a twenty-four-hour meta-performance of
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an un ...
's '' Vexations'' at Loyola University New Orleans. Notably, one audience member, pianist Michael Bennett, remained for the entire twenty-four hour performance.
The ensemble performed a concert at McKeown's Books and Difficult Music, New Orleans, LA on March 26, 2011.
PLOrk
The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (abbreviated PLOrk) is an ensemble of computer-based meta-
instruments
Instrument may refer to:
Science and technology
* Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft
* Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific l ...
at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...
.
PLOrk is part of research at Princeton University that investigates ways in which the computer can be integrated into conventional music-making contexts while also radically transforming those contexts. The Princeton Laptop Orchestra is a group of 12–15 persons and uses the “
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
” (in a very general sense) as a model.
Each PLOrk “instrument” consists of a laptop, a multi-channel hemispherical speaker, and a variety of “control” devices (keyboards, graphics tablets, sensors). The members of this ensemble act as performers, researchers, composers, and software developers.
History
PLOrk was co-founded in 2005 by professors
Perry Cook
Perry R. Cook (born September 25, 1955) is an American computer music researcher and professor emeritus of computer science and music at Princeton University. He was also founder and head of the Princeton Sound Lab.
Cook has worked in the areas o ...
and Dan Trueman, with graduate students Scott Smallwood and Ge Wang, and funding and support from many Princeton University departments, organizations, and industrial affiliations. Composers and performers from Princeton and elsewhere developed new pieces for the ensemble, including
Paul Lansky
Paul Lansky (born June 18, 1944, in New York) is an American composer.
Biography
Paul Lansky (born 1944) is an American composer. He was educated at Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Queens College and Princeton University, studying wit ...
(Professor of Music at Princeton),
Brad Garton
Brad Garton (born 1957) is an American composer and computer musician who is professor of music at Columbia University.
He has written, or helped to write, a number of computer music applications, including Real-Time Cmix, music synthesis and ...
(Director of the Columbia Computer Music Center),
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Ce ...
, PLOrk co-founders Dan Trueman and Perry Cook, Scott Smallwood, Ge Wang, and others. The new PLOrk gave its first performance on April 4, 2006, in Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. Grammy-winning tabla player Zakir Hussain, renowned accordionist
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music.
She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Ce ...
, and So Percussion also performed with the group. PLOrk has since performed at
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
, the Ear to the Earth festival (produced by the Electronic Music Foundation), ffmup and elsewhere. Several scholarly articles describing the motivations for establishing such an ensemble, the issues involved in composing for laptop orchestra, and pedagogical concerns, are currently in press. PLOrk was first presented academically at the 2006 International Computer Music Conference in New Orleans. The guest director of the PLOrk for 2007 was
R. Luke DuBois
Roger Luke DuBois (born 10 September 1975) is an American composer, performer, conceptual art, conceptual new media artist, programmer, record producer and Pedagogy, pedagogue based in New York City.
Early life
DuBois was born in Morristown, Ne ...
. The group is currently directed by composer and instrument designer Jeff Snyder, who is the Director of Electronic Music at Princeton.
Since the beginning, PLOrk has made extensive use of ChucK, a new music programming language created by Ge Wang and Perry Cook which allows the performers to develop new code both in preparation and in performance, and which serves as a primary teaching tool.
A number of composers from Princeton and elsewhere have been developing pieces for PLOrk that address the unconventional composition of the group. PLOrk works closely with these composers on their pieces with the aim of developing them further and further exploring a new branch of computer music and new media musical composition and performance.
Technology
Originally, there were 15 PLOrk stations. Each station consists of a laptop with audio software; a rack containing an 8-channel audio amplifier, a power conditioner, and other electronic components; and a custom-made 6-channel hemispherical speaker. In April 2008, PLOrk began using a new hemispherical unit which combined the functionality of the old rack and speakers into one more portable device. The laptops are Apple 12" powerbooks, or more recently, 14" Macbooks. HCI devices include keyboard controllers, TriggerFinger interfaces, graphics tablets, Nintendo Wii remotes, and infrared, light, pressure, and tilt sensors. Additional gear included floor pillows, laptop lapdesk, and gear for transportation.
The PLOrk ensemble uses a variety of commercial and open-source software. Two audio programming languages, ChucK and Max/MSP are primarily used for pedagogy and performance.
BSBLOrk
The Brasília Laptop Orchestra (abbreviated to BSBLOrk) is an ensemble of laptop performers based at Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil. It was founded by Eufrasio Prates and Eduardo Kolody in 2012, in collaboration wit Conrado Silva It has done many different and multidisciplinary performances and collaborations with dance and video artists.
The Brasília Laptop Orchestra is a group of 5-15 persons and uses the idea of “Orchestra” as a model, with the laptop as main instrument. The members of this ensemble act as performers, researchers, composers. It uses a variety of commercial and open-source software, including HITS, developed by Eufrasio Prates. It's main audio programming language is Max/MSP, but the musicians often use other software and even common instruments in some compositions. BSBLOrks's performances focus on an improvisatory aesthetic, based on the belief that contemporary music should be unpredictable, non-linear and interactive.
It uses hemispherical speakers commissioned by its founders, similar to those used b PLOrk
History
BSBLOrk's first performance (August 2012) occurred during one of the city's "Tubo de Ensaios" ("test-tube") experimental performance festivals, and was also the last live performance of Conrado Silva.
BSBLOrk has recently celebrated its 10th year by releasing an album and making a series of online performances.
Throughout the years, BSBLOrk has adopted a critical approach on social and political issues, using samples of political speeches as source.
Notable performances
BSBLOrk has played i Juca Ferreira nomination, in 2014.
BSBLOrk played at NMF2020, Network Music Festival
See also
*
Computer music
Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...
*
Electronic music
Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...
Laptronica
Live electronic music (also known as live electronics) is a form of music that can include traditional electronic sound-generating devices, modified electric musical instruments, hacked sound generating technologies, and computers. Initially the pr ...
Orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...