This will be my inaugural blog for KLANG, so I thought I would write about something that will set the tone for the rest of the site. And here it is:
I recently read an article about the value of the Pierrot ensemble in the 21st century, the author stating that the instrumentation “is now dated and no longer a viable chamber group for the 21st century.” Firstly, I disagree with that sentiment whole-heartedly, and believe that if the string quartet is still a viable chamber group, then there is plenty to be done with the Pierrot ensemble. Secondly, and more importantly, the article got me thinking about new chamber groups of the 21st century. What ensemble collection has made waves in the contemporary music world the way the Pierrot ensemble did just over 100 years ago? Is there such an ensemble, and if so, what is it? The answer, I believe, is the laptop ensemble, sometimes referred to as a laptop orchestra. A laptop orchestra is exactly what the name implies: an ensemble of people performing live interactive electronic music on laptops. The first group of its kind was created in 2002 by Phillipe Chatelain in Tokyo and was simply called “Laptop Orchestra.” Shortly thereafter, Princeton University (through the efforts of Dan Trueman and Perry Cook) established the first American laptop orchestra (PLOrk), and within a few years laptop orchestras started popping up all over the world, all with their own unique name (SLOrk, L2ORK, LOLS, HELO). Laptop orchestras function like any other ensemble. There is a group of players who sit in specified formations, each person with his/her instrument and everyone has a speaker (typically a hemispherical speaker to propagate sound like a real instrument) to amplify the sounds coming out of their computer. What makes laptop ensembles unique is that the laptop computer acts as the instrument instead of standard acoustic instruments. The use of laptops is not foreign to the contemporary music world, but the laptop in this setting is not just a processing tool or brain, but is itself the instrument. The timbres the ensemble is capable of producing are practically limitless. Sometimes the performers are even linked together via a wireless network and can communicate with each other, creating a virtual meta-instrument of laptops. The following is a link to a short video of Dan Trueman and Perry Cook discussing PLOrk with some footage of the ensemble in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsaANAfZcw (This video includes footage of the ensemble performing with live performers on acoustic instruments, which is also common practice for laptop orchestras) You can see from the video that laptop orchestras utilize a wide range of new technology and are striving to rethink what music can be and the various ways we can collect and manipulate data to control parameters of sound generators. Students involved with the ensembles have the opportunity to gain knowledge in music, signal processing, computer programming and get the chance to perform in front of an audience, all made possible because of this unique chamber ensemble. As an avid listener and composer of electronic music, the idea of a laptop ensemble is incredibly exciting to me. However, there are some issues that should be addressed with a laptop ensemble. My main concern is that while the music being created is exciting and engaging, the aspect of an engaging live performance is often lost. There is something to be taken away from watching someone perform in front of you on an instrument that just doesn't seem to translate as well with laptop orchestras. Also, it is incredibly expensive to start and maintain a laptop ensemble because of all of the gear necessary for the ensemble function. Although, if an institution is willing to fund the ensemble, and the people involved are willing to take on the challenge of creating an exciting and engaging experience for the ensemble – both sonically and visually – then there is no reason that the laptop ensemble can't be a viable chamber group. Regardless of the issues mentioned, the laptop ensemble is a group that is rapidly gaining recognition worldwide. LSU recently held the first Symposium on Laptop Ensemble, which I feel will be the first of many to come. In short, if the Pierrot ensemble is a chamber group that is on it's way out, then the laptop orchestra is an ensemble that I see becoming a strong player in the future of contemporary music. For more reading on laptop orchestras please check out the following links: http://plork.princeton.edu http://slork.stanford.edu/history http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2010-04-12-laptop/laptop-orchestra.html http://www.glitchlich.com http://laptoporchestrala.wordpress.com
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