Biography
Benjamin O’Brien is a researcher, composer, and performer studying the effects of sound on human movement and perception. His work with electronic and electro-acoustic sound has focused on sonification, voice recognition, digital signal processing, and indeterminacy. He holds a B.A. degree in mathematics from The University of Virginia; an M.A. degree in music composition from Mills College and another M.E. degree in acoustics from Aix-Marseille University; and a Ph.D. in music composition from The University of Florida. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Speech and Language (CNRS, AMU) in Marseille, France. https://benjaminobrien.net/
Sample Sharing: Virtual Laptop Ensemble Communities
What is a laptop ensemble?
A laptop orchestra or laptop ensemble is a chamber music ensemble consisting primarily of laptops. Currently, there are a number of education-based laptop orchestras including SLOrk, CMLO, HELO, BLOrk, CLOrk, L2Ork OLO, and PLOrk.
What are the roles and responsibilities of laptop musicians?
Laptop musicians are responsible for controlling and performing on their laptops or other microprocessor-based instruments while listening to other musicians at their current, physical locations, and paying attention to an audiovisual composite of the virtual ensemble. They can also work with a conductor directing the musicians, like a traditional orchestra.
The concept of network in relation to laptop ensemble music scenes
O’Brien goes on to explain the concept of network in relation to the laptop ensemble music scene. According to sociologists Andy Bennett and Richard A. Peterson (2004), the notion of a music scene can be divided into local,translocal, and virtual levels which influence an ensemble’s identity, method of implementation, and approach to performance.
O’Brien then goes on to isolate and observe each level of the music scene independently. For example, local universities or colleges offer courses to interested students and these courses allow the students not only to expand their knowledge related to computer science, music composition and performance, etc., but also to participate in “embodied” performance and reach out to communities at the local level. Also, this laptop ensemble presents opportunities to perform at translocal events like conferences, symposiums, and festivals. These translocal events give laptop ensembles a sense of the direction the music scene is heading in and provide opportunities to bring laptop musicians, researchers, and supporters together. At the virtual level, laptop musicians can communicate through social networking sites, forums, e-mail lists, discussion boards, and chat rooms, and these virtual communities also affect the local and translocal levels of the music scene. O’Brien emphasizes that this complex integration of all levels within the laptop ensemble music scene results in a more tightly-knit and healthier infrastructure and better communication among laptop musicians. Later, he discusses how virtual laptop ensemble simulcast performances, practice live coding, and practice network compositions.
While reading this article, this notion of laptop ensembles reminded me of noise instruments and synthesizers that make electronic music from the article by Pinch and Bijsterveld (2003). I guess I was expecting that with technological advances, people would create music with computers and laptops, but I also have many questions about this musical phenomenon. ‘Why a laptop orchestra?’ ‘What makes it different from people working alone to create music with their computer and then share their products after the fact?’ I was also wondering if I would pay money to go to their performances. In addition, I am curious whether this type of music is as expressive as music acoustically performed by real human beings. Can this laptop ensemble reestablish human connections in through virtual media (laptops/electronic music)? Could this computer music be used as a therapeutic tool for future music therapy? Nonetheless, I think that integrating the accessibility and mobility of technologies and the creative uses of material cultures and social codes is a fruitful idea.
Here are some performances:
Resilience (2019) performed by Standford Laptop Orchestra
Giography (2019) performed by Ge Wang
Breeze in C (2018) performed by Stanford Laptop Orchestra
Algorave at Bluedot festival in 2018
Discussion Questions:
1. Oftentimes, laptop musicians will display their code or visuals such as avatars when performing for their audience, or use tools like a Wii Remote to show how they are making music. Why is it important for the audience to see the physicality of the performers during a performance? How is this experience different from listening to the recording without the visual? How does it differ from watching performers play on classical instruments?
2. While mastery of classical music takes a while, laptop musicians spend shorter amounts of time learning their craft, such as a single course. Would you consider them to be musicians, in the traditional sense? Why, or why not?
3. As the technology develops, we have portable cell phones, iPads, and much more. How will laptop ensembles look different in the future as they continue to adapt technological advances? How can they be used as pedagogical tool? Within Universities, or within your own classes? Do you feel that the University of Iowa could benefit from a program like this? Why, or why not?
4. Explain the differences between music scenes at the following levels: local, translocal, and virtual. What is the difference in how each function? Explain a hallmark of each level and how the boundaries between them are blurrier than initially expected. How do they interact with each other in terms of their role or presence within their respective communities?
Great questions!
In response to your first question, I think audience members have a least some desire to see a human 'interacting' with the art in a live performance. Perhaps that gives the audience some way of imagining themselves as the one performing, and therefore helps them have some connection with the music. Additionally, with something as static as using a laptop, it's really difficult to imagine the performers own emotional reaction to the music. Even traditional classical instruments have a wide range of visible physicality. Pretty much everything that a string player or pianist is physically doing to manipulate their instrument is visible, while much of technique of wind players and vocalists is visible to an audience member. Regardless, I think most performers exhibit some sort of physical production of or reaction to the music, whether intentional or natural.
Thinking about your second question, the use of the word 'coding' in this article made this an obvious 'yes' for me. I guess it comes down to the basic 'what is a musician?' question, which is of course going to be different for everyone. Though I would argue that composers are also coding, even when using standard Western notation. Is that not simply instruction for the production of sound? Coding a computer seems rather similar in concept.
Great job Hae Sun!
I agree with a lot of what you have to say, Sarah. It is nice to see a human interacting with the art. I'd also add that that laptop musicians might display code, avatars, etc. simply because they can. It provides a really engaging visual element as well as a new experience for the audience, and when you start learning to code for these types of projects, the language is the same within whatever program you're using, you just have to know what objects and arguments to use to create music or visual art.
For your second question, I don't think there's necessarily less time learning the craft, I think the difference is more on how time is spent and how we approach learning classical vs. electronic music. When coding in a software like maxMSP, you start with a completely blank page every time you open the program and you can do pretty much anything you have the imagination to dream up. You can spend your entire life working in the software and still not memorize all the objects you can use to create something. That being said, you can do a lot of different things with just a few objects, which is why I think people can get a really good start with just one course. With music, however, we begin not with a blank page, but with something very defined and concrete that's based within a long tradition of performance and education. This may be considered more traditional, but that's because classical music is so old and technology is comparatively new, and is advancing each day. Comparing the techniques required to perform on an instrument versus in a coding software is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but whether the tool in front of you is a classical instrument or a laptop, I think you are a musician and creator.
I want to echo your comment about maxMSP. I recently purchased a piece with an electronics part that was built in this program and just figuring out how to get the audio to play was an adventure for me… I doubt that taking a single course on computer music is enough to claim proficiency. People that know how to write codes for music and create live electronics are like wizards to me. I have no problem putting a laptop musician on a pedestal that we would typically reserve for classically trained instrumentalists.
I agree with you Lex on the 2nd question. I was also thinking about maxMSP in relation to this question. This question is leading us to think that laptop music is not as difficult as traditional music settings, which is not necessarily true, the two could not really be compared because it is based on two different skill sets in addition to musicality and creativity.
As Sarah and Lex mentioned, maxMSP is about "coding", just like composers are using standard Western notation to "code" their music. I have met a person who works for maxMSP, he is a professional code writer for the company. Along the side, he uses maxMSP to compose his own music. I guess you can say they are not "musicians" but I think they are definitely composers who are performing their music on a not traditional instrument.
In fact, one could argue that working with computers, especially with maxMSP, allows a greater possibility for control, as opposed to the limitation of traditional instruments. Programmers need to understand the science behind the sound that they want to create but then can construct anything from the bottom up. This incredible range of possibility requires one to have clear direction and purpose in creating a patch and music.
Great job with this article, Hae Sun!
I think this is a really interesting topic. For question number two, I do think laptop musicians are musicians simply being because it is still music and they are learning a craft. Learning music is more of a journey than a checklist. I do understand the point about learning most of it in a single course. As an oboist, I'm all about simplification (when possible). If it's possible for a single course to teach someone the majority of the skill, then so be it. A lifetime of learning will help each of us to improve in our specialties.
#3 I have been dying to conduct a work for mixed ensemble —laptop orchestra/traditional orchestra!!! I very much see this as the future of music and if anyone would like to get in on this talk to me immediately!!!!
In regards to the first question, audiences don't want to watch people simply sitting at a computer—they need to feel a connection with the work through what they can understand. Sometimes it is movement, expression, nuance that they can connect and empathize with. An avatar or visual stimulant can assist with this.
Honestly, I have this cynical view because it's late. I feel like there is not much difference between the tech performer and the "musician". Music is music when we decide it's music. Performers today can sit in chairs and play memorized solo recitals. THey are communicating sounds through an object just like the other groups.
Laptop musicians don't just wake up and know how o use technology, so technically they took a long time to learn this. I think you put in what you get out. yes, there are extremes, but I am over some of the definitions of music-making that reinforce elitism.
I think that laptop musicians should be considered musicians because they are still developing a skill and working within a community to create and creatively come up with music with one another. I agree with others that this depends on how people define musicians for themselves, but to me, this certainly counts.
3. As the technology develops, we have portable cell phones, iPads, and much more. How will laptop ensembles look different in the future as they continue to adapt technological advances? How can they be used as pedagogical tool? Within Universities, or within your own classes? Do you feel that the University of Iowa could benefit from a program like this? Why, or why not?
I think as technology keeps evolving and becoming an ever larger thing in people's lives, it will become more engrained in music. I know many people who use iPads for all their music, as well as phones for metronomes or other practicing apps, and I can only imagine this will become a larger part of our musical routines as it develops more. I think laptop ensembles will become more common as time goes on, but only as long as the technology remains affordable enough that universities can commit to such an idea.