Why a laptop orchestra?

That the notion of a ‘laptop orchestra’ is seemingly paradoxical is one of my prime motivations for creating one; the pairing of these two inventions is perhaps obvious only because of its apparent impossibility. One is an almost archaic institution whose continued existence is something of a miracle, the other a technological newcomer that has become commonplace and seems likely to be with us, at least in some form, for quite some time. One serves to perform primarily European music from centuries ago, while the other is a convenient tool for editing text, crunching numbers, browsing the Web, and checking e-mail. Never the twain shall meet. And yet, making music with laptops and performing with them is by now commonplace and seemingly here to stay. Orchestras also remain and seem unlikely to vanish any time soon, in spite of the decades-long obituary that is continually being written, and there have been nascent efforts to integrate electronic technology with the orchestra. Both endeavours remain problematic. The future of the orchestra is the subject of regular nail-biting, and the maintenance of such an expensive, slow-footed institution poses enormous challenges; experimentation is possible only rarely. Laptop performance itself is also often the subject of criticism, some arguing that ‘performing’ with a laptop and making ‘successful art’ is essentially impossible (Ostertag 2002). Let’s begin by considering some salient features of the orchestra: N The orchestra is large. N The orchestra typically lives in a reasonably large performance hall with good musical acoustics. N The orchestra’s sound is the net sum of many relatively proximal instruments filling this hall. N It is divided into sections according to the nature of these instruments. N These instruments typically take decades to master, and have been under refinement for even longer, sometimes centuries. N The orchestra is usually conducted.