The Laptop Ensemble @ Yale University

The curricular branch of Yale’s Laptop Ensemble meet every two years with MUSI 231: Laptop Ensemble. The course focuses on the study and performance of live electronic and electroacoustic music, and topics include the appropriation of music technology through software and hardware hacking, laptop-based production and performance tools, hybrid electroacoustic instruments and electronic chamber music, live audio processing, and novel approaches to notation and conducting. Students participate in the laptop ensemble, creating new works and perform in a concert at the end of the semester.

This course introduces a broad range of topics in music technology through a combination of classroom learning and practical experience performing in the ensemble. The weekly seminar investigates themes related to the performance practice of electronic music, the relationship between technological innovation and musical invention, and the changing roles of composer, performer, audience member, instrument designer, and software engineer. Equal emphasis on historical and contemporary contexts.

Participation in the laptop ensemble provides experiential learning in computer music programming, software-based digital instrument design, human-computer interaction (HCI), and synchronization and communication over a wireless network. Regular rehearsals of student-composed pieces, exercises in group improvisation, and established pieces in the Laptop Ensemble repertoire supplement lecture-based study.

When MUSI 231 is not is session, Laptop Ensemble work continues with other department music technology offerings: MUSI 450: Electronic Instrument Design, MUSI 415: Musical Acoustics and Instrument Design, MUSI 315: Fundamentals of Music Technology, as well as the four-course music composition program (MUSI 320, 321, 420, and 421).

See the YalMusT website for more information.