The (Real) Laptop Music :))
laptop as a percussion instrument
“The (Real) Laptop Music :))” emerged from a question on a laptop as a “musical instrument:” is it used mainly to operate sonic software or as a main source of the sound?
Program note for the performance at the Aural Diversity Conference 2019
This stereo audiovisual fixed-media piece (2017, extended in 2019) emerged from a question about a laptop for composing activities: Is it used merely to operate software(s) or is it used as a main physical source of sound?
The visual component of this piece is in a form of video samples of a laptop being touched, scratched, tapped, or hit, and the audio includes the sound corresponding to the visual.
The composition includes direct aural source-bonding to the visual cues, while the sound sometimes may evoke acousmatic image.
Projected on ‘a big stereo’, the audio may help project immersive sound to evoke haptic sense resulted from the acoustical energy propagation, while the visual may help evoke sense of haptic imagery.
The piece’s general character is non-melodic, percussive, almost monophony, rhythmical, and occasionally granular and glitch-like. The piece contains extremity of contrasts of timbres, loudness, aural & visual rhythms, especially from the middle to the ending part of the piece, and includes low, mid-low, middle, mid-high, and high frequencies.
The piece is projected on an LCD projector and diffused on a 6.1 system (6 loudspeakers and 1—or more—subwoofer): 3 loudspeakers on the left side (for the left channel) and the other 3 loudspeakers on the right side (for the right channel) to project ‘a big stereo’. It can be streamed into headphones and hearing aids, and audiences are welcome to wear earplugs while staying within/around the diffusion space. The duration of this piece is 9’39”.
Work details
Year created: 2017 and 2019 (extended)
Medium: 2-channel video and stereo audio
Duration: 5 minutes (2017) and 9 minutes 39 seconds (2019)
Cast
Composer, Director, & Editor: Jay Afrisando
Videographer: Michael Duffy
Filmed in Minneapolis, MN, US on November 15, 2017.
The composition was initially created in 2017 and extended in 2019.
Performance
CCRMA Presents Jay Afrisando, CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, US, 16 March 2023.
Sonic Salon Winter 2020, a private residence in Seward, Minneapolis, MN, US, 11 January 2019.
In Situ: Festival for Electronic Music and Sound Art 2019, Moon Palace Books, Minneapolis, MN, US, 7 December 2019.
Aural Diversity Conference 2019, Attenborough Arts Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, 30 November 2019.
October Meeting Contemporary Music and Musicians 2019, Tembi Rumah Budaya, Yogyakarta, ID, 23 October 2019.
International Computer Music Conference/New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2019, Fridman Gallery, New York City, NY, US, 20 June 2019.
A wide-angled photo showing the screening. The audience looks at the screen. On the left is a male controlling the audio mixer. Photo: Jay Afrisando. Event: Aural Diversity Conference 2019.
The audience watches the video projection. The projection shows two index fingers tapping a laptop. Photo: Terry Perdanawati. Event: Aural Diversity Conference 2019.
Some audience members watch the video projection. Two of them hold balloons to sense the vibration coming from the loudspeakers. Photo: Terry Perdanawati. Event: Aural Diversity Conference 2019.
In a dark room, an audience watches the video projection. The projection shows a right hand tapping a laptop keyboard. Photo: Jay Afrisando. Event: New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival/International Computer Music Conference 2019.
Setting up the video projection in a dark space. Two loudspeakers, a microphone on a stand, and a long white cable on the black floor appear in a shadow. Photo: Jay Afrisando. Event: New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival/International Computer Music Conference 2019.
A laptop, a mouse, a paper cup, and several tapes are on a wooden table. A video camera points toward the laptop. A big square lighting illuminates the recording scene. Photo: Jay Afrisando. Event: Behind the scenes, 2017.