Review of MICE Orchestra "Unity Groove"

gk5f

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ljhe4MaPmk


As a fan of electronic music, I am always interested in finding out and listening to various styles and forms of electronic music. “Unity Groove” contains aspects of Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) concepts that are traditional as well as new, such as the Network-Operational Mobile Applied Digital System (NOMADS). Like MICE, there are other laptop groups with their own variations of the core music form of laptop orchestra. One such group is Princeton University’s PLOrk.
“Unity Groove” was a performance by a large group of 250 laptop owners under the direction of Matthew Burtner. NOMADS, which is a creation of the Interactive Media Research Group at the University of Virginia, is a networking tool for interaction across networks, both remote and local. Aside from the MICE performance, NOMADS also has many other applications where interaction for collaboration and sharing is needed in groups large and small (such as college lectures for example). NOMADS, along with artificial intelligence software was used to transform a variety of sounds (such as clanks, metallic sounds, and hollow sounds) to create a string of notes that form a melody. On the screens of the laptops were visualizations of the music and tied to each laptop individually. I really like this because I feel that music and vision are closely related (have you heard about the interesting cases of people seeing shapes and tasting flavors just through sound?) The music coming out of the laptop decided what the visualization did, so in effect, individuality in a large group was achieved. One of the influences for this and other MICE large group orchestras of Matthew Burtner is the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of the most respectable pioneers of electronic music. Stockhausen, one of the pioneers of electroniszhe was the first to combine both electronically produced and sampled sounds. This combination of electronic and sounds sampled from real life is clearly heard in the Unity Groove piece with the various collections of samples combined with the electronic textures in the background.
Laptop orchestra is a constantly developing form of music, and in addition to Burtner’s MICE at UVA, I also came upon a similar group at Princeton University, called PLOrk. In addition to the traditional laptop as an instrument model, this group also uses several other technologies to physically control the sound being produced. Two examples of using electronic sensors to control sound are the use of the motion sensor in the Nintendo Wii remotes (3 minutes 6 seconds in the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsaANAfZcw) and the use of hard-drive protection sensors found in some laptops (3 minutes 25 seconds of aforementioned video). I highly encourage you to look at the innovations and works of PLOrk, especially if you found “Unity Groove” interesting.
Just as networking is important in MICE through the uses of NOMADS, PLOrk also realizes this advantage of computers over traditional acoustic instruments (6 minutes 40 seconds in the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO1rA3ewgHY). Networking combined with the hemispherical speakers seen in the video give a very authentic and rhythmic acoustic experience (7 minutes 30 seconds in aforementioned video).
To conclude, MICE- “Unity Groove” is an example of the emerging style of music – the laptop orchestra. It has influences from the origins of computer music (including the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen) and combines the very modern technologies of software and networking. Similar groups have also formed elsewhere and have developed their own versions of laptop orchestras, expanding technology use to various types of sensors in a mass fashion to give a more physical control of digital sound formation. It is definitely an exciting genre of music and one that I will keep looking into for new things.

jegenes

do you know if NOMADS is available for download? I've tried to connect to their website, but only get an error msg. (http://nomads.music.virginia.edu/)

saw an early version at Internet2 in 2010, where I met Scott Deal. I'm interested in its applications for teaching, and for long distance collaborations with performers/audience.

thanks,

john