Performers hit the right key for computer music night (From Oxford Mail)

Performers hit the right key for computer music night

7:00pm Tuesday 26th February 2013 in News

Buy this photo » Performers at the Ashmolean Museum's music night. Picture: OX57540 Antony Moore

LAPTOPS, track pads and on-screen conductors helped ring the changes in how music is made at an event at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum.

On Friday, the museum hosted another of its after-hours events, entitled Musical Technology.

The various performances and exhibits explored the technical advances in the history of music.

Among the groups was a laptop orchestra, one of four from the Oxford University Faculty of Music, which played in one of the museum’s large indoor spaces.

Performer Huw Davies, 27, said: “We were performing Bells and Whistles by Dan Truman.

“In the piece, several of us were playing one of three different instruments. The one I was playing used an accelerometer in a Macbook computer so I was able to change the sound.

“Some of the guys were using track pads, and there was another guy who was providing the rhythm section. We also had a score on the computers which told us what to play and an on-screen conductor provided us with the beat.

“It was fantastic working there. The people organising the event were amazing, and they put us in one of the best spaces we could’ve been in.

“With what we do, it’s important people can see what we’re doing from different angles, so it was perfect for that, but also the sound was fantastic because of the high ceiling.”