New Wave Symphony: PLOrk

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WHEN INVENTORS Thaddeus Cahill and Leon Theremin designed the teleharmonium and the theremin, respectively, at the turn of the 20th century, their musical technology was intended for use by serious composers.

Although the theremin is now regarded as the quintessential maker of spooky sound effects — and modern gadgetry has only expanded the limits of obnoxious noisemaking — electronic music remains rooted in formalistic composition.

The electronic instrument of choice for most contemporary composers is the laptop computer. For Princeton professors Perry Cook and Dan Trueman, founders of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, or PLOrk, it's also an agent of change designed to bring orchestral performance into the 21st century.

The orchestra is a "slow-footed institution [that] poses enormous challenges; experimentation is possible only rarely," Trueman wrote recently in a paper for the British academic journal Organised Sound. "The laptop orchestra … has the potential to both guide the development of new instruments and technologies and also suggest new ways of invigorating the traditional orchestra," he said.

PLOrk certainly does the latter. The orchestra consists of a conductor and ensemble of laptop musicians (Princeton graduates and students taking PLOrk as a course for credit) arranged in typical orchestral fashion in rows or groups, with each performer inhabiting his own acoustical space.

But instead of plugging the performers' computers into a mixer to centralize the audio output, each instrument is amplified by a six-channel hemispherical speaker situated next to the performer.

"Each member of PLOrk has their own sonic real estate," Cook said. "PLOrk aims to retain the charm of the orchestral model, which we think retains the interest of the audience. Plus we think it looks cool!"

Adding "real" instruments into the mix isn't verboten, however. "We don't forbid that," Cook says. "It just depends on what a particular piece calls for."

The group's music consists largely of student compositions, most of which incorporate open-source, cross-platform computer software. In other words: fresh sounds. "All of our work is new," Cook said. "We see no need to rework Beethoven."

» Marian Koshland Science Museum, National Academy of Science, 6th and E streets NW; Thu., 6 p.m.-8 p.m., $5; 202-334-1201. (Gallery Place, Judiciary Square)

» Download MP3s of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra's debut concert.

Written by Express contributor Johnathan Rickman
Photos courtesy Princeton Laptop Orchestra