Using information theory as a foundation, this paper defines virtuosity in the context of laptop performance, outlines a number of challenges that face laptop performers and software designers, and provides solutions that have been implemented in the author's own software environment. A summary of the argument is that by creating a multi-dimensional environment of Sonic Vector Spaces (see page 17) and implementing a method for quickly traversing that environment, a performer is able to create enough information flow to achieve laptop virtuosity. At the same time, traversing this multi-dimensional environment produces a perceptible sonic language that can add structural signposts for the listener to latch on to in performance. Specifics of the author's personal approach to this problem, a software environment coded in SuperCollider, are then shared. Lastly, Mihà¡ly Csàkszentmihà¡lyi's concept of flow psychology is applied to the three stages of creation in the laptop performance process - software design, patch design, and performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/D8S188KG |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Pluta, Samuel Francis |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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