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- Volume 10, Issue 2, 2017
Journal of Music, Technology & Education - Volume 10, Issue 2-3, 2017
Volume 10, Issue 2-3, 2017
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Online Orchestra: Connecting remote communities through music
Authors: Michael Rofe, Samuel Murray and Will ParkerAbstractOnline Orchestra is a telematic performance project, aimed at enabling young and amateur musicians in geographically remote locations to make music together over the Internet. This article describes the contexts out of which the project emerged, including an overview of the benefits of ensemble performance, and a survey of precedent telematic performance projects. It goes on to describe how the starting premises of Online Orchestra respond to these contexts and ends with a summary of Online Orchestra’s approach, and its key findings. The article describes in particular how many recent telematic performance projects rely on specialist networks and equipment, and that alternative design solutions are necessary, and possible, in order to reach young and amateur musicians in their own remote locations.
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Telematic performance and the challenge of latency
Authors: Michael Rofe and Federico ReubenAbstractAny attempt to perform music over a network requires engagement with the issue of latency. Either latency needs to be reduced to the point where it is no longer noticeable or creative alternatives to working with latency need to be developed. Given that Online Orchestra aimed to enable performance in community contexts, where significant bandwidth and specialist equipment were not available, it would not be possible to reduce latency below the 20–30ms cut-off at which it becomes noticeable. Instead, Online Orchestra developed new software that controls network latency, locking it to musical tempo. This in turn enabled musicians to perform precise rhythmic music in a latency-rich environment.
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Designing a system for Online Orchestra: Computer hardware and software
Authors: David Prior, Ian Biscoe, Michael Rofe and Federico ReubenAbstractOnline Orchestra sought in its pilot performance to enable musicians in four remote locations in Cornwall, United Kingdom, to make music together over the Internet. This article considers the processes by which computer hardware and software platforms were selected, integrated and optimized for the performance. Starting with an overview of guiding design principles, details of the computer hardware and software platforms used are provided. Audio- and video-streaming solutions are surveyed, leading to a detailed analysis of JackTrip and its deployment in the final system. The network environment in which the Online Orchestra performance took place is also considered, including specifications of each of the four venues.
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Designing a system for Online Orchestra: Peripheral equipment
Authors: David Prior, Philip Reeder, Michael Rofe, Ian Biscoe and Samuel MurrayAbstractOnline Orchestra is a telematic performance project, aimed at enabling young and amateur musicians in geographically remote locations to make music together over the Internet. This article reports the processes by which the audio and video peripheral equipment used for Online Orchestra was chosen and how the system was designed and used. Starting with an overview of guiding design principles, a description of methods for choosing, integrating and configuring audio and video hardware is presented. Following the development of the project from initial workgroups to the pilot performance of Online Orchestra, this article compares the ‘ideal’ test scenarios of workgroups with the reality of deploying the technology in a performance context and concludes with an account of using the system on site.
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Designing a system for Online Orchestra: Microphone evaluation and cost-benefit analysis
Authors: Erik Geelhoed, David Prior and Michael RofeAbstractOnline Orchestra is a telematic performance project that aimed to enable young and amateur musicians to make music online. Part of the aim of the project was to assess the extent to which specialist equipment is needed in order to enable a high-quality musical experience in a telematic environment. This article reports a microphone evaluation study in which untrained participants were asked to assess ten characteristics of quality in five samples, each recorded using different microphone configurations. Results show that participants rated DPA VO4099 clip-on microphones best, but that a stereo pair of Sure SM57s – which are over ten times cheaper – was rated a close second. Multidimensional scaling also shows that SM57s had the highest similarity to all other microphone configurations, suggesting they are a good alternative to costlier solutions.
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Composing for a latency-rich environment
Authors: Michael Rofe and Erik GeelhoedAbstractThree new works were commissioned for the pilot performance of Online Orchestra: In Sea-Cold Lyonesse by John Pickard, Spiritus Telecommunitas by Federico Reuben and Re-Tracing by Jim Aitchison. This article brings together post-project interviews with composers and detailed analyses of the final compositions in order to document how composers approached the challenge of writing music for a latency-rich environment. Solutions include the use of distributed textures, polyrhythm and ostinati, blurred transitions, slow rates of harmonic change, layered textures and semi-improvised rhythmic notation. This leads to consideration of the medium of Online Orchestra – a telematic performance environment for distributed young and amateur musicians to make music together – and the conclusion that latency-rich environments hold significant potential for composers.
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Experiencing Online Orchestra: Communities, connections and music-making through telematic performance
Authors: Michael Rofe, Erik Geelhoed and Laura HodsdonAbstractTelematic performance offers significant potential for musicians in remote communities to perform together, increasing access to the type of ensemble music-making that is commonplace in urban areas. This article presents a range of perspectives taken from interviews with participants in the Online Orchestra pilot performance. Participants highlight the significant potential of telematic performance to overcome the challenge of music-making in geographically remote communities. The feasibility of making music in latency-rich environments is corroborated, as is the importance of the conductor in telematic performance. Suggestions are given for the fine tuning of peripheral equipment, and a preference emerges for the more traditional and simple music commissioned by the project.
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Notes from the podium of an Online Orchestra
More LessAbstractOnline Orchestra placed significant demands on its conductor, with a role that included rehearsing and directing remote musicians over the Internet. This article presents a first-hand reflective account from the conductor of Online Orchestra, including details of trials, rehearsals and the final performance. Practical considerations such as conducting technique, visual framing and ensemble seating are considered, as are reflections on conducting in a latency-rich environment. This leads to the conclusion that many traditional approaches to conducting apply in telematic performance, and the suggestion that there is significant scope for musicians to learn and grow in ability when making music online.
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The network as niche
By David PriorAbstractAs telematic music emerges as a medium distinct from that of live performance, broadcast or recorded music, we are in a privileged position to experience it in its naïve form. This article investigates where these distinctions reside and starts by considering the ways in which telematic music systems mediate the music made with them. It then turns to Anthony Chemero’s rendering of William Gibson’s theory of affordances, imagining Online Orchestra as an ‘environment’, or musical habitat. Rather than focusing on spurious notions of the fixed properties of the media that comprise this environment, attention is given to the relations between the various mediating forms within the system, whether they be performers, audiences or technical media.
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