Digital musicianship training for classically trained music students in a laptop orchestra

Laptop orchestra is a music platform that focuses on collaborative music making within a computer-mediated environment. It is usually formed by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in different disciplines such as music, composition, multimedia, and computer science that contribute to various aspects of a laptop orchestra. The iLOrk presented in this paper is a laptop orchestra from the Hong Kong Institute of Education that specializes in teacher education. It was formed by a group of music education students who were not familiar with computer music and performance technology. To complement the team’s lack of a technical foundation, it is necessary to develop iLOrk members’ knowledge and skills in the manipulation of digital instruments and participation in a laptop orchestra performance. A series of activities were designed to transform their classically oriented musical competencies into technologically oriented digital musicianship, including (1) development of an iOS app i-Orchestra for orchestral simulation; (2) the use of MIDI controllers as musical instruments; and (3) compositional work dedicated to a laptop orchestra. This paper details the strategies and pedagogical considerations in the digital musicianship training of classically trained members of this laptop orchestra.