Tagged: 5th graders

Upcoming Spring Events

The spring is in the air, which means it is time for the spring DISIS and L2Ork events. To start the season right, this past Friday L2Ork had a sneak preview performance at Roanoke College. More so, this coming weekend we are having a truly special series of events with the return of the Boys & Girls Club laptop orchestra whom we’ve been working with this semester. In addition, the spring DISIS event will also include guest artists and scholars Ron Coulter, Brad Garton, Peter Kirn, and Dave Phillips. The upcoming events include:

  • Thursday April 7 @ 3:30-4:45pm in DISIS presentation by Brad Garton
  • Friday 10am-1pm lectures in the Arts Armory by Brad Garton, Peter Kirn, and Dave Phillips (free admission)
  • Friday April 8 @ 7pm in Dumas Center (Roanoke, VA) children’s concert featuring Boys & Girls Club laptop orchestra and L2Ork
  • Saturday April 9 @ 7pm in Squires Recital Salon children’s benefit concert (an Arts Fusion event) featuring Boys & Girls Club laptop orchestra and L2Ork followed by a hands-on laptop orchestra demo session for kids and families ($5 general, $3 children/students/seniors, with all proceeds benefiting Boys & Girls ClubPress Release
  • Saturday April 9 @ 8pm in Squires Recital Salon benefit concert (an Arts Fusion event) featuring Ron Coulter, Brad Garton, Peter Kirn, Dave Phillips, and L2Ork ($5 general, $3 children/students/seniors, with all proceeds benefiting Boys & Girls ClubPress Release

This year we’ve also partnered up with the Virginia Tech Kids’ Tech University program (KTU blog) to expand our outreach to young audiences. For additional info on the upcoming events, please visit our Events page or our Facebook Event page. To keep up with the latest updates, join us on Facebook.

As if that weren’t exciting enough, earlier this weekend we’ve made yet another public release of pd-l2ork with even more cool features and fixes. Our site has been also updated with the new promotional materials and photos. Yet, in the spirit of Steve Jobs’ keynote speeches we’ve left the best for last. Stay tuned for more exciting updates soon ;-)

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1st Prize

As usual, things are rather busy in L2Ork-land. As a matter of fact, so busy we’ve completely forgotten to blog (which reminds me I need to update both L2Ork and DISIS sites)…

We are once again thoroughly excited to be working with the 4th and 5th graders of the Boys & Girls Club of Roanoke, VA, we recently returned from the national SEAMUS 2011 conference, we just got a brand new piece finished that incorporates Taiji (a.k.a. Tai Chi) choreography, pd-l2ork is progressing beautifully with already hundreds of bug-fixes and improvements committed since last November (and now with a comprehensive documentation on how to install it), and we are only a month away from series of our spring performances (which once again, reminds me, I really need to update the “upcoming events” page asap). As if that weren’t enough, a couple weeks ago I learned that the revamped version of Half-Life composition for laptop orchestra and narrator (based on a piece originally written for L2Ork) has won the first place on the first international laptop orchestra composition commission competition sponsored by our sister MONSTER laptop orchestra at Montana State University. Yay!

All that said, provided next couple of weeks go as planned, we are gearing up for another huge announcement, so stay tuned for more L2Ork goodness! In the meantime, as a shameless plug for my DISIS computer music students, they’ve just released their first Max album in the “aural pixels” series featuring real-time generated experimental tunes. So, head over to the DISIS portfolio page for some screechin’, FMlicious goodness.

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April 17th 2010 L2Ork/DISIS Spring EventIt’s been a busy semester to say the least. Consequently, I hope you’ll forgive us for posting this announcement so close to the actual event.

It is my great pleasure to announce the upcoming joint L2Ork/DISIS spring event scheduled for April 17th 2010 (Saturday) in the Squires Recital Salon, starting at 7pm with the Boys & Girls Club of Roanoke, VA children’s showcase, followed by the 8pm Benefit Concert.

Apart from the L2Ork 14-member ensemble, the program will also feature guest artists Matthew Burtner (UVA), Ron Coulter (SIUC) and Mark Engebretson (UNCG), as well as Virginia Tech Music Department’s tremendously talented soprano Chelsea Crane. All donations will benefit Boys & Girls Club of Roanoke, VA.

The 7pm program is geared mainly towards children and parents and will also include a demo hands-on session for visitors and parents alike. The 8pm benefit concert will be more experimental in nature, featuring numbers for L2Ork and soloists, works by visiting artists, as well as musical robots and other innovative creative technologies.

On April 20th, L2Ork will also embark on its maiden tour made possible through generous contributions by Virginia Tech’s Center for Creative Technologies in the Arts (CCTA), Institute for Society, Culture & Environment (ISCE), Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE), Collaborative for Creative Technologies in the Arts & Design (CCTAD), and Center for Human-Computer Interaction (CHCI).

The tour will include performances at the Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music (April 20th) as part of the Sonic Exploration concert series, Southern Illinois University (April 22nd), and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (April 25th) as part of the International Intermedia Festival of Telematic Arts.

For additional info visit the Events page.

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Kevin and Donovan from the Boys and Girls ClubHello all,

Over the last month L2Ork has been working with the Roanoke Boys and Girls club to adapt a laptop orchestra for use in elementary school education. I have been traveling to Roanoke 3 times a week to teach the students and help them make music. We currently have ten 5th grade students involved in the program, and they are all eager to learn and have been great to work with.

Both the students, and VT l2orkists are very excited by the opportunity to collaborate with one another through the use of the laptop orchestra. On April 17th, we very much look forward to performing with our fellow l2orkists from the Boys & Girls Club. Undoubtedly the upcoming concert will be a big step forward for all involved, and I urge everyone to attend.

More to come in the next couple weeks, Jonathan.

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