01 Oct '19

Laptop Ensemble in the Canberra Times

teaching reimagine lens

The ANU Laptop Ensemble (LENS) is in the Canberra Times this morning: ANU School of Music’s new orchestra is far from conventional.

There’s some really encouraging stuff in there from ANU School of Music head Kim Cunio about the role of code in music-making:

“We want to re-imagine what an orchestra is,” he says. “My vision is to train musicians that are part composers, part mathematicians, and part computer hackers.”

I’m so pumped—this is exactly what I’ve been trying to do for several years, and having Kim on board as an ally is very encouraging. Along with the CECS Reimagine agenda (including their support of my fellowship to put together the c/c/c studio) and the great things happening elsewhere in CASS, there’s good vibes in the air around cross-disiplinary code, creativity and culture at the ANU.

The article ends by saying:

Cunio hopes experiments with science, maths and technology will also open “back doors” into music for a new breed of student.

“Sometimes the best musicians are lost to music.”

I suspect that sometimes the best computer scientists are lost to CS as well. Hopefully programs like the LENS can change that.