I usually stand up to do a live coding performance - but then, I'm
more into the kind of music that should be appreciated standing up.
(Best laptop table is then a small but high table like a DJ might
have.) I also like to do it barefoot, not because I sense any
particular vibrations but because it gives me a physical sense of
connectedness and openness.
FWIW :)
Dan
2014-04-13 12:04 GMT+01:00 alex <alex_at_slab.org>:
> Some lazy Sunday thoughts..
>
> Live coding is often done sitting down, laptop on a chair (not on the lap), and fully clothed. In fact this is true of all programming.
>
> There is this famous photo of Benoit and the Mandelbrots live coding in a bank foyer:
>
> http://toplap.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/benoit1.jpg
>
> Juan takes the place of a bank worker, with the terminal obscured by a loudspeaker. Holger takes the place of the client or customer, but Juan is apparently completely ignoring him, and indeed the focus of all four is on their screens. Patrick and Matthias disrupt the scene further by sitting cross-legged on pedestals, possibly placed as acoustic shields, but here with more speakers on. We know they are not ignoring each other, but instead resonating together through physical sound, and probably making ironic comments in chat windows.
>
> Anyway it's a nice photo and I've also taken to sitting down without a chair during performances, e.g. see the photo here:
>
> http://soundcloud.com/lurkorg/yaxu-live-at-ifai-belgrave
>
> This can really worry some people, on that occasion Robin Rimbaud was really concerned that I would sit on the floor for half an hour. Well my posture isn't the best, and it's true that sitting for cramped over a laptop is not great either, but for example Tabla players manage to play for long periods on the floor, with movements analogous to extremely fast typing Can we adapt the placement or form of the computer keyboard to make this better?
>
> I think using an external keyboard, and using the projection as the screen helps, it also feels more like you're in the same environment as everyone else:
> http://assets.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/123475/_DSC2727_003.jpg
>
> Another common live coding posture is that of the DJ, standing up while at a laptop on a high table. This is common also in some offices, I think it's a particularly Scandinavian tradition. This opens up the possibility of going beyond the laptop head nod to full on dancing - for example Ash can somehow pull off this feat of raving-while-typing: http://ms.stubnitz.com/content/section-9-uk . Criticism of head nodding in laptop performance (e.g. http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/mark-fell-interview) gets stretched to its limit at this point..
>
> Something else I've done for quite a while is removed my shoes while performing, whether performing on the floor, on a chair or standing. Deaf musicians famously do this so they can hear more by picking up vibrations through their feet, so why don't all musicians? Especially when they are standing next to a bass bin. Removing shoes also makes sitting on the floor more comfortable, something else I've noticed tabla players doing. You just have to remember to not be wearing embarrassing socks, I often end up having to buy some before a performance.
>
> As Tim Ingold points out in his book "being alive", chairs and shoes are quite recent technologies, and still most people squat rather than sit. They separate or cushion us from the ground, and shoes somehow encourage us to think in terms of destinations rather than think through journeys. Our bodies adapt to them early in life so that connection to the ground becomes painful. I think there are analogies to live coding here, for example I think we have to go through some pain to break conventoins and establish a healthier mind/body whole in laptop performance..
>
> alex
>
> --
>
> Read the whole topic here: livecode:
> http://lurk.org/r/topic/5TS0dlEAWHbpaMAqZb1aTj
>
> To leave livecode, email livecode_at_group.lurk.org with the following email subject: unsubscribe
--
Read the whole topic here: livecode:
http://lurk.org/r/topic/1tEFkMOOq3bp1EXjEauYfk
To leave livecode, email livecode_at_group.lurk.org with the following email subject: unsubscribe
Received on Sun Apr 13 2014 - 12:35:34 BST
