Uploaded November 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is a performance I did with Jay Silver at MIT Media Lab's 2011 Fall Sponsor Meeting. First, I conducted the audience in singing a short melody by jumping across the stage (this part was inspired by Bobby McFerrin's amazing performance at World Science Festival 2009). Then, I sat down at a computer and created some simple algorithmic music using Scratch for "live coding." Scratch is a graphical programming language, designed to let kids make interactive media, but which we've modified here to let it control Ableton Live, for sound synthesis. The audience could see the code on a large screen, but they could also see a thought bubble next to my head revealing my thoughts along the way (sneakily improvised by Jay). Finally, I built up a more complex pattern and brought the audience back in to sing along.
This is a performance I did with Jay Silver at MIT Media Lab's 2011 Fall Sponsor Meeting. First, I conducted the audience in singing a short melody by jumping across the stage (this part was inspired by Bobby McFerrin's amazing performance at World Science Festival 2009). Then, I sat down at a computer and created some simple algorithmic music using Scratch for "live coding." Scratch is a graphical programming language, designed to let kids make interactive media, but which we've modified here to let it control Ableton Live, for sound synthesis. The audience could see the code on a large screen, but they could also see a thought bubble next to my head revealing my thoughts along the way (sneakily improvised by Jay). Finally, I built up a more complex pattern and brought the audience back in to sing along.
