Playing with Something That Runs: Technology, Improvisation, and Composition in DJ and Laptop Performance

Winner of the 2015 PMIG Outstanding Publication Award from the Society of Music Theory The DJs and laptop performers of electronic dance music use preexistent elements such as vinyl records and digital samples to create fluid, dynamic performances. These performances are also largely improvised, evolving in response to the demands of a particular situation through interaction with a dancing audience. Within performance, musicians make numerous spontaneous decisions about variables such as w...