Last night saw the world’s largest digital orchestra perform in York University when fifty of the university’s students sat on the floor and played their MacBooks.

The digital orchestra played three tunes, two of which were written especially for the event. The students followed the instructions of their conductor Dr Ambrose Field who used a series of hand movements to indicate double and triple clicks and drawn out mouse movements.

The students also made use of the MacBook’s built-in camera. The camera recorded hand movements made by the students and then turned them into sound.

All sounds a bit complicated. One would think you’d just join a real orchestra. . .