The SPLICE Institute (review)

SPLICE is an organization that produces a diverse range of musical and educational activities. In June 2019, the SPLICE Institute, now in its fifth year at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, brought composers and performers together to provide an environment that encouraged the creation of works for electronics and conventional instruments. The SPLICE Ensemble, SPLICE Festival, and, more recently, the SPLICE Academy, all contribute to the field of music technology.

The Institute’s staff this year consisted of guest artists and composer-teachers including Ensemble Dal Niente, composers Kyong Mee Choi and Eli Fieldsteel, and harpist Ben Melsky. There was also a core group of performers and composers drawn from the Western Michigan University staff, the SPLICE Ensemble, and other universities as well, notably, Christopher Biggs, Elainie Lillios, and Per Boland.

This year’s participants engaged in composition, performance, and entrepreneurship workshops, along with master classes and concerts. The composition workshops covered such topics as: how to reliably set up live electronic systems for a given work, notational practices, Max and SuperCollider software, and other hardware and software issues. As such, the SPLICE Institute attempts to address practical issues that involve technology, to support artists’ own sense of independence within their artistic practice. Performance workshops were offered for beginner to advanced-level musicians. The aim here was to provide a starting point for participants when solving technical or musical issues that might arise during concert and rehearsal scenarios.

Ultimately, the SPLICE staff successfully provided an environment inclusive of all participant levels and aesthetic interests. Another interesting feature of this year’s Institute were the entrepreneurship workshops headed by Ben Melsky, wherein he addressed career development themes. These themes included: time management after graduation, beginning new projects, and developing one’s overall artistic identity. Past guests, such as composer-performer Joo Won Park from Wayne State University, Michigan, have given workshops about software and electronic music performance issues.

A core performing group at the Institute was the SPLICE Ensemble, which included Sam Wells on trumpet, Keith Kirchoff on piano, and Adam Vidiksis on percussion. The group presented a distinctive electro-acoustic repertoire and has worked with student composers from various colleges in the U.S.A.

The SPLICE Ensemble contributed many concerts to the Institute, performing as a trio and also presenting solo works. For example, Vidiksis and Kirchoff produced a concert of recent instrument plus electronic works. These works included the following: Sublimation (2004) for marimba and electronics by Kyong Mee Choi, and her To Unformed (2009) for piano and fixed media; things that follow (2018) for percussion and electronics by Heather Stebbins; Piano Hero I (2011/2012) for sampler and video by Stefan Prins; and Monstress (2019) for piano and computer, by Christopher Biggs. The SPLICE Ensemble also produced concerts with Institute guests, artists such as violinist Mari Kimura, and Paula Matthusen and Joo Won Park on electronics.

Another event worth mentioning that focuses on live musical performances involving technology is the SPLICE Festival. Now preparing for its third year, SPLICE Festival 3 will take place at Miami University in Ohio, 20–22 February 2020. Previous Festivals have taken place at Western Michigan University and Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

This Festival can be viewed as a “new music gathering”, which supports the development of artistic relationships between the audience, performers, as well as students, all engaging with one another while attending various presentations and concerts. Programming is selected by the SPLICE staff from a range of submissions drawn from their Call for Proposals. This results in performances by participants, new works for the SPLICE Ensemble, workshops, and lectures.

An interesting theme inherent in some of the works programmed in past concerts was the role of the composer-performer. For example, in Concert I of the second SPLICE festival, Howie Kenty performed on vocals and electronics in his work Everybody Loves Me. In...