Splinter Groups

When the Skeleton Key Orchestra began, much of the music was based around preexisting subgroups i was involved in. This consisted of groups such as Cosmologic, Return To One, NOD, Quibble, Perfektomat, the Spectrum Saxophone Quartet, as well as different duo settings with Lee Elderton, Curtis Glatter, Al Scholl, Jason Robinson and others. As the music progressed, other subgroups appeared, some from the compositions, some from other gigs and the community. The flute quartet at the beginning of sleeping against other warnings is a good example, or the bass trio at section G of raincastle. So i started thinking about forming smaller groups based out of the orchestra. It seemed to start happening before i realized it, especially with the rubberband, which began with a ad hoc improv gig setup to expand the string section. My thought behind the splinter groups was to break down different barriers (both musical and social) and allow more performance opportunities, with all of this hopefully making the entire orchestra musically stronger. The first several ensembles that formed seemed to deal with various sections of the orchestra (strings, brass, etc.).

the rubberband

I hope to document these different groups and the compositions i've been writing for them in the next year. I'm also hoping this idea continues. A few of the more far reaching splinter groups i hope to present in the next year are a vocal ensemble (the skeleton key chorus), an electro-acoustic ensemble and (of course) the Skeleton Key Marching Band........NMH 1/04