SEAMUS 2007

SEAMUS describes itself as "a non-profit national organization of composers, performers, and teachers of electro-acoustic music representing every part of the country and virtually every musical style," defining electro-acoustic music as "those musics which are dependent on electronic technology for their creation and/or performance." The organization's overriding goals are "to provide a broad forum for those involved or interested in electronic music …[and] to increase communication among the diverse constituency of the relatively new music medium" (www.seamusonline.org). In pursuing those goals the organization holds national conferences, of which SEAMUS 2007 (hosted by Iowa State faculty member Christopher Hopkins, March 8–10, 2007) was the nineteenth. Each day of the conference featured four roughly hour-long concerts and/or paper sessions followed by a longer evening concert; the brevity of the morning and afternoon events made the otherwise intense schedule pleasant for attendees. The events alternated between the more formal Martha-Ellen Tye recital Hall and an adjacent space that was arranged for a more intimate concert experience that placed the audience closer to the speakers and, when present, the performers.