Sad news

Dear tuning list,

I have some very sad news. Bill Slye, whom many of you knew as a JI composer, instrument builder, and sometime student of Lou Harrison, died unexpectedly on January 13. I received this news in an email from Hamilton Slye, Bill's brother. Bill was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1970 and graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a custom degree in Just Intonation. He studied guitar with Guy Cantwell and William Coulter, instrument construction with Bill Hardin and Bill Colvig, tuning theory with Lou Harrison, and composition with David Jones, Paul Nauert, and Lou Harrison. He built his own JI marimba, for which he wrote his thesis composition "Dancing with the Dragon," presented by MicroFest in 2000. He lived for some years in Santa Cruz, where he taught music lessons, was active in community affairs, and was a common visitor to the Harrison/Colvig household. Bill and I collaborated on the design of the tuning for the JI National Steel guitar used for Lou Harrison's last composition, and he also helped construct the Diamond Marimba now used by John Schneider and the ensemble Partch. Bill passed away in Tallahassee, Florida and was buried in Jacksonville. You can find an obituary from the Florida Times-Union online. According to them, contributions can be made in Bill's memory to Jacksonville Episcopal High School, 4455 Atlantic Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207, or to the charity of your choice. I know many of you knew Bill and his warm gregariousness and good humor. I would encourage those of you who did to share your memories. I'm afraid I don't have any further information.

Bill Alves

My condolences to his family.

Chris

On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 8:09 PM, William <ALVES@...> wrote:

>
>
> Dear tuning list,
>
> I have some very sad news. Bill Slye, whom many of you knew as a JI
> composer, instrument builder, and sometime student of Lou Harrison, died
> unexpectedly on January 13. I received this news in an email from Hamilton
> Slye, Bill's brother. Bill was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1970 and
> graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a custom degree
> in Just Intonation. He studied guitar with Guy Cantwell and William Coulter,
> instrument construction with Bill Hardin and Bill Colvig, tuning theory with
> Lou Harrison, and composition with David Jones, Paul Nauert, and Lou
> Harrison. He built his own JI marimba, for which he wrote his thesis
> composition "Dancing with the Dragon," presented by MicroFest in 2000. He
> lived for some years in Santa Cruz, where he taught music lessons, was
> active in community affairs, and was a common visitor to the Harrison/Colvig
> household. Bill and I collaborated on the design of the tuning for the JI
> National Steel guitar used for Lou Harrison's last composition, and he also
> helped construct the Diamond Marimba now used by John Schneider and the
> ensemble Partch. Bill passed away in Tallahassee, Florida and was buried in
> Jacksonville. You can find an obituary from the Florida Times-Union online.
> According to them, contributions can be made in Bill's memory to
> Jacksonville Episcopal High School, 4455 Atlantic Blvd., Jacksonville, FL
> 32207, or to the charity of your choice. I know many of you knew Bill and
> his warm gregariousness and good humor. I would encourage those of you who
> did to share your memories. I'm afraid I don't have any further information.
>
>
> Bill Alves
>
>
>