Bill Colvig

I received an email this AM from Bill Sly bearing the sad news that
"Bill Colvig died peacefully yesterday afternoon while in the presence
of Lou Harrison and good friends." Bill was one of the pioneers of the
JI movement. During the years he and Lou were together, he constructed
and tuned numerous alternatively-tuned instruments and the American
gamelans played by Lou and his students and colleagues at Mills, San
Jose, and Aptos.

--John

>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 12:13:17 EST
>Reply-To: Jody Diamond <Jody.Diamond@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
>Sender: Indonesian performing arts <GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU>
>From: Jody Diamond <Jody.Diamond@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
>Subject: Bill Colvig
>Comments: To: RUSSELLM@IUBACS.DARTMOUTH.EDU
>To: GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
>
>Bill Colvig has passed away. He was a prodigious instrument builder, and
>the much loved partner and collaborator of Lou Harrison. Among his many
>accomplishments, Bill was particularly involved in building two large
>gamelan, Si Darius/Si Madelaine at Mills College and Si Betty at San Jose
>State, as well as an original percussion orchestra known as "Old Grandad."
>
>He was also the fastest hiker west of the Rockies.
>Those who knew him will miss him greatly.
>
>jody diamond

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Did bill have any music on CD ?

or just with Lou Harrison?
On Thu, 2 Mar 2000 ALVES@ORION.AC.HMC.EDU
wrote:

> From: ALVES@ORION.AC.HMC.EDU
>
> >MIME-Version: 1.0
> >Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 12:13:17 EST
> >Reply-To: Jody Diamond <Jody.Diamond@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
> >Sender: Indonesian performing arts <GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU>
> >From: Jody Diamond <Jody.Diamond@DARTMOUTH.EDU>
> >Subject: Bill Colvig
> >Comments: To: RUSSELLM@IUBACS.DARTMOUTH.EDU
> >To: GAMELAN@LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU
> >
> >Bill Colvig has passed away. He was a prodigious instrument builder, and
> >the much loved partner and collaborator of Lou Harrison. Among his many
> >accomplishments, Bill was particularly involved in building two large
> >gamelan, Si Darius/Si Madelaine at Mills College and Si Betty at San Jose
> >State, as well as an original percussion orchestra known as "Old Grandad."
> >
> >He was also the fastest hiker west of the Rockies.
> >Those who knew him will miss him greatly.
> >
> >jody diamond
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^
> ^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^
> ^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^
> ^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)607-7600 (fax) ^
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
>
>
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Bill Colvig will be missed. His high level of enthusiasm was near constant.
I met him and Lou in York, England. After a 3-day stay with them in their
beautiful home in Aptos, Ca., which was designed by Bill, I found the Ives
"Universe Symphony" sketches.

Bill had indeed built many gamelons with distinct JI tunings. He also gave
me valuable recordings that have since been released concerning Partch. Most
memorable is his attending one of the early "microtonal" parties that were
held in New York in the '80's. Bill, came to the Brooklyn home of founding
AFMM board member, the late Thais Lathem (mother of the war correspondent).
Bill met our community, partying the night away, until I accompanied him to
the trains. I cautioned him to take a different entrance in order for him to
go to Manhattan. He said his preference was always to go to Queens, and let
out a chuckle.

Bill Colvig seemed to devour nature and drew tremendous energies from life,
which he was only too happy to apply to Lou's musical projects. He was a
powerful force in JI, enough for the Indonesians to consider JI-tuned gamelon
as distinctly American variety of gamelon.

Johnny Reinhard
AFMM