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Open Space is hosting a residency with Canadian composer, author, and instrument designer Gayle Young from October 27 through November 9, 2007. 

Gayle Young has worked with sound installation and instrument design since the late 1970s.  In addition to being reckognized for her uniquie approaches to microtonal music she is also reveared for the two instruments she invented: the columbine, a 61-pitch percussion instrument; and the amaranth, a 24-stringed zither. Both instruments produce a great range of sound through unorthodox tunings and unusual playing techniques.  Young has created environmental sound installations and film scores using tuned lengths of tubing. She has worked with R. Murray Schafer, Pauline Oliveros, Michael Snow, David Mott, Don Wherry and many others prominent in contemporary new music.  As a writer, she is the author of a biography of Canadian electronic pioneer Hugh LeCaine, and is the publisher of Musicworks.

Gayle Young’s residency in Victoria offers two concerts, workshops for musicians, discussion forums about sound and opportunities for collaboration.

Saturday, October 27, 8pm
Concert.  Gayle Young: Music for Microtonal Instruments and Film Screening
Open Space 510 Fort Street
Tickets:  $10/$12
Gayle Young presents music that explores the worlds of just and microtonal tuning and soundscape.  She will play two instruments she designed and built:  the columbine, a metal percussion instrument using 23 pitches per octave in an expanded just intonation tuning system, and the amaranth, a twenty-four stringed instrument with a flexible tuning system.

Monday, October 29, 7pm
Workshop: Music Improvisation – gadgets and non-traditional instruments
Open Space 510 Fort Street
Drop In Fee:  $5
Gayle Young, assisted by local musicians Jeff Morton and Tina Pearson presents an interactive session that focuses on tolls and ‘instruments’, and discusses the authority of musical gesture in improvisation.  Gayle Young’s amaranth and columbine, tuned tubing, circuit boards, circuit bent electronics, circuit boards, no-input mixer, contact mics, toys, bells and other gadgets will be available to explore. Participants are
encouraged to bring their own instruments.

Tuesday, October 30, 7pm
Discussion Forum  - Articulating Sound as a Medium
Open Space 510 Fort Street
Free
Gayle Young will address the roles of sound in installation as well as in performance, with particular attention to the concepts we use to describe sound.  Young’s tenure as editor and now publisher of the Canadian sound journal Musicworks gives her a unique perspective on the dynamic between the printed word and sound
dissemination.  This forum welcomes discussion and input, and will be of interest to composers, musicians, artists, critics and writers.

Wednesday, October 31, 11:30am – 12:30pm
Gayle Young discusses  Canadian Electronic Music Pioneer Hugh LeCaine
University of Victoria (location TBA)
Free
Gayle Young visits Andrew Schloss’ “Music, Science and Computers” class to talk about Canadian electronic music pioneer Hugh LeCaine and his role in the
development of early electronic instruments and music.

Wednesday, October 31, 1:30 pm
Composition Forum with Gayle Young
University of Victoria Room B120, School of Music, Maclaurin Building
Free
Gayle Young joins Christopher Butterfield’s composition seminar for a discussion about microtonal composition, and instrument building and design.

Monday, November 5,  7pm
Workshop:  Instrument Building, Design and Practice
Open Space 510 Fort Street
Drop In Fee:  $5
Gayle young will demonstrate the physical requirements for building acoustic
instruments, and how to develop unique playing techniques by focusing on
enhancing vibration, and offer practical experience designing, creating and listening through tuned tubing.

November 9, 8 pm
Concert:  Gayle Young and Guests:  Tuning Victoria
Open Space 510 Fort Street
Tickets:  $10/$12
Mictrotonal composed and improvised music for Young’s instruments amaranth and columbine in collaboration with a mixed ensemble of local musicians and featuring a new work created and recorded in Victoria using tuned tubing.