2006: Tom Nunn

Tom Nunn has designed, built and performed with original musical instruments since 1975, having received a B.Mus. and M.A. in music composition from the University of Texas at Austin and S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook. His instruments typically utilize commonly available materials, are sculptural in appearance, utilize contact microphones for amplification, and are designed specifically for improvisation with elements of ambiguity, unpredictability and nonlinearity. In addition to the more than 50 instruments he has made, Tom has performed extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area over the last 20 years, and in Canada and Europe, both as soloist and with other musicians, including the groups Rotodoti and Off Ramp, and has appeared on a number of recordings. In 1998, Tom completed writing and self-published Wisdom of the Impulse: On the Nature of Free Improvisation, a book that examines various aspects of this illusive art and presents a theoretical foundation for creative listening, analysis and discussion. Tom has also written a number of articles about the use of experimental instruments and improvisation in publications such as Experimental Musical Instruments, Musicworks, and Leonardo.

Artist (photo by Photographer)