Gordon Monahan, based in Meaford, Ontario, creates large-scale sound installations within which he performs live. The installation becomes his instrument. The image shown here, from the Musicworks postcard series, shows a rather moist, but resonant, found object. It is suspended in mid-air, below a MIDI-controlled dripping device, which determines the rhythms with which drops of water will activate the sound of the object. It is part of room filled with such objects in Monahan’s piece entitled “When it Rains” which he described by in his article in Musicworks 85: “The Amplified Touring Sound Installation.”
Monahan performs both within the context of his sound installations, and in concert settings, where he has been known to play piano in his solo piece
Piano Mechanics. He has also worked in outdoor settings and with natural phenomena such as tides and wave patterns.
Monahan was a co-editor in the early years of Musicworks and remains an editorial advisor to Musicworks. His article “Kinetic Sound Environments as Mutation of the Audio System” discusses the cultural significance of the loud speaker, with particular reference to some of Monahan’s unamplified installation works.
Monahan, and has written about his own music as well as feature articles on:
Maryanne Amacher “God's Big Noise,” in Musicworks 41.
Leif Brush “Music From Trees, Iceflows and Other Natural Phenomena” in Musicworks 30.
Ellen Fullman “The Long String Instrument” in Musicworks 37.
R.I.P. Hayman “Sound Asleep, Dreaming of Music” in Musicworks 38.
Jerry Hunt “Stompin' and Beatin' and Screamin” in Musicworks 39.
Monahan has also written about his own works:
“The Tidal Rhythm of the Bay of Fundy,” “Far Away Sounds” and “Harbour Symphony” in Musicworks 24.
“Singing Wires: The Music of Aeolean Harps” in Musicworks 30.
“ Helicopter-style Music / Music before Civilization” in Musicworks 40.
“Kinetic Sound Environments as a Mutation of the Audio System” in Musicworks 63.
“The Amplified Touring Sound Installation: New and Used Furnitute Music” and “ When it Rains” in Musicworks 85.
Visit Gordon's website at 
www.gordonmonahan.com
