Music and Math and Feelings

Even a peaceful and steady forward momentum can be destabilized by the push and pull of an independent system. There’s no controlling it. Time stretches and contracts, creating a dysphoria that stains reality. Acceptance means simply floating through it all . Isorhythmic Gardens is composed with familiar Moments of Symmetry of five and seven notes, as well as (quite suddenly) a far less familiar s...

In tuning (and in life?) there is a perpetual friction between the pursuit of simplicity and the pursuit of symmetry . That sounds real philosophical, but it’s not. Rather, quite literally: do I choose to compose music with a scale divided up in the simplest way , or in the most symmetrical way? I bet you thought these were one and the same! I know I did. Turns out this very practical question of...

Over the last few weeks I’ve been exploring the work of Erv Wilson (1928-2016), a music theorist (and gardener) who spent his life exploring and mapping a vast universe of beautiful musical-mathematical structures. Wilson worked almost completely outside of academia, focused on directly serving the creativity of composers and listeners. Speaking as a person who’s creative flow never seems to feel...

Slipped right out of the devil's hand and slid right into the promised land: two pieces by Chris P. Thompson, affectionately titled "Museum of Obsolete Media I and II." Read the full story at https://chrispthompson.substack.com/p/museums-of-obsolete-media This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrispthompson.substac...

A new remix by Chris P. Thompson, from the album by Christopher Stark. Also: "collaboration for introverts - the joy of remixing." Read more at https://chrispthompson.substack.com/p/the-language-of-landscapes This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrispthompson.substack.com

This audio episode is three movements of piano music that make use of myriad harmonic series and microtonal tunings. These selections are assembled from the score to a larger work — Red Folder , the illustrated play. They just seemed to go together — especially when reimagined in the context of a tension that builds without any promise of resolution. It just seemed like there’s a lot of that in th...

A new keyboard study by Chris P. Thompson, Spiraling explores a non-circular intonation: rather than squeezing or stretching (“tempering”) intervals to join into the familiar cycle of twelve notes, they are rationally tuned as in the natural harmonic series — this results in a subtly more pure intonation, as well as the possibility of large-scale structural “drift.” A rational approach to intonati...

A little talk Sean Ritenauer and I did in fall 2022 for the supporters of his “Rocket City New Music” series in Huntsville. The group had just commissioned a new work from me, Launch Party , which got its premiere the next day. It gave me a really nice chance to introduce my work as a percussionist and composer and some of my ideas about music. Topics covered: * Performer origin story , aka “can m...

A short interlude for a very resonant space. Visit the attached post on substack for more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrispthompson.substack.com

From Steppenwolf Theatre's Red Folder by Rajiv Joseph: I am in the first grade . Composer - Chris P. Thompson This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrispthompson.substack.com