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 music be sports, and if so… how do we tailgate?”

* Drum & bugle corps, the richness of unison playing, and “clean vs dirty” in music.

* Composing electronic music with marching percussion. (Musical examples: Hanabi and Krummhorns from Everything Imaginable Comes True, 2018)

* The blank canvas of electronic music, and the challenge of staying focused in the temptation of endless new tech.

* Why write music that isn’t for people? Conlon Nancarrow and working behind closed doors.

* What would a drum corps kid think of equal temperament vs just intonation?

* Demonstration: rhythm becomes pitch

* Demonstration: introduction to pitch visualization on lattices.

* A fun introduction to the NASA audio sample library, and how they were used in Launch Party.

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