Memories of a musician

I had a thought after watching this video*:

People who knew me in high school (perhaps even later) think of me much more as a musician than they ever considered me a mathematician.**  To me they’re the same.  Playing with pattern and beauty; structure and form; theme and variation.  Seeing what happens when you mess around around and see what you like and figure out what works – exploring what’s possible given a few restrictions: a set of givens, a chromatic scale, whole numbers, whole steps, some paper, a piano, or a string quartet.

The thoughts that led me to write songs and analyze Ben Folds and the Beatles and all of that music stuff, was mathematical thinking.  It’s the same I do now with everything.  I analyze, and I play – carefully and for pleasure.

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* Jon Hamm and I went to the same school, and my dad is Wayne Salomon, the theater teacher he mentions in the video.  I practically grew up in that theater, spending my Saturdays watching him teach.  My dad is that side of me.

** You can hear some of my music here.