Tom Johnson is an interesting case of interdisciplinarity in that he makes music and mathematics coincide in a very obvious and literal way. He was led to this approach in the context of the American avant-garde of the 1970s, in which many artists tried to set artistic creation in the field of the impersonal. In using mathematics, Tom Johnson is in search for something that might allow the music to compose itself automatically. He establishes sequences of numbers and translates them literally into melodies, harmonies or rhythms. In doing so, he manages to make the mathematical background clearly appear. He seems to think of his music as a way of reflecting mathematics in the form of audible phenomena, and ultimately, he attaches some kind of mystical dimension to this experience. Mathematical truths, as he calls them, are unquestionable. Their laws do not depend on human will, they are deeply inscribed in nature, and a composition strictly based on them is necessarily linked to the absolute.
GirardBernard, and LuciaChristine. 2020. “Conversations with Tom Johnson. ” Contemporary Music Review 39 (4): 389–460. (Original French version in: Girard, Bernard. 2011.
Conversations avec Tom Johnson. Paris: Éditions Aedam Musicae).
2.
JohnsonTom.1975. “
Charlie Morrow Composes by Numbers. ” In The Village Voice, March 31 , edited by JohnsonTom, 100–101. Eindhoven: Het Appolohuis. 1989.
The Voice of New Music.
3.
JohnsonTom.1980. Doublings for Double Bass . New York City: 218 Press.
JohnsonTom.1995. “
I Want to Find the Music, not to Compose it. ” In 2019. Finding Music. Writings/Schriften 1961-2018 , edited by JohnsonTom, 106–115. Köln: Edition MusikTexte. First published in German as “
Ich möchte die Musik finden, nicht koponieren
”,
Positionen
23, May 1995: 10-13.
JohnsonTom.1998a. “‘
Tom Johnson’, Interview with Stéphane Ollivier. ” Revue et Corrigée March 1998: 18. Translation by Andrew Hugill.
12.
JohnsonTom.1998b. “Automatic Music”.
Journées d'Informatique Musicale
(JIM). La Londe-les-Maures. Unpublished lecture. f. 1v (Tom Johnson's private archives).
13.
JohnsonTom.1999a. “Explaining my Music: Keywords. ” Musicworks 74: 24.
14.
JohnsonTom.1999b. “Self-Replicating Loops”.
Journées d'Informatique Musicale
(JIM). Issy-les-Moulineaux (France). Unpublished lecture, f 3r (Tom Johnson's private archives).
15.
JohnsonTom.1999c. “Self-Replicating Loops”. Typescript, undated, unpublished, 18 p. (Tom Johnson's private archives). This text might be an early version of the previous text of same title, though it is quite different.
16.
JohnsonTom.2001. “
“Found Mathematical Objects”, Lecture, Paris, IRCAM, Entretemps Seminar, 13 January 2001. ” In 2019. Finding Music. Writings/Schriften 1961-2018 , edited by JohnsonTom, 130–171. Köln: Edition MusikTexte.
17.
JohnsonTom.2002. “Tiling the Line in Theory and Practice”, lecture, IRCAM (Paris), 02-02-2002, unpublished (Tom Johnson's private archives).
18.
JohnsonTom.2003a. “Tom Johnson Musician/Composer”, interview,
New Arts Program, Kutztown (Pennsylvania): 2.
19.
JohnsonTom.2003b. Tilework for Piano . Paris: Éditions 75/218 Press.
20.
JohnsonTom.2003c. Tilework for String Quartet . Paris: Éditions 75/218 Press.
JohnsonTom.2004a. “
20 Years of Collaboration with Martin Riches. ” In Maskinere/The Machines/Die Maschinen, 35. Odense, Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik, edited by RichesMartin. Johnson: Reproduced in Tom. Finding Music, op. cit ., p.
202.
JohnsonTom, and JedrzejewskiFranck. 2014. Looking at Numbers . Basel: Birkhäuser.
33.
ReichSteve.1969. “
Music as a Gradual Process. ” In Anti-Illusion: Procedures/Materials , edited by TuckerMaria and MonteJames. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art.
