Tom Dempster
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tomdempster.bsky.social
Tom Dempster
@tomdempster.bsky.social
Variably a composer, glass artist, teacher, and slugabed. Occasionally gets money to play bassoon in public. MI/NC/SC, now AR. Human rights for all, please.

Not related to any of the other Tom Dempsters out there.

thomasdempster.com for the adventurous.
Completed a wind ensemble piece earlier in the year and got it performed twice. Trying to find new homes for it.

Have a ton of pieces I need to finish it get engraved. But I find myself sitting on my ass after writing four pieces in a little over a week...
June 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Thousands, probably.

At least the damage to my lungs gets less visible with each Xray I get.
March 9, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Not so precise with my count, but 13+ years over here.
March 9, 2025 at 11:41 PM
March 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
In other news, I get to play Mahler 7 for the first time in a few months. No hammers or boxes or funeral marches. Actually, not familiar with M7 pretty much at all. Whenever I have two hours to spare...
March 6, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Plz share said recipes for when we all must make sweet berry wine in caves up past Gilbert because the Baptist Taliban replaced it all with watery sugar-free Welch's
March 6, 2025 at 3:47 AM
Month later and it's almost there. Closer to 7 minutes or so.
March 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Instrumentation is Picc, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet 1-3, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn 1-3, Trumpet 1-4, Trombone 1-2, Euphonium, Tuba, 4 percussion + timpani. Minimum of 28 performers.

Any luck, I should have it done in 2-3 weeks. Need to carve out a few days to fully carve it out.
January 30, 2025 at 4:11 AM
"Asterism" (working title for the one I'm *trying* to write) will be about 6 minutes long, have some aleatoric features and some coloristic writing, but will probably still land in the Grade 3 / Grade 4-ish category.
January 30, 2025 at 4:11 AM
After a foot last week and a dusting this morning, I'm happy that my stupid governor hasn't somehow outlawed snow in Arkansas. Everything else is illegal, practically.
January 22, 2025 at 5:56 AM
And again, we know to expect it. It's not a bug - it's how this regime operates.

Keep your eyes on the doughnut, not the hole, and all that.

I will live my life such that I ensure others can enjoy their life as much as I can and my voice will be even louder this time.

Forward.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Political capital will be wasted on what sorry tax policy to enact, and milquetoast Republican Senators and House members (2-seat majority) will balk at eliminating SALT and other credits because they're affected as well.

The hate and pain still be only matched but the bumbling and infighting.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
At least, in this scenario I do.

They can't just cancel elections or stop the process. Not without lots of fight from local and state levels.

Tons of purple seat Congressional districts and vulnerable Senators in '26.

Political capital will be wasted on these stupid EOs and renaming landmarks.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
And even though the people around him feel no sense of accountability and can just pretend that no one is going to tell them "no," never discount the thousands of law degree holders in DC who don't want to see their life's work shat upon so blithely. I don't trust guardrails - I trust egos with JDs.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
There's already intraparty, intraoffice bickering as exhibited by the hasty departure of one tech bro. Lawsuits are already being filled and constructed.

Executive Orders cannot undo a Constitutional Amendment or 140 years of caselaw.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Action, not shock and disbelief, is what we need, and if we haven't already, we need to get ahead of everything he said he wants to do and see done. That's how we stay sane and head off as much of the lunacy and hate as we can.
January 20, 2025 at 9:23 PM