Gresham College Lectures Music of Earth and Space - Professor Milton Mermikides
Mar 10, 2026
Milton Mermikides, composer, guitarist and technologist raised amid science at CERN, blends music and astronomy. He explores throat singing, acoustic spaces, whale songs and seismic sonifications. He turns skylines, climate data and planetary orbits into melodies. Expect demonstrations of reverb, spherical harmonics and creative ways to hear Earth and space.
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Create Melodies From Skylines Using Tools
- Convert geographic profiles into audio using available tools to craft place-based melodies.
- Milton points to earthsounds.xyz and his Liquid Skylines project for generating melodies from skylines or travel paths.
Musical Forms Mirror Architectural Structure
- Musical structure parallels architecture: rhythmic strength points act like structural supports for musical forms.
- Milton uses population-of-beat charts and examples from Pachelbel, Bach, Reich and Xenakis to show music builds navigable architectural worlds.
Spherical Harmonics Create Planetary Intervals
- Planetary and spherical bodies produce their own harmonic patterns distinct from string harmonics called spherical harmonics.
- Milton plays spherical harmonic tones and notes they naturally contain intervals like an even-tempered tritone.