"The dice of God are always loaded."
— Emerson
75 Muons is a composition for solo marimba, electronics, and bespoke cosmic ray detector, shaped in real time by subatomic particles arriving from deep space.
Cosmic rays are high-energy subatomic particles that constantly pass through the Earth, many having travelled for millions of light-years from exploding stars or distant galaxies. Their arrival is fundamentally random, making them an interesting source of chance within a musical structure.
In this piece, we are detecting subatomic particles called muons.
Each detected muon triggers a flash of light and corresponding electronic event.
The performer must respond immediately; the right hand maintains a steady beat, while the left hand may only strike in response to detector flashes. A balance of pulse and random cosmic interruption.
The piece has no fixed duration.
It cannot end until exactly 75 muons have been discovered by the cosmic ray detector on stage. How long that takes is determined entirely by subatomic particle activity in the venue. The performer cannot progress to the next section of the score until a fixed number of muons have been detected.
The number of detections required varies section by section.
The energy of each muon is mapped to the intensity of both the electronics and the lighting; a more powerful particle produces a louder, more saturated response.
The colour, intensity, and duration of each flash control musical dynamics:
Short blue flash = p (quiet)
Medium length blue flash = mp (moderately soft)
Pink to blue flash = mf (moderately loud)
Long pink flash = ff (very loud)
The performer’s hands move gradually further and further apart across the instrument as the piece progresses; a physical enactment of harmonic distance, and a quiet comment on the vast journeys these particles have taken to arrive in the room.
Theoretically, 75 Muons sits at the intersection of aleatoric composition and live data sonification. It extends the Cagean tradition of chance operations but replaces the I Ching or dice with actual physical randomness; cosmic ray arrivals that are genuinely beyond prediction or control.
The fixed harmonic structure of the electronics and score creates a paradox: the piece has a composed destination, but no composed path. Time in the work represents musical and cosmic time, and the performer must inhabit this simultaneously.
The result is a work in which the boundary between composition, performance, and natural phenomenon is dissolved.
The recording can be downloaded below and releases on streaming platforms on August 15th 2026.
| Release Date | Specifications | Commissioner / Supported by |
| 2023 | Cosmic Ray Detectors ( Arduino, RF Transmitter, Scintillator, PCB), Code, LEDs, Wood, Acrylic, 5 Octave Marimba | Facultly of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, Hidden Notes Festival / SVA |
Credits
Recorded live on 4th October 2023 at Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, UK.
Concept, Composition and Electronics: Christo Squier
Marimba: Catherine Ring
Creative Technologist: Chris Ball
Scientific Advisor: Dr. Teppei Katori
Live Sound Engineering: Bill Brooks
Mixing, Mastering and additional production: William Robertson, Super Symmetry Studios
Videographer, Editor: Motz Workman
Lighting Design: Eden Morrison & Christo Squier
With thanks: The Faculty of Natural Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, CosmicWatch, SVA, Hidden Notes, d&b Audiotechnik and King's College London