Thomas Bending

Portrait

I'm a combinatorial mathematician at Middlesex University in north London, England. I'm married to Rachel, a Methodist minister, and we live in Ealing in west London.

I play, dance and call mostly English folk music and dances. My main instrument's the recorder, but I also play 5-string banjo and piano, and sing. My arsenal of recorders is into double figures, which seems rather a lot for someone with only one mouth, but mostly I play Moeck descants in ebony and boxwood, both 20th century German versions of 18th century Belgian instruments by Jean-Hyacinth-Joseph Rottenburgh.

I play with Momentum and other bands, and with temporary clumps of musicians for one-off events. I lead the Cecil Sharp House Monday Musicians. I dance, play and call at Ealing Country Dance Club. If you'd like to book one of these groups, or just know more about any of them, then please contact me.

I've performed on several music recordings, composed two tunes that seemed worth keeping, thought about some puzzles, co-written a textbook, and developed the TORUS tune-indexing system. I no longer maintain any Android apps.

You can meet me on Facebook, or take a look at my personal channel and work channel on YouTube.