Chris Humphrey profile picture

Chris Humphrey

About Me

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MySpace Layouts By the time I was 9 or 10 years old, I knew I wanted to be a composer. I sat down and wrote a lovely melody, played it on the piano, then was devastated to realize that Beethoven had beat me to it. Dang! The only conclusion I could logically draw was that every combination and permutation of notes and rhythms had already been used up. I had been born too late. And with a last name like Clark, it was obvious to me that I would have to grow up and marry someone with an eastern European name in order to ever make it. Tchaikovsky. Rimsky-Korsakoff. Mahler. Brahms. THOSE were composer names, not Clark.
Fortunately, I eventually grew out of my doubts and misconceptions and started growing into my talent as a composer (and eliminating those wacky ideas about whose last name I needed to carry around, which is a good thing since I ended up with the decidedly un-composer-ish name of Humphrey [another interesting little aside here: if you Google 'Chris Humphrey', you will come up with a surprising number of musicians, photographers, writers and actors. Maybe it's not such an unartistic name after all]).
I have written everything from Christmas carols to film scores, lullabies to musical theater. My Puppet Government (political satire/musical theater) was performed in New York at the International Fringe Festival in 2006, and I just composed an original score/sound design for Sycorax which ran in April 2007 at The University of Texas. Since then I have designed sound for two Austin Community College productions (Far Away and Betty's Summer Vacation).
I also edit floor exercise music for competitive gymnasts and teach an ear training/sight singing class.
Did I mention that I'm also an actor? Which was something I DIDN'T know I wanted to be when I was 9 or 10 years old. Didn't figure that out til much, much later. But check out my photos. That's me in many incarnations! And, YES, you can hire me by contacting my agent, Acclaim Talent. I love, love, love to work, and I could sure use the money!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 27/06/2006
Band Website: http://www.chrishumphrey.org
Band Members: Me, my Yamaha DGX203, and my Dell Inspiron 8000.
Influences: classical, folk, renaissance, electronic, ethnic
Sounds Like: I don't know! Depends on the project I'm working on. Mostly I like to think I sound like ME. I'm told that my musical 'signature' is my ability to take a simple tune and turn it into something deceptively unexpected and complex.
Record Label: oh, don't I wish!!!!!

My Blog

REALLY thankful this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was to have been a four-generation affair this year. It was suddenly, and almost tragically, abbreviated to only the two older generations. On Wednesday afternoon my son found his 4 week ...
Posted by on Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:47:00 GMT

Cockroach karma?

I'm currently rehearsing "Kidnapped by CraigsList" which opens on July 10 at the Blue Theater.  It's one of those wacky ensemble pieces about wacky people who write wacky things on that wacky pub...
Posted by on Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:52:00 GMT

evensong

I sit beneath the kitchen table, holding my knees to my chest and watching through the screen door as the hushed diurnal ritual unfolds. The sun is going down on the opposite side of the house from w...
Posted by on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:01:00 GMT

My life as a zombie

I am new at being a zombie.  There are only three or four of us, and it's new to all of us.  There is no one to show us the ropes.  We have to figure it out for ourselves.A dark-haired ...
Posted by on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:39:00 GMT

Where does luck come from?

I consider myself one of the luckiest people I know. Good things just keep happening to me. My partner Ben tells me I make my own luck. Either way, life seems to smile on me, and I just keep smiling b...
Posted by on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:27:00 GMT

The Once and Future Bassoonist

I recently bought myself a bassoon. I had not picked one up since (are you ready for this?) 1971. It arrived just before Christmas and I've practiced it maybe every two or three days, certainly not ev...
Posted by on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:11:00 GMT

2008 off to an auspicious start

My sweetie Ben and I were at a NYE dance last night in a church hall here in Austin. My friend Cathy suggested that at the stroke of midnight we join her and her boyfriend Mike outside for a little wa...
Posted by on Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:29:00 GMT

Why I love Austin

"Keep Austin Weird". That's the city slogan. I don't know if it's official or not, but everyone in town sees it, hears it, says it, believes it.Last Thursday night The Pratts Bottom Mummers (translate...
Posted by on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:43:00 GMT

Passive/Aggressive Art Project

I don't know how many unsolicited credit card offers I get in the mail, but it's a lot. In addition to shredding the applications that have my name and address on them, I save the business reply envel...
Posted by on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 13:11:00 GMT

Don’t quit your day job, Chris

I had a small speaking role in episode 11 of Friday Night Lights during its first season. I was paid well for not much work and then sort of forgot about it. Then a fellow actor mentioned the residual...
Posted by on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:35:00 GMT