My Story
Thomas L. Wilson’s fascination with sound began when his family purchased an old Atari console for $10 at a garage sale just one street behind his home in Birmingham, Alabama. As a child, he sat for hours playing the outdated technology and hearing rudimentary electronic boops and beeps, sometimes as music, emerge from the tube television. His musical discovery began when his family received a hand-me-down upright piano. While sitting at the well untuned piano, emblazoned by engravings of initials and games of tic-tac-toe from the prior owners, he taught himself to read familiar music, specifically music from video games. Thomas then began creating and sharing arrangements of video game music online before turning his arrangements towards compositions.
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Thomas is the Music Industry Coordinator and Music Technology Instructor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He recently served as the Adjunct Instructor of Music Industry Studies and Music Theory at Louisiana Tech University. He received his Ph.D. in Music Composition at LSU with a minor in Experimental Music and Digital Media as well as his M.M. and B.M. in Music Composition from The University of Alabama. His dissertation work, the Rougarou Concerto, is a cello concerto for flex ensemble written for Eduard Teregulov. His 2021 work Monmouth deals with his hidden identity of being a first generation Poarch Band of Creek Indian, Alabama's only federally recognized indigenous tribe. Thomas enjoys collaborating internationally with performers, including at conferences and festivals such as the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, the SPLICE Institute, Atlantic Music Festival, highSCORE Festival, and ArtPlay Festival. His thesis The Reflections of My Introverted Sneakers can be found on the album Early Musings: New Music for Violin performed by Davis Brooks and released through Navona Records. Prominent performances of the work include the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, New York City Electronic Music Festival, and National Student Electronic Music Event.
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As an avid pedagogue, Thomas enjoys spreading knowledge in as many ways as possible. His teaching style creates a welcoming environment for students from diverse economic and social backgrounds. At UNO, Thomas created the new music industry program, designing and leading coursework in commercial music. At Louisiana Tech, he led asynchronous remote studies that prioritize students creativity in the studies of Music Theory and Music & Sound for Video Games. When mentoring in his private composition studio, he prefers to lead students towards self-discovery and self-sufficiency in their creative outputs. ​
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As a composer, he has worked on multiple projects. Recently, he led an audio team at Feenx Games for Lucidscape, a 2D platformer available on Steam. He has also worked extensively in Virtual Reality and on mobile games with Headless Chicken Games and other studios.
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His research includes the music of video games and other modes of play. He has presented on the music of NES Tetris at the North American Conference on Video Game Music in 2022 and recently presented at the All Ears: Theme Park Music & Sound Conference in 2024 on the music of Alan Menken and the cultural intersections of the Tokyo DisneySea Sindbad Ride.
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Since he places high value towards the communities he resides, Thomas is always eager for performances outside of the concert hall. Thomas’s music can be heard at arboretums, libraries, museums, and any other receptive venue. Outside of work, you can find Thomas on the weekends playing board games and video games (with a cat on his lap).