Benjamin J. Penwell (he/him) writes/performs music and lives in Chicago. // He is a PhD candidate in Composition & Music Technology at Northwestern University, and holds degrees from Boston University (M.Mus, Composition & Music Theory) and University of Oregon (B.Mus, Composition).  //  His music explores texture & timbre, drone & sustain, quiet & silence, noise & consonance, beating & acoustic phenomena, and tuning & microtonality. He likes fermatas.  //  He is interested in extreme metal, ambient & drone music, soundscapes, harsh noise, and early music.  //  He likes guitar pedals & digital sound processing, distortion & power chords, reverb & delay, synthesis & sound design, and recording & audio editing. // His current written dissertation work focuses on the musical characteristics & compositional approaches of extreme metal, with his dissertation composition focusing on solo performance featuring 8 string guitar, hardware electronics (pedalboard, MIDI controllers), and software electronics (Ableton Live, Max for Live, Max/MSP).

He has taught undergraduates at Northwestern University and Boston University, and has a passion for sharing his love of digital music technology and music-writing with students. Courses taught include Introduction to Music Technology, Composition for Non-Majors, The History & Aesthetics of Extreme Metal, and Keyboard Harmony & Theory.