BOOKS
The author’s First two books, The Myth of Invariance and The Pythagorean Plato are scanned here for easy downloading by interested students but the copyright restriction is still affirmed for publication.
The author’s third book, MEDITATIONS ON THE QURAN, published in 1981, is also scanned here for easy downloading by interested students but the copyright restriction is still affirmed for publication. Notice, however, that a new Appendix II titled “Abraham’s Children” makes very important corrections to errors made thirty years ago regarding YHWH as the “One” God of monotheism (on pp. 131, 134, and 137), and of the “chief cornerstone” on pp. 147-8, and also of the meaning of “first-born sons” (p. 151). More recent translations and publications of cuneiform mathematics now make clear that I misunderstood the greater “Marduk-Baal” matrix for “Noah’s flood” as YHWH’s own, and overlooked the cornerstone “unit” as eventual “Savior,” and misunderstood Jacob’s twelve sons as “male, odd integers” less than his death at age 147. The entire problem of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian mathematics is now undergoing serious reconsideration within the mathematical community, and all speculation like mine must be considered tentative perhaps for further generations.
1981 Meditations through the Quran: Tonal Images in an Oral Culture. Maine: Nicolas Hays. 183 p.
“Children of Abraham.” A new appendix to the reprint of The Myth of Invariance by Ernest G. McClain. (1984)
1978 The Pythagorean Plato: Prelude to the Song Itself. Maine: Nicolas Hays. 204 p.
1976 The Myth of Invariance: The Origin of the Gods, Mathematics and Music from the Ṛg Veda to Plato, ed. Patrick A. Heelan. Maine: Nicolas Hays. 216 p. Reissued 1984.
PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS IN BOOKS
2010 “Egyptian Connections: Narmer Inscriptions as Sumerian Musicology,” ICONEA 2009-2010: Proceedings of the International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology, held at the British Museum, 4-6 December 2008, Richard Dumbrill and Irving Finkel (eds.), Iconea Publications, London.
“Egyptian Connections: Narmer Inscriptions as Sumerian Musicology”, Musical exchanges between Ancient Egypt and the Near East during, before and after the Hyksos Kings (ICONEA 2010), Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, University of London, December 15–17, 2010, editors: Richard Dumbrill and Irving Finkel, published by Iconea Publications, London, 2010.
2009 “Children of Abraham.” Sophia: The Journal of Traditional Studies 15(1), Summer, 59-77.
2009 “Egyptian Genesis: Music, Millions Times Music.” Appendix to Atlantis: Egyptian Genesis, Driscoll, I. and Kurtz, Kali Yuga Publishing, (New York, 2009).
2008 “A Sumerian Text in Quantified Archaeomusicology,” ICONEA 2008: Proceedings of the International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology, held at the British Museum, 4-6 December 2008, Richard Dumbrill and Irving Finkel (eds.), Iconea Publications, London, pp. 89-103.
2005 with Jay P. Kappraff, “The System of Proportions of the Parthenon: a Musically Inspired Architecture.” The Way to Harmony: Art + Mathematics. Ed. Oleh Bodnar. Lviv, Ukraine. 203-220.
“The Nine-String Akkadian Lyre Of Kilmer, Crocker, and Brown” (Essay in preparation).mentioned on his website, probably not published
2006 ‘The Forgotten Harmonical Science of the Bible.” Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers, 24, 150-68.
2005 with Jay P. Kappraff, “The Proportions of the Parthenon: A work of musically inspired architecture.” Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography, 30(1–2) Spring–Fall, 5-16.
2004 “Ancient Harmonics in the Book of Jonah,” an appendix to Reading Jonah in Hebrew by Duane L. Christensen, BIBAL Corporation. 55-59.
2003 “The Harmonic Series as Universal Scientific Constant.”
2002 “A Priestly View of Bible Arithmetic: Deity’s Regulative Aesthetic Activity within Davidic Musicology.” Hermeneutic Philosophy of Science: Van Gogh’s Eyes, and God: Essays in Honor of Patrick A. Heelan, S.J.” ed. Babette E. Babich. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 225, 429-444.
1999 “The Forgotten Harmonical Science of the Bible.” Epigraphical Soc Occasional Papers 24, 150-169.
1997 “The ‘Star of David’ as Jewish Harmonical Metaphor.” Int J of Musicology, 6, 25-49.
1997 “The Kabbala’s origin in Davidic musicology: Esoteric mysticism as forgotten science.” No publication information.
1994 with Siegmund Levarie: “Temple Tuning Systems,” Int J of Musicology. 3, 23-30.
1994 “Musical Theory and Ancient Cosmology,” The World and I, 9(2), 370-391.
1992 “Tonal calendars in ancient civilizations: Mesopotamian antecedents of Pythagorean Harmonics.” Proceedings of The Archaeology of Music. Dec. 7-10, 1991.
1991 “Music’s Discipline of the Means”: an interview with Ernest McClain. Parabola 16(4) November 1991.
1988 “Why Kauder?” MadAminA: A Chronicle of Musical Catalogues, 9(2) Fall, 5-6.
1987 “Tonal Isomorphism in Plato and the I Ching: Brumbaugh as Cultural Anthropologist,” Plato, Time, and Education: Essays in Honor of Robert S. Brumbaugh, ed. Brian Patrick Hendley, SUNY Press, 131-152.
1987 Entries for Circle and Geometry in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade. Macmillan, New York.
1987 “Comment on Vladimir Lefebvre’s tonal automata.” J Soc Biol Struct, 10(2), Apr, 204-212.
“1987 Tonal Isomorphism in Plato and the I Ching.” Plato, Time, and Education: Essays in Honor of Robert S. Brumbaugh. SUNY Press.
1986 “Comment on ‘The Structure of Ancient Wisdom’,” by Colin Renfrew. J Soc Biol Struct 9(1), Jan, 3-4.
1985 “Tonal Ontology: Comments on Piguet-Ansermet,” in J Soc Biol Struct 8(4), October, 363-365.
1985 “The bronze chime bells of the Marquis of Zeng: Babylonian biophysics in Ancient China.” J Soc Biol Struct 8(2) April, 147-173.
1982 “Structure in the Ancient Wisdom Literature: The Holy Mountain. J Soc Biol Struct 5(3) July, 233-248.
1980 “Three for Aristotle: Three Theories of Music: Hans Kayser, Peter Hamel, Herbert Whone.” Parabola 5(2), 88-93.
1979 Review of Christos Toulis’ Theon of Smyrna: Mathematics Useful for Understanding Plato. Parabola, 4(4), Nov, 113-115.
1979 with M.S. Hung, “Chinese cyclic tunings in Late Antiquity,” Ethnomusicology, 23(2), 205-224.
1978 “Thirty-seven musical guardians in Plato’s Laws,” Music and Man, 2(3-4), 181-203.
1978 “The Ka’Ba as Archetypal Ark.” Sophia Perennis: The Bulletin of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy. 4(1) Spring, 59-74.
1976 “The Tyrant’s Allegory.” Interdisciplina 1(3) Spring. 23-37.
1976 “Our Musical Sabbath.” Jeevadhara: A Journal of Christian Interpretation. 35 Sept-Oct, 418-428.
1975 “The Scroll and the Cross.” The Catgut Acoustical Society Newsletter, 23:p11.
1975 “Music and the Calendar.” Mathematical-Physical Correspondence 14, Christmas, 9-16.
1975 “A New Look at Plato’s Timaeus,” Music and Man, 1(4) 341-360.
1974 “Musical Marriages in Plato’s Republic,” Journal of Music Theory, 18(2) Fall, 242-272.
1973 “Plato’s Musical Cosmology,” Main Currents in Modern Thoughts, 30(1) 34-42.
1970 “Pythagorean Paper Folding: A Study in Tuning and Temperament.” The Mathematics Teacher. 68(3) March, 233-237.
1949 with Robert W. Clopton “Guamanian Songs.” J Amer Folklore July-Sept 62(2) No. 245, 217-229.
LECTURES AND PAPERS PRESENTED
Paper presented by Peter Blumsom “Egyptian Connections: Narmer Inscriptions as Sumerian Musicology,” ICONEA 2009-2010: Proceedings of the International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology, held at the British Museum, 4-6 December 2008.
“Tuning Theory in the Second Millennium BC: Mesopotamian Myth and the 9-string Lyre.” 2002.
“The geometric interface between astronomy and music.” Boston seminar, 2000.
‘Tonal Calendars in Ancient Civilizations: Mesopotamian Antecedents of Phythagorean Harmonics.” at Symposium of The Archaeology of Music. Cambridge University Dec. 7-10, 1991.
“New possibilities in Han pitchpipes,” and “Disabling assumptions in the study of Han science: a musicological reorientation.” 5th International Conference on the History of Science in China (ICHSC) UC San Diego August 5-10, 1988.
Five Lectures at SUNY Stony Brook, July 15-July 28, 1982.
“Homage to Pythagoras,” Lindisfarne Corresponding Member’s Conference, August 23-29, 1981, Colorado. Published in Homage to Pythagoras : papers from the 1981 Lindisfarne Corresponding Members Conference, Crestone, Colorado, West Stockbridge, Mass.
“A Reply to Professor Larson from the Aspect of Musicology and Number Theory,” presented at The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions, SUNY Stony Brook, April 24, 25, 1981.
“Musical Calendars of Ancient Civilizations,” Society for the Investigation of Recurring Events, New Jersey, April 15, 1981.
“Music and Mythology: Tibetan Variation.” Symposium: Sounds of the Sacred Mountains: Music and Myth of Tibet.” July 2, 1980. American Museum of Natural History.
“Musical Theory in Plato’s Republic,” SUNY Stony Brook, April 30, 1980.
“Plato’s Mathematical Universum: the Harmonical Origins of Political Science.” Ancient Wisdom Symposium, January 1980.
“Musical Calendars and Sumerian Origins.” MIT Seminar, Cambridge, MA, October 31, 1979.
“Aristotle as Musicologist,” Brooklyn College Seminar in Musicology, October 2, 1979.
“Plato, Mathematics and Music,” American Society for Aesthetics, Rutgers University, October 28, 1978.
“The Origin of the Gods, Mathematics, and Music,” Haverford College, March 30, 1978.
“Music and the Calendar in India and Other Ancient Civilizations,” ISCSC Colloquium, April 1, 1976.
“The Tone World: Limits, Order.” Brooklyn College Mathematics Club Meeting, no year.
ARTICLES ABOUT EGM’S BOOKS: a partial list
John Bremer, Plato, Pythagoras, and Stichometry, in Pythagoras Foundation Newsletter No.15. December 2010.
Nambirajan “Gods of Sumeria symbolize our ancient music of 22 Srutis.” blog 8 May 2009
Ralph H. Abraham and William Irwin Thompson, “The Canon of Lespugue.” ESOP 24 “dedicated to Ernest G. McClain.” 1998
Kenneth J. DeWoskin, “Comment on ‘The bronze chime bells of the Marquis of Zeng: Babylonian biophysics in Ancient China’ by E. G. McClain,” J Soc Biol Struc, 1987 10(4).
V.A. Lefebvre, “McClain’s Circle and Plato’s Harp.” J Soc Biol Struct 8(2) April 1985.
Patrick Heelan, “Music as basic metaphor and deep structure in Plato and in ancient cultures.” J Soc Biol Struct 1979 2, 279-291.
Jay Kappraff, “Ancient Harmonic Law as a Generator of Cultural Metaphor.”
Frank Palmer Purcell, review of The Myth of Invariance. Teachers College Record Volume 80 Number 3, 1979, p. 611-612.
“Tonal patterns of Rg Veda Poetry.” laetus in praesens
“The Universal Pattern and It’s Correlation to Musical Harmony.” Spirit of Ra
David Konstan, review of :The Myth of Invariance: The Origin of the Gods, Mathematics and Music from the Rg Veda to Plato and The Pythagorean Plato: Prelude to the Song Itself, Isis 01/1979; 70(4).
Siegmund Levarie, review of The Pythagorean Plato in The Musical Quarterly 64(3), 1978, 402-407.
Graham Pont, “Philosophy and Science of Music in Ancient Greece: Predecessors of Pythagoras and their Contribution”, Nexus Network Journal, vol. 6 no. 1 (Spring 2004).
Plato’s musical numbers and the problem of incommensurability : a response to Ernest G. McClain by Graham Pont, CUNY 1980.
Wingate, F. Leighton, The published writings of Ernest McClain through spring, 1976. Thesis (Mus. M.) North Texas State University, August, 1977.
EGM other articles: a very few of a very many
“The Creation of the World: a View from Alexandria in the lst Century AD.”
“Chinese Tonal Cosmology”
1985 “On the Discovery of Interval Ratios,” not published
“The Return of Odysseus: Essays in Honor of Eva Brann,” not published
“On the possible origins of the 22 sruti system of Hindu musicology.”
Ernest G. McClain first draft March 2011.
“In the bosom of Abraham: an harmonical commentary on the numerology of Genesis.”
Ernest G. McClain 