Harry Partch (1901-1974)
First, we watched a video about Harry Partch's life. He was an interesting composer who had rejected the current tuning system and even retuned or made his own instruments to suit his compositional needs! He became the father of modern just intonation, which is a tuning system in which true rather than tempered intervals exist. As a result, there are more than 12 different tones in a just-toned instrument, which makes possibile new scales, system of notations, and different harmonies just to name a few.
Harry Partch's compositonal works include music dramas, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music, and chamber music--mostly performed on the instruments that he had built himself. His music is always sensually alluring and emotionally powerful. Some of the first instruments that he began to adapt to his needs were guitars and violas, and then he started to construct new instruments using his microtonal system. In total, he invented 25 instruments, plus numerous small band instruments.
He became a theorist, inventor of new instruments and advocator of his ideas. He sharply criticized modern music of the time, including concert traditions, the roles of the performer and composer, the role of music in society, the 12-tone equal-temperament scale, and the concept of "pure" or abstract music. As a result, he was largely ignored by the standard musical institutions, however, he explained his philosophical and intonational ideas in his treatise,
Genesis of A Music
. This treatise has become the primary source of information and inspiration to many musicians since its publication.
For more information on Harry Partch,
Click here
.
To listen to an excerpt of a piece written for instruments tuned in just intonation in MP3 format,
Click here
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*Excerpt of "Lamentation" by Jim Cole and vidnaObmana from their album
The Surreal Sancturary
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