Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. He was one of the first twentieth-century composers to work extensively and systematically with microtonal scales, writing much of his music for instruments he built himself, tuned in 11-limit just intonation. June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Microtonal music is music using microtones -- intervals of less than a semitone, or as Charles Ives put it, the notes between the cracks of the piano. ... In music, a scale is a set of musical notes that provides material for part or all of a musical work. ... Music is a form of expression in the medium of time using the structures of tones and silence. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... Just intonation tunings and scales can be described by giving an upper bound on the complexity of the harmonies admitted by the tuning or scale. ... In music, just intonation, also called rational intonation, is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by whole number ratios; that is, by positive rational numbers. ...

Biography

Partch was born on June 24, 1901 in Oakland, California. Both his parents were Presbyterian missionaries. He learned to play the clarinet, harmonium, viola, and guitar as a child. He began to compose at an early age using the chromatic scale normal in western music, but burned all his early works after becoming frustrated with what he saw as the imperfections of that particular system of musical tuning. June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... } Oakland, founded in 1852, is a major American city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bb clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... This article is on the musical instrument; for information on other kinds of harmonia, see harmonium (disambiguation). ... A viola The viola (in French, alto; in German bratsche) is a stringed musical instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the higher violin (soprano register) and the lower lines played by the deeper cello (bass... The acoustic archtop guitar, used in Jazz music, features steel strings. ... The chromatic scale is the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale. ... In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: Tuning practice The act of tuning an instrument or voice. ...

Interested in the potential musicality of speech, Partch worked out his first extended scales to notate the inflections of the speaking voice. He built his adapted viola to demonstrate the concept. He then secured a grant, which allowed him to go to London to study the history of tuning systems. While there, he met the poet W. B. Yeats with the intention of gaining his permission to write an opera based on his translation of Sophocles' Oedipus the King. He took another instrument he had built, an adapted guitar, to the meeting, and accompanied himself in one of his own songs on it. Yeats was enthusiastic, saying "a play done entirely in this way, with this wonderful instrument, and with this type of music, might really be sensational", and giving Partch's idea his blessing. One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ... A viola The viola (in French, alto; in German bratsche) is a stringed musical instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the higher violin (soprano register) and the lower lines played by the deeper cello (bass... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ... A poet is some one who writes poetry. ... A 1907 engraving of Yeats. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the... A Roman bust. ... Oedipus the King (also known as Oedipus Rex and Oedipus Tyrannos, Oι̉δίπoυς τύραννoς in Greek) is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles around 425 BC. The play was the second of Sophocles three Theban plays to be produced, but comes first in the internal chronology of the plays, followed...

Partch set about building more instruments with which to realise his opera. However, his grant money ran out, and, back in the United States, he began to live as a hobo, travelling around on trains and taking casual work where he could find it. He continued in this way for ten years, writing about his experiences in journals that were later collected together under the title Bitter Music. They frequently include snatches of overheard speech notated on musical staves according to the pitches used by the speaker. This technique (which had been earlier used by Leos Janacek and would be later used by Steve Reich) was to become a standard approach to vocal parts in Partch's work. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... For other uses, see Train (disambiguation). ... One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ... In musical notation, the staff or stave is a set of five horizontal lines on which note symbols are placed to indicate pitch and time. ... In music, pitch is the perception of the frequency of a note. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Steve Reich Steve Reich (born Stephen Michael Reich, October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ...

In 1941, Partch wrote Barstow, a vocal piece that takes as its text eight pieces of graffiti he had seen on a highway railing in Barstow, California. The piece uses his 43-tone scale, and is scored for his custom-built instruments. For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Graffiti on the banks of the Tiber river in Rome, Italy. ... Barstow is a city located in San Bernardino County, California. ... The 43-tone scale is a just intonation scale with 43 pitches in each octave invented and used by Harry Partch. ...

In 1943, Partch received another grant, and was able to settle down somewhat and work with more dedication on the music. He returned to his Oedipus project, although the executors of Yeats' estate refused permission for him to use Yeats' translation, and he had to make his own (a recording with Yeats' translation has since been released, Yeats' text having passed into the public domain). He also started work on US Highball, a piece that used many of his jottings from his hobo years as text. The work is, essentially, the story of a hobo's trip from San Francisco, California to Chicago, Illinois, a journey that Partch had himself undertaken. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Nickname The Windy City Motto Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area  - City    - Land    - Water  - Urban  - Metro 606. ...

Around this time, Partch was also working on a book, eventually published as Genesis of a Music. It is an account of his own music, with discussions of music theory and instrument design. It is considered a standard text of microtonal music theory.

Partch's tuning had its origin in an extended version of Max Meyer's tonality diamond, whose diagonals produce Otonalities (o=over, or 'major') and Utonalities (u=under or 'minor') in Partch's scheme. The 11-limit tonality diamond is clearly embodied in Partch's diamond marimba. Due to peculiarities of media reporting, Partch is famous for his 43-tone scale, even though he used many different scales in his work. In music theory, the n-limit tonality diamond is the set of rational numbers r, , such that the odd part of both the numerator and the denominator of r, when reduced to lowest terms, is less than or equal to the fixed odd number n. ... Otonality and Utonality are terms introduced by Harry Partch to describe chords whose notes are the overtones (multiples) or undertones (divisors) of a given fixed tone. ... Otonality and Utonality are terms introduced by Harry Partch to describe chords whose notes are the overtones (multiples) or undertones (divisors) of a given fixed tone. ... Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer. ... The 43-tone scale is a just intonation scale with 43 pitches in each octave invented and used by Harry Partch. ...

Partch went on to write The Bewitched, a sort of cross between a ballet and an opera and Revelation in the Courthouse Park, a work based in large part on Euripides' The Bacchae. Delusion of the Fury (1969) is seen by some as his greatest work. He died on September 3, 1974 in San Diego, California of a heart attack. The Waltz of the Snowflakes from Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... The Bacchae (also known as The Bacchantes) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... The current version of the article or section reads like an advertisement. ... A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ...

Partch ran his own record label, "Gate 5", to release recordings of his works. Towards the end of his life, Columbia Records made recordings of some of his works, including Delusion of the Fury, which helped in large part to bring him to the attention of the musical world. He remains a somewhat obscure figure, but is well known in experimental and microtonal circles, where he is considered by many to be one of the most significant composers of the 20th century. Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...

Harry Partch's instruments

Harry Partch's desire to use a different system of tuning required him to drastically modify existing instruments and build new ones from scratch. He was, in his own words, "a musician seduced into carpentry".

His "adapted" instruments include the Adapted Viola, a viola fitted with a cello neck to allow more accurate intonation, and the Adapted Guitar, a guitar with the equal tempered frets replaced by a complex system of justly tuned frets. A viola The viola (in French, alto; in German bratsche) is a stringed musical instrument played with a bow which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the higher violin (soprano register) and the lower lines played by the deeper cello (bass... A cello The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello (the c is pronounced /tʃ/ as the ch in church), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ...

He retuned the reeds of several reed organs and labeled the keys with a color code. The first one was called the Ptolemy, in tribute to the ancient music theorist Claudius Ptolemaeus, whose musical scales included ratios of the 11-limit, as Partch's did. The others were called Chromelodeons, a portmanteau of chrome (meaning "color") and melodeon. A reed organ is an organ that generates its sounds using free metal reeds, similar to an accordion. ... This article is about the geographer and astronomer Ptolemy. ... It has been suggested that blend (linguistics) be merged into this article or section. ... A melodian is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. ...

Partch also designed and built many instruments from scratch:

• The Diamond Marimba was a marimba with keys arranged in a physical manefestation of the 11-limit tonality diamond.
• The Quadrangularis Reversum was an inverted Diamond Marimba with auxiliary keys on either side.
• The Bass Marimba and the Marimba Eroica had more traditional linear layouts.
• The Mazda Marimba was made of Mazda light bulbs and named after the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda.
• The Boo was made of bamboo.
• The Spoils of War and the Gourd Tree with Cone Gongs are among his many percussion instruments assembled from junk.
• The Cloud Chamber Bowls were glass bowls from a cloud chamber, suspended in a frame.
• The Zymo-Xyl (from the Greek words for "fermentation" and "wood") was a xylophone augmented with tuned liquor bottles and hubcaps. (Partch lamented that there was no Greek word for "hubcaps".)
• The Kitharas (named after the Greek kithara) were large upright stringed instruments, played by sliding pyrex rods along them and plucking. Their sound is one of the most unmistakable in Partch's music.
• The Harmonic Canons (from the same root as qanún) were many-stringed zithers with a complex system of bridges.

In 1990, Dean Drummond's Newband became custodians of the original Harry Partch instrument collection, and frequently perform with and commission new pieces for Partch's instruments. It has been suggested that Balafon be merged into this article or section. ... In music theory, the n-limit tonality diamond is the set of rational numbers r, , such that the odd part of both the numerator and the denominator of r, when reduced to lowest terms, is less than or equal to the fixed odd number n. ... Mazda was a trademarked name used by General Electric and others on incandescent light bulbs from 1909 through 1945. ... Faravahar (or Ferohar), the depiction of the human soul before birth and after death. ... Diversity Around 91 genera and 1,000 species Subtribes Arthrostylidiinae Arundinariinae Bambusinae Chusqueinae Guaduinae Melocanninae Nastinae Racemobambodinae Shibataeinae See the full Taxonomy of the Bambuseae. ... Discovery of the positron in 1932 by Carl D. Anderson in a cloud chamber The cloud chamber, also known as the Wilson chamber, is used for detecting particles of ionizing radiation. ... Xylophone in Bali 1937 The xylophone (from the Greek meaning wooden sound) is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Indonesia (Nettl 1956, p. ... The kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument. ... Pyrex is a brand name of borosilicate glass introduced by Corning Glass Works in 1924. ... The qanún or kanun is a musical string instrument used in Middle-Eastern music. ... A Musima Guitar Zither 45 strings with 21 melody, 24 chords The zither is a musical string instrument, mainly used in folk music. ... This article is about the year. ... Newband is a contemporary music ensemble devoted to the performance of microtonal music. ...

The newest addition to the Harry Partch Instrumentarium is the Hydronica, built and created by Tricia Galvez Gruswitz, a student of Dean Drummond in 2001. The Hydronica is a bottle-based instrument tuned to Harry Partch's 43-tone scale tuning system, utilizing any 27 tones out of the 43 notes per octave at a time. The 43-tone scale is a just intonation scale with 43 pitches in each octave invented and used by Harry Partch. ...

The instruments have been housed in the Harry Partch Instrumentarium at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ since 1999. In 2004, for the first time in the lifespan of the collection, after years of chicken coops and borrowed spaces, the instruments moved into their first permanent home. The lower floor of the new Alexander Kasser Theatre of MSU was built and designed specifically for the instruments, where they are likely to stay for a long time. Concerts by Newband and MSU's Harry Partch Ensemble may be enjoyed several times a year in this beautiful concert hall. Montclair State University is a public university located in Montclair, New Jersey. ...

Bibliography

• Gilmore, Bob (1998). Harry Partch, A Biography, New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Partch, Harry (1974). Genesis of a Music, New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80106-X
• Partch, Harry (1991). Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions and Librettos, Champaign: University of Illinois Press.

External links

• Corporeal Meadows: Harry Partch an American Original
• American Mavericks: Harry Partch's Instruments playable with explanations and musical examples
• Harry Partch Information Center and Newband Home Page
• Art of the States: Harry Partch
• Enclosures Series: Harry Partch's archives published as book, film and audio from innova