Comments on: Play a Harry Partch Instrument.

Play a Harry Partch Instrument.

ubueditor — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:07:05 -0800

Play a Harry Partch Instrument. Visionary musican Harry Partch (1901-1971) built his own incredible Just Intonated instruments. You can now play them all with your keyboard!

By: kenko

kenko — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:34:14 -0800

[this is awesome]

By: Cryptical Envelopment

Cryptical Envelopment — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:45:47 -0800

Indeed. The American Mavericks series was great radio and also created some of the best of the web. Thanks ubueditor!

By: leecifer

leecifer — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:56:24 -0800

Thanks so much ubueditor. My roommate is currently working on a commission for Newband and I'm sure he'll be psyched to see this site.

By: grrarrgh00

grrarrgh00 — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 19:04:23 -0800

"I'm going home, to Boston ah-ah Massachuuuuuusetts ..." Many fond memories of Harry Partch from my Composing Music Since 1950 class freshman year of college. Thanks!

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 19:26:54 -0800

More discussion of Partch here and here.

By: Ironwolf

Ironwolf — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:49:41 -0800

After listening to Partch rant about how much better just intonation is to our "Alice in Wonderland" equal tempered scale, (and who's to say it isn't, actually-- my ear found the samples quite listenable) I was about to go ahead and play one of the simulated Partch instruments, but then got totally sidetracked by the treasure trove of unusual music by all sorts of composers in the Listening Room. They even have two streaming radio stations (depending on whether you're in a mood for "smooth" or "crunchy".) I will return here often.

By: edlundart

edlundart — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 20:59:05 -0800

This is very, very cool. Thanks for posting (this and other things -- i bow to ubu). I'm off to the listening room...

By: melissa may

melissa may — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:04:20 -0800

This is a great resource. Thanks so much.

By: Cryptical Envelopment

Cryptical Envelopment — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:18:23 -0800

And here.

By: sighmoan

sighmoan — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:36:28 -0800

Partch died in 1974, though, not '71. I'd ignore the typo, but I've been cranky about the liner notes to Revelation In The Courthouse Park having him dying in 1976.

By: QuietDesperation

QuietDesperation — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:37:58 -0800

Thanks for this. I've wanted to play a bass marimba since I first read about it in the Delusion of the Fury Liner notes ages ago. What an idea!

By: Cryptical Envelopment

Cryptical Envelopment — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:39:20 -0800

/derail I almost posted this interview to MeFi: George Crumb

By: swordfishtrombones

swordfishtrombones — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:58:53 -0800

[this is awesome] I've always been intrigued by this just intonation. And now I can play all my favorite Tom Waits songs on a properly tuned marimba. Woohoo!

By: Devils Slide

Devils Slide — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 23:11:54 -0800

Nice find. I'm going to be monkeying with this for a while.

By: JZig

JZig — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 23:21:20 -0800

This is awesome. I remember when I took Music Theory in high school I was confused by how stupid intonation choices were. It's fairly obvious if you've done any choir singing. All really good choirs will naturally gravitate to using just intonation, which is a problem when you try to accompany them.

By: stet

stet — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:33:25 -0800

Awesome.