Comments on: The Outsider

The Outsider

vronsky — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:18:29 -0800

The Outsider: The story of Harry Partch. BBC Documentary. "...a documentary about the composer Harry Partch who invented his own compositional method using a 43-tone scale and many instruments that he built by hand."

By: Monstrous Moonshine

Monstrous Moonshine — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:56:49 -0800

*searches furiously for bomb-ass Partch anecdote concerning exploration past 11-limit tuning* ...*resists paraphrasing*

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:04:35 -0800

You can play flash versions of his instruments here.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:12:38 -0800

Hey. I was just about to say that (but I got distracted playing the virtual kithara and the chromelodeon). Also, as I've mentioned twice before here in the last five years (about different people), a good general introduction to this sort of thing is the book/CD set Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones: Experimental Musical Instruments. Partch of course is included.

By: Alex404

Alex404 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:24:01 -0800

"As a bum, Partch may have been homeless, broke, filthy, and starving, but for the first time, he truly felt free." That was simultaneously hilarious and awesome. I love the english some times. Good post. Awesome dude.

By: Herodios

Herodios — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:48:52 -0800

Ah, very nice. Most of the color film of Partch's music being performed on his large percussion instruments is from the earlier films, The Music of Harry Partch and The Dreamer That Remains. If you are unfamiliar and intrigued, I'd seek these out. I didn't much appreciate the 2002 BBC narration. I would have preferred more music and less psychodrama. But it is interesting to learn that the source of some of that psychodrama directed one of the films. The thing that first attracted me to Partch's music at the time was the beauty of the instruments in these films, the diamond.marimba being my favourite. Appreciating the compositions came later. Point of interest -- if you ever listened to the Doctor Demento show in the 1970s, the voice announcing the Funny Five (e.g. "num-ber-TWO") is Partch, in a performance of his early work, "Barstow". Thanks, Dr. D, ever the record collector. The Official Partch Website contains background, discography, scheduled performances, and more. Thanks, Vronsky

By: Herodios

Herodios — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:05:38 -0800

Much better images of Partch instruments from Bradford Blackburn and Newband.

By: palidor

palidor — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:18:39 -0800

Thanks for this post; I had never heard of Mr. Partch before. I really want to build some music-making stuff now, but alas, I am not [yet?] much of a musician. Though I imagine there's no better way than that for self-education!

By: isopraxis

isopraxis — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:21:26 -0800

I never even knew of microtonal scales before I ran into Partch on late night CBC one frozen night in Northern Canada around 1993. I never had an inkling that there were spaces between the regular spaces. Now the spaces are all I care for anymore. Harry Partch is one of my five big heroes. Thanks for this Vronsky. You always seem to bring the best of the best, and I'd gladly buy you a drink just to say thanks.

By: treepour

treepour — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:49:22 -0800

Oh yeah, can't wait to watch this. Thanks so much!

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:54:02 -0800

He published a massive tome of his theories of music. One fat half was about all the intricacies of micro tonal instruments and scales, and the other half was an extremely detailed and well reasoned proof that opera was a totally bogus art form.

By: doubtfulpalace

doubtfulpalace — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:23:19 -0800

Another Partch fanboy here. Thanks for the links! I'll just add that Bitter Music, his hobo journal, is a fascinating book.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:41:16 -0800

Another fine post, vronsky—thanks.

By: dismas

dismas — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:28:07 -0800

my brain thought that said "Harry Potter" sometimes I hate JK Rowling.

By: bryak

bryak — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:51:07 -0800

i did the exact same thing, dismas. it's got to be a symptom of some psychosis.

By: lapolla

lapolla — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:20:06 -0800

there's a pretty delightful japanese duo who used the microtonal scale in their music. syzygys. i like 'em. you might, too.