Microtonality: Partch, Johnston, Nancarrow

As the 20th century progressed, composers entered a new realm of composition.  Earlier composers had already started the search for new sounds, but often it wasn't strictly controlled.  Harry Partch, Ben Johnston, and Conlon Nancarrow all continued this search, but did so with varying styles of precision in the results.

Nancarrow sought to compose music in a manner that would be the same every time, and could allow for live performances that weren't playable by people.  He did so by utilizing an invention that already existed: the player piano.

Johnston and Partch, however, dove into microtonality of various types to create their new sound palettes.  The key difference between these two composers is that Johnston used pre-existing instruments, and Partch created his own instruments.  Partch used a 43-note scale of his devising via just intonation, and invented a massive variety of instruments that would allow him to use it.  He created a unique, idiosyncratic form of notation for these instruments and tuning system.  Johnston used a wide variety of tuning systems, also usually based on just temperament, and crafted adaptations to the standard Western notation system to allow for his compositions.

Examples of Ben Johnston's notation, adding symbols to alter Western notation

Composers before these had already experimented lightly in microtonality in the sense of using pitches between the standard Western 12-pitch chromatic scale.  However, earlier experiments were generally inexact, such as Antheil and Varèse's use of sirens, which cannot be played with exact pitch in mind.  Partch and Johnston used rigidly controlled and tuned systems of microtonality, which in turn allowed for specificity of musical results.

Partch called himself "a philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry," and that is a highly accurate manner of describing him.  Partch had sensibilities far outside the realm of typical society, and given his unpredictable and wildly individualistic personality, it is not surprising that he chose to be a hobo for large portions of his life, riding around the country on trains.  He had strong beliefs about music, generally focusing on implementing every aspect of a performance, especially the physical aspects at play.  He coined the term "Corporealism" to describe the full involvement of the body in playing music.

As for the carpentry:  Partch made vast arrays of his own instruments, many of which took legitimate ingenuity to assemble, and many of which resemble wacky inventions from books by Dr. Seuss.  The instrument from which all others are tuned is the chromelodeon, an adapted reed organ.

Chromelodeon keyboard

Partch also adapted various guitars and violas for the purposed of performing his works.  In fact, the recording of Barstow we were given is on only a guitar, and is a close reproduction of Partch's original version of the work, which he later destroyed.  That said, when more Partch instruments are added to Barstow (see clip below), the more musically interesting it can be, simply by virtue of number of timbres.

Harry Partch, Barstow (1943)

Performed by Harry Partch and John Stannard, John McCallister, Danlee Mitchell,

Emil Richards, Michael Ranta, Linda Schell.

Beyond these adapted versions of pre-existing instruments, Partch also invented many from scratch.  Pictured below are his gourd tree and cone gongs.  The gourd tree uses temple bells attached to gourds as resonators, with aircraft nosecones used as "cone gongs."

Partch's gourd tree and cone gongs

Some major difficulties attached to Partch's works is that they are limited by both availability of instruments, and performers who have the knowledge to play them and read his notation.  At present, about 3 sets of Partch instruments exist.

1) The original instruments, constructed by Partch through trial and error, are housed at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where they were brought by Dean Drummond, a microtonal composer who worked with Partch for several years before Partch's 1974 death.  However, their future there is uncertain, as the university recently decided to revoke and repurpose the facility space that has been used for the instruments until now.
2) One set of reproduction instruments is at Los Angeles Pierce College, and was built by John Schneider, a Partch devotee who also worked with Partch when he was alive.
3) A European group recently built a full set of instruments in order to tour playing Partch's magnum opus,  Delusion of the Fury, a 75-minute work of experimental musical theater.

The only players trained to play thee instruments are students and other associated people at these two institutions, and the members of the third group.  It really takes verbal instruction from an experienced player to teach others to play the instruments and read the notation.  As a result, there is almost no one who can effectively play Partch's works.  He is in immediate danger of being lost to the sands of time, and there is legitimate concern that at some point far sooner than for other composers, his works will exist only as recordings, not performable works.  This would be a tragedy, as his voice is a vital one in the course of the American musical avant garde.