Harry Partch - BBC Documentary - Part 2 of 6

[jimmywrangles]

It seems to me Patch deliberately tried to make his music sound bad.

It's crap.

He may have been some sort of genius but he couldn't write a decent tune for shit.

[Herooftimex]

Moondog and cage and partch would great along wonderfully.

[Curetiamhices]

interesting art!,

There is no "best art" all art is different!

I like Maestro's Cage expression !

[ScreenJunkie]

I always figured I had quite a musical ear but if this the "full musical scale" apparently I'm tonedeaf. But in reality it's just the ravings of a diseased mind.

[Beelzubub13]

@ScreenJunkie Your response is the equivalent of stating that someone is insane because they speak Chinese. It's a different musical language and you can make an effort to understand or move along, but your judgement doesn't really mean much.

[Bix12]

What he says about living in a hobo community--about the human-ness of being with those who aren't always vying for place, and not spending one's life always in the company of "important" people, is really true.

I've travelled around the world many times and have always felt the most welcome, the most part of a community, amongst those peoples us westerners would consider impoverished or destitute (that isn't how they consider themselves, btw)it's an eye-opening experience, to say the least.

[Gesmehod]

Some of it sounds just terrible, but I found myself enjoying that poem quite a lot. I guess if you're experimental with music the same way cooks are experimental with food, you'll find yourself going to some very strange places. And in the same way, a lot of the time the layman simply won't get it.

The Greeks used a pentatonic scale, which sounds very nice, but (correct me if I'm wrong) is more constricting. I guess it's just a matter of how adventurous your are.

[ViolentVibrato]

The Greeks used the tetrachordal system. Wikipedia tetrachords. They became the basis of our church modes, our diatonic scale accomodates the majority of the tetrachords used.

[nodestudio]

Argh! Just when I start thinking this guy's a complete nut job, I begin to admire him.

[tubemaster6]

Well I think the idea of microtones is perfect but the reason we probably have 12 tones in a scale is because our human ear is capable of easily and comfortably differentiating between those 12 tones. If you introduce more, it becomes much to complex for the average person to hear. I don't think anyone to find all the notes a person uses in speech on partch's microtonal keyboard, its ridiculous.

[ViolentVibrato]

Or, it is because it is the system you've been listening to your entire life. Consider that turkish, and older indian methods used a 24 note division of the octave. Some Dutch folk music has used 31 (though I do not know much about that).

And it's not just about the tones, but the overtones generated as the notes relate to each other.

[Juxtapolice]

also, check out John Cage, Krzysztof Penderecki if you are into advant garde

[nvalidscreename]

no.

[Curetiamhices]

be more specific on Penderecki. he has "some" avant-garde compositions.. "some" the majority of his compositions are Serial. Luigi Nono is another great Serial composer.

[Juxtapolice]

Further, prior to the introduction of the sitar and other eastern, microtonal instruments, our entire musical system rested on 12 tones - 12 tones, I understand the musicality, nor am I bashing Mozart, Bach, or the entire western worldview, but it is unfortunate that we have been manipulated to have such a narrow perspective and ability to aptly appreciate these other naturally occurring, and quite frankly, more realistic tonalities existing

[wookieproductions]

Not to be obvious, but this music sounds pretty crappy.

Different, yes. Good, no.

[Juxtapolice]

i mean, its difficult - very difficult to comprehend; are you a musician, or classically trained? If you were trained sufficiently, or naturally, to hear tonalities efficiently than you'd get an idea of what Partch is on to here. But the predominant reason we often stand perplexed in the wake of his compositions is due to the fact that we have an over 1000yr fixed musical tradition embedded in our consciousness; one that ultimately is enormously limited, and to state modestly - not natural

[clubsandwedge]

Absolute genius, I've had the same thoughts about becoming a hobo

[hellmuth26]

i wonder what it would be like if he had teamed up with captain beefheart.. they seem really similar.

[znotty]

trouble is it sounds stupid.

[themightycelestial]

Okay, I'm convinced.

I'm going to become a hobo & refine my genius.

Goodbye my fellow youtubers

...you pretentious bunch of conforming bastards.

[dahwang12]

Bravo!

[15ips]

@themightycelestial I'm going to start an alcoholic lifestyle so I can write like Charles Bukowski. If that doesn't work, I'll shoot dope and try to write like Burroughs.

[herzogsbuick]

@15ips if that doesn't work, shoot does and write like Ted Nugent. "Wango Tango" B-)

[robertronics]

what does the narrator say in 6:00?

"...And the strange musical outgoings

of ???????? composers were out of tune,

with public taste,,,"

[ShockTheseTrees]

"...And the strange musical outpourings

of avant-garde composers were out of tune,

with public tastes,,,"

[robertronics]

what are his words in 6:48?

"and among trenchant ????? workers

and ???????? of human contact

which doesn´t mean that

they always like each other

but there´s a human contact

with others fighting for place ????

I cant make out those words!

help!

[ShockTheseTrees]

Whoops, you were right about "trenchant" and I messaged "transient" to you.

[zootsanchez]

"and among transient orchard workers and right away there's a human contact which doesn't mean that they always like each other but there´s a human contact without this fighting for place constantly."

[robertronics]

Thank you guys! :D

[SweetSweetWaldo]

Harry Partch was a true musical genius. Someday when we've evolved another 200 years, they're going to remember Harry and he will join the ranks of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and those other Germans! Not that Partch would want to be counted in the same rank as a bunch of snooty Europeans composing for royalty and posterity! I met & interviewed John Schneider for my radio program. Amazing guy!

[12caesars]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting

[likinapita]

whoa

[noonward]

hobo more like HOMO!

[ShockTheseTrees]

LOL!

[noonward]

LOL! NO DISRESPECT, MEANT.

[JesustheLizard]

yeah, he was a homo. A brilliant homo

[BluntDNB]

a hobo is nothing to do with sexual preferences

[JesustheLizard]

He was a gay homeless person... whatever. that was just a part of who he was. Someone saying "he's a fag" doesn't change anything about his artwork, though they are both part of who he was.

[Wagnerlover777]

Okay, seriously, there is no reason to say things like that about a person who deliberately chose to be different in order to find his truth. Sure, he might have been gay, but that's no reason to use such an inflection, besides, he CHOSE to be a hobo.

[johnarthurknight]

Thats so wrong on so many levels,yet so off topic,it is breathtaking. Did you even watch the video?

[tarhun]

o hey, were you replying to me? If so: how is it wrong?! Did *you* even watch it? Also of course it was not off topic, I was replying to you: the documentary uses the term presumably to refer to the Christian morality of the majority of the population, one opposed to Partch's own lifestyle in many ways.

[johnarthurknight]

Moral majority did not exist as a term in the hobo times.

[tarhun]

the moral majority has existed for ~2000 years in western culture, even if it hasn't always been called as such...