Harry Partch - BBC Documentary - Part 1 of 6

Part 1 of 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.

• Category

  Music

[LowestofheDead]

The documentary is exaggerating for effect. Still, all of my music education so far has felt like confinement; seemingly arbitrary guidelines taken as laws without explanation as to why they're used.

Also we were never taught anything non-renaissance-european, though that is a great era of music there are many others that are equally moving and expressive.

[Enantiodromialist]

You are a degenerated person.

[TheEternalTriumphant]

STOP FUCKING SAY "DEGENERATED"! It's "degenerate."

[Super Fata]

That's a degenerated wiew on life...

[Sparkles713]

A delightful referrence to Hans Reichel,(RIP)-Perhaps?

[Porreesuppe]

that's why he's dead

[Ela Lamblin]

A rare bird

[James Tocher]

So did the Nazi's, you fucking cunt.

[anvb5a1]

Yeah well i just thought of someone i kinda admire in 'pop' music who likes to play with some microtonal notes to create his particular sound; Scott Walker; i will concede this one; but still, personally, when i compose some electronic music, i tend to stick to 12 notes octaves. - Btw, I LOVE 3/4 :D

[MrWoofington]

I think the entire eastern world would beg to differ... 12 notes per octave is a purely western convention and only "sounds correct" because we are exposed to nothing else. Consider 4/4 time signature, march-time meter of 98% of western music... 5/8 and 9/8 sound strange to western ears, yet are quite common and danceable in India.

[anvb5a1]

Nothing... even more people are 'moved' by britney spears also... i still prefer mozart...

Microtone composed music sounds like crap, i have to agree with di6na.

It's kinda like adding letters between the letters of the alphabet then writing a book in your new complex useless language... I'm quite sure some people would defend it as better than shakespear... but I'm also quite sure it would be a pain in the xxx to read, just as listening to Partch's music is to me!

[anvb5a1]

Yeah... but not because of protectionism, just because microtonal scale music sounds awful... 12 notes per octave are the correct notes, between them are tones you can even exploit naturally with many instruments (string bending..) but which are unnecessary to making musical compositions.