Harry Partch was born in 1901 and turned out to be a man who did not accept the rules that were set forth around him. This dislike for conventionalities traces back to him being born to adamant Christian parents who were missionaries in China. He viewed the act of them imposing their beliefs on people as controlling. Growing up in the American Southwest, he played the piano and even went on to accompany silent films until he moved to California where he found employment in different types of jobs, such as a piano teacher . However, Partch grew tired of the customs and music that came along with playing classical music. While researching intonation, this iconic American composer came across a book that became one of the most influential items that shaped his way of thinking: Helmholtz’s “On the Sensations of Tone.” He began questioning the very theories that music stood on and eventually, began forming his own beliefs about music. Harry Partch’s philosophy in music was grounded in his appreciation of ancient beliefs and customs that encompassed “total corporeality” which led to his invention of a new tonal system and new instruments, flipping the “classical” genre of music on its head.
Partch’s music philosophy centered on the idea that music should return to using just intonation and pure intervals, resembling how it was during the
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This is where he came up with the idea that music should involve aural and visual components, that it should be corporeal. Towards the end of his career, Partch gained some popularity and had mixed feelings about this. However, this led him to wonder where his instruments who go after he died and he decided that a man he worked with extensively, Danlee Mitchell, would take care of his instruments. Harry Partch, a great American composer, passed away in