Customer Reviews (1)

A multimedia experience of Partch in book form.
Philip Blackburn, in taking up the work of the original editor Kenneth Gaburo, describes this as "a scrapbook of a scrapbook" -- it's literally hundreds of pages of collages of Partch's writings, drawings, and musical scores, along with photographs of him and his instruments. Looking into the book is like entering a private dream. Even little scraps of paper with Partch's thoughts have been preserved here (including a little hymn of praise to the Library of Congress, reproduced on the copyright page). There is no effort made to interpret these or link them together ("helpfully") for the reader, so the effect is similar to having opened a trunk of memorabilia: one can construct one's own narrative, draw one's own conclusions. The endnotes are helpful for identifying figures in photographs and other materials. Blackburn's work on the book has been so meticulous that two fonts (one imitating Partch's handwriting, and one based on carbon copies of his 19! 54 typewriter) were designed to maintain the look of the originals even when material needed to be excerpted and retypeset. While the whole book is beautiful and engaging, my favorite parts are the reproductions of Harry's illustrated hobo diaries "Bitter Music" and "End Littoral." It's also the best collection of photos of the amazing Partch instruments I've found. Should be of interest not only to those with a love of experimental musics but also to those who maintain an interest in innovative genius of any kind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Note Regarding Quality of Illustrations
Genesis Of A Music is illustrated with photographs of the instruments constructed by Harry Partch for the performance of his music. Unfortunately the illustrations for successive editions havebeen prepared haphazardly by re-screening the pictures from previous editions. The result is that the pictures in the current edition are inadequate.

People interested in purchasing this book should seek out the previous paperback edition which still had serviceable illustrations.

Highly Recommended
This book was recommended to me by James Tenney, that was enough for me. After reading it I discovered, to NO surprise, it is a must read. Tenney giving you musical advice is like EF Hutton giving you financial advice, YOU LISTEN to it very carefully.

You had to be there.
I was a part of Harry's world for a time in the mid 1950s, maybe even a colleague as well as a devotee of sorts. I took a 40 year sabbatical and am again working in the field of musical instrument design/manufacture/performance.

This book is like a bible to me in many ways but what most of the reviews lack is the experience of having "been there, heard/felt that" which is a requirement for really getting it.

All the theoretical/philosophical considerations are mere historical/philosophical blather compared to actually being around the music itself. The implications of "corporeal" in terms of making/experiencing music rather than talking *about* music are very profound. You can get some idea from sound recordings, videos/films, or Web sites but unless you take part in the experience, you have no idea what's happening here.

I'm sure plenty (most?) people who encountered it were isolated from experiencing it fully by their backgrounds (nature or nurture), but for those who were moved, his work was the palpable exemplification of "profound". His picture should appear in the dictionary entry for "genius".

Love.

Most of today's innovators started with this book
I disagree that you shouldn't start with this book.Most books that even mention the subject of JI gloss over it, insult your intelligence without providing any real data to make your own decisions, because most of the people writing those books consider JI a curiosity.If you ever read more than one reference to JI, you already know most of what most sources tell you.
Partch is certainly bombastic, which gave me many a chuckle.He was very very defensive, with good reason.
He also deals with subharmonic series- minor tonalities- which makes up a full half of his system, and which is explicitly eschewed by Doty's Primer.Doty denies there is any consonance to it and refuses to discuss it, reducing every harmony into least-common-denominators to find some sort of "absolute consonance level", which results in ratios with huge numbers that tell you nothing about the purpose of the chord.For a minor triad, Partch would say "1/4;1/5;1/6" and Doty would say 10:12:15.Partch also backs his ideas up with everyone from Archytas to Ptolemy to Galilei.
Any other book about or by Partch is focused on the novelty of his instruments, his "43 notes!!!" (which sickened him, being that he often used more or less in various pieces- it is not about the number of notes) or his feelings on life and aesthetics.Partch despised concert music- which doesn't mean a thing to me.This book gives you the facts, the background to actually be able to use the innovations Partch gave to the world.
I would recommend, in addition to this, reading George A. Miller's essay "The Magical Number 7, +/- 2" and any resources you can find on Gestalt perception and the Law of Pragnanz.Without these fundamental perceptual ideas, your 10,000-note octaves will sound like chaos.

Use as directed ONLY.
I'd give this another star, it's a very interesting artifact after all, but I'm afraid my review might be construed, as I'm afraid many readers are approaching this book the wrong way. It is not (nor is it intended to be) a just tuning reference book; it is instead a book about one man's personal musical odyssey: hence the title. If you use it to try to learn about just tuning in particular or tuning in general without already possessing a solid background in acoustics and the history of music theory, you will come away from it with a very warped viewpoint, and when you encounter those who do have a solid background in acoustics and the history of music theory you will embarrass yourself badly. ... Read more

Book Description
This engaging book is the first biography of one of the great ""originals"" of American classical music. It provides a full portrait of Harry Partch (1901-1974), a composer, theorist, and creator of musical instruments whose life and works were marginalized and unconventional, yet who had an enormous influence on later experimental composers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

5 stars plus 2 thumbs up for Gilmore
I recall Bob dropping by my fathers house in the early 90's to collect things for this book. Little did I know how many of my questions would be answered by this novel. Harry had always been that of a surrogate grandpafigure to me. I was 8 when he died, so alot has gone unanswered ever since.

Being a biography only, it fills you in with what drove Harry to do whathe did and all the stumbling blocks encountered along the way (things Ihave always wondered about).

If you are interested in Harry's musicalintsruments, corporeal philosophy, or the tuning set-up he put together, Iwould suggest getting the book he wrote "Genesis of a Music",sold here at Amazon.

In purchasing Bob's book, you will encounter a pathin which a true creative mind was once lead down, unmutilated.....GeordanMitchell

Gilmore's account of Partch's life reads like a thriller
American maverick iconclast composer mythologised his life history in his own lifetime. Astoundingly, there has previously been very little analytical/musicological or biographical information published on thisimportant and unique American composer. McGeary, in Bitter Music, assertedthat nothing COULD be known of Partch's early life. We all agreed. We werewrong. Gilmore has, like a private investigator, meticulously followed thetrail which has lain below the sand of the American deserts through whichPartch trailed. You won't need to be either a music student or particularlyinterested in Harry Partch to find this book an utterly fascinating accountof this still underrated composer, instrument-maker and'philosophic-music-man'. It stands as a chronicle of the twentieth centuryAmerican man, a tangent to the mainstream of arts culture, an importantcontribution to Depression Era art, as well as obviously to contemporarymusic and just intonation/tuning matters. ... Read more

Book Description
This publication is the most complete collection of commentaries about the American experimental composer Harry Partch ever assembled. Eleven major figures of contemporary music voice their views on Partch (1901-1974) and his radical contributions to twentieth-century music, including Elaine Barkin, Henry Brant, Lou Harrison, Ben Johnston, Danlee Mitchell, and Rudolf Rasch.
Discussions on tuning theory, instrument building, performance, and aesthetics are framed by historical reflections, analyses of compositions, writings by Partch himself, and a collection of rare photographs.
Composer and sound designer David Dunn was assistant to Harry Partch from 1970 to 1974 and remained active as a performer in the Harry Partch Ensemble for over a decade. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3021 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Harry Partch. (Music Reviews).(Harry Partch. Barstow: Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California (1968 Version))(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Bob Gilmore
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 59Issue: 3Page: 739(5)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 1999. The length of the article is 768 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Enclosure 3: Harry Partch.(Review)
Author: W. Anthony Sheppard
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1999
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 55Issue: 3Page: 679(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Definitive Master Work of a Genius
Rarely, if ever in your life do you come across a masterpiece. Think of Mutiny on the Bounty, Nordhoff and Hall as an example, the works of Eiseley or Bradbury or Joyce. But those are works of mere fiction.

Harry Partch was nothing if non-fiction. He was a scientist of musical theory. I knew the man, knew his instruments andhis work. Only later, after he died, did I try to understandhis masterwork, Genesis of a Music, and I'm still trying to.

Partch is a Titan in a world that went for Pop. Partch is the Steve Jobs to Bill Gates. His music theory was the genesis for the work of Phillip Glass and John Cage, an attempt, like the masters of old, Kepler and Galileo, to set down a definitive tome on the theory of what music really IS, in the sense of its intervals and temperaments, what is mere dissonance, and whatis the voice of god.

Any serious musician who hasn't studied Genesis of a Music is missing the calculus of his art, the holy grail of his study.

This one book defines the universe of melodic and inspirational sound that we call music. If ever there was a work with some meat on its bones, Genesis of a Music is it. You must carry it with you night and day, and only take it out late at night, in your study carel in some dark library, sneaking passages like a secret compact, a cipher schrivened on the papyrus of Isis.

Then if you're lucky enough to find one of his old vinyls,you can say you've heard the bells pealing from heaven above. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1590 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Harry Partch: A Biography.(Review)
Author: Carol J. Oja
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 56Issue: 3Page: 726

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more