Psot from McLaren

From: mclaren
Subject: improvisation, xenharmonic & otherwise
--
In Topic 2 of digest 804, Neil Haverstick mentioned
that "it's obvious that [Bach] could improvise on a very
high level, then go back and jot down a close
facsimile..." There is considerable evidence on
this point. Forkel reports that Bach himself had
nothing but contempt for composers who worked
*only* this way; he called them "knights of the
keyboard." The manuscripts of his uncompleted
compositions (notably the final contrapunctus
in The Art of Fugue) show that Bach often composed
by writing contrapuntal strands one after the
other, changing them as they intertwined, moving
forward a few notes at a time. This is typical of
the way people compose when they hear the music
in their heads and write it down as it works itself
out.
On the other hand, there is cirumstantial evidence
to indicate that some of Bach's best-known works
were originally improvisations. The Little Fugue
in G minor appears to have been composed shortly
after Bach visited Buxtehude; during the visit, he
improvised on a subject given him by Buxtehude.
It seems likely that the Little Fugue was that
improvisation, written down (this theory is
Burney's but it sounds probable). The "Wedge
Fugue" has much of the character of an
improvisation to me and appears to date from
the period when Bach was trying out new organs.
Because Bach was considered a trivial composer
but was widely respected as a virtuoso
organist, he was much in demand as the "acid
test" for a newly-built organ. If Bach said it
passed muster, the organ-builder could be
sure that the new instrument would stand up
to anything a lesser organist could throw at
it. A wedge-like theme on the pedals is
exactly what I'd use to "try out the lungs"
of a new organ, so the "wedge" fugue is
almost certainly an improvisation Bach
performed during one of his "tryouts" at
this period. We also know from Forkel that
Bach loved nothing better than to yank out
all the stops and shake the church with a
massive blast of block chords, and the F Major
prelude sounds to these ears like the ultimate
in bone-shaking mind-blowing block chord
dissonance, so the F major prelude & fugue
was probably also an improvisations he cranked out
during a particularly challenging organ tryout.
What does this have to do with xenharmonics?
Well, as it happens Partch was also an
inveterate improviser. I'm very surprised
that no one seems to realize this. Improvisation
was an integral element of Partch's small-
ensemble composition process. (By small
ensemble, I mean the compositions which
did *NOT* demand staging and libretti;
in short *NOT* the late large theater works.)
We know for a fact (as has been reported on
this forum) that Partch improvised the vocal
lines in the Li Po songs and then wrote them
down to give performers something to go by.
We know for a fact (because Partch tells us so)
that "And On the Seventh Day Petals Fell In
Petaluma..." was improvised using two
tape recorders. First Partch performed an
improv he had polished and recorded it on
one tape recorder, then Partch listened
and performed an accompanying improvised
part along with the recorded part, the
result being recorded on the second Ampex
recorder.
Afterwards he wrote out the score, making
changes after the fact and re-recording them
so that overlaid duets would work as quartets.
Clearly Partch's score for "Petals" represents
the usual backtracking and transcription of
performance so beloved of 20th century
composers. Stockhausen did this all the
time; his scores are pure scams produced
in retrospect, and Giacinto Scelsi hired a
guy to write out transcriptions of his
improvisations for him(!) Scelsi couldn't
even read music, apparently.
Partch used the same technique with more
layers (re-re-recording) for "Daphne of the
Dunes" and "WindSong."
It surprises me that no one realizes how
integral both magnetic tape and improvisation
were to Partch's compositional process. In
fact, this process is essentially identical to
some of our work in the Southern California MIcrotonal
Group. We often perform an improv, practice it and
practice it and practice it until we've got it
cold, then record it and overlay it digitally
with another performance produced by
listening to the recording & performing with
it over and over and over again. (Some of our
pieces are process compositions, but some
use the method described above.)
The main difference is that we don't bother
to write out scores of our performances, because
how the devil do you notate bowing tines
welded to a huge triangle of space alloy that
sits atop a balloon? How do you notate bowing
the tine close to the weld, as opposed to
far from the weld? And what good would it
do, since who else has a triangle of space
alloy sitting atop a balloon to play the score
on, eh, boychik?
Neil Haverstick mentions jazz and the blues;
he makes a typically brilliant point when he
says that blues demand immense intonational
sophistication. Just listen to Billie Holiday
singing "Lady Sings the Blues" in the 6 June
1956 recording. When she hits the note for
"bad" in "Lady sings the blues/ she's so sad/
she's got them bad" even a zipperhead can hear
that this pitch is a just chromatic semitone
above the pitch for "sad" which is in turn a
diatonic semitone above the pitch for "blues,"
and that this is *intentional.* This is no accident.
Lady Day wants us to *hear* the difference between
those tow semitones, she wants it to reach out and
grab us by the throats.
Anyone who thinks this does not require intonational
sophistication may want to see an audiologist.
The improvisation that takes place on the earlier
1937 recordings of Lady Day's standard songs
is of a piece with the way Partch composed, it's
exactly in line with Bach's improvsations. These
blues musicians are not doing anything exotic,
it goes wayyyyyyyy back to Bach and Buxtehude.
So, yes, Partch was an old blues player comping with
a tape of himself playing xenharmonic improvs. Is that
any surprise? Is that any break in the great chain of
master improvisers who became master composer?
So much for the "sacred unalterable scores" of
Partch's music!
Incidentally, various folks have mentioned some
kind of dark vibe they get from Partch's music.
Huh????
Say *what*????
Partch's early music is luminous and radiant--
"Two Studies" shines like a gem, and "Petals"
is so cheerful and buoyant it sets a smile on
my face no matter how often I hear it.
The only Partch composition with a "dark vibe"
that comes to mind is the 1955 "Oedipus"...
But you have to understand where that
composition comes from.
Oedipus is about a man who seeks the truth
relentlessly and is destroyed by it, cast
out to wander homeless and alone. Harry
Partch sought truth in musical intonation
relentlessly and for his crime he was cast
out by the Carnegie Foundation in the
midst of the Great Depression to wander
homeless and alone. (As a public service,
someone should disinter the remains of the
members of the Carnegie Foundation who
committed this crime against humanity, and
defile their corpses in public.)
Partch spent the next 8 years in CCC camps
and convict camps--he was arrested many
times for vagrancy (the high crime of being
dirt poor). In fact, Partch wrote "Barstow"
in 1941 in the Los Angeles Men's Convict
Camp.
This experience scarred him for life. Partch
went within a period of 6 months from
hobnobbing with William Butler Yeats
and studying just intonation instruments
at the British Museum to cleaning out
sewers with his hands in a men's convict
camp. No wonder "Oedipus" has a "dark vibe."
The wonder is that "Oedipus" manages
nonetheless to maintain a dark radiance
despite the suffering to which Partch gives vent--
yes, he opens a vein in his wrist and bleeds
into the score of that composition, but
that blood waters a singularly magnificent
tree.
--mclaren


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Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 08:52:28 -0800
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