Reply to Mr. Wolf

>>He added secondary tonalities as he needed them, and I'm
>>sure he would have no problem with modulating the entire diamond by some
>>interval.
>
>Not quite.

When I said he wouldn't have a problem, I meant in theory he would probably
have had nothing against it. I did not mean that he actually did modulate
the entire diamond.


>While there are a few places where reeds need to be changed on the
>Chromelodeon, they don't represent wholesale modulation of the diamond.

I know it.


>Erv Wilson tells a story about Partch playing fragments from _Water, Water_
>for him during the composition. Partch had come up with something that he=
>
>couldn't analyse and asked Erv for his help. Erv pointed out that Partch
>was trying to modulate to the dominant, and when a tone wasn't available
>simply took the nearest pitch on the Chromelodeon!

That is a fantastic story! I have enough love for stories about Partch or
Wilson, let alone a story involving them both!


>Partch's tonal practice can be heard as going through three major phases
>the first was characterized by the microtonality necessary to translate
>spoken intonation (Li Po settings, the Psalms, the Wayward), the principle
of >symmetrical inversion around the tonic and the six identity harmony led
to >the diamond which characterizes the second (peaking at Dark Brother and
>Even Wild Horses), and in the third, dominated by the percussion
>instruments, Partch made an extremely free use of his tonal resources, and
>his previous use of non-harmonic tones often dominates the music (Castor
>and Pollux and ...Petals... deserve special mention in this regard).

Hmm. Interestin'


>Much of what Mr. Lumma may identify as 'modulation' may in fact be either
the >free practice of the later music or what Partch calls 'tonal flux' in
his >book.

Most certainly it is. "Tonal flux" is a type of modulation in my book.


>The tonal flux examples in the book are, in fact, progressions
>that dominate his practice. The alternating triads 7/6-7/5-7/4 and
>8/7-10/7-12/7 are found, among other places, as the ostinato in The Letter
>and among the Choruses of Oedipus to separate strophes. Similarly, one
>Chorus in Oedipus alternates strophes based on the 11/8U-16/11O chordal
>pair.

I am very impressed by your knowledge of Partch's work. Are you familiar
with _Dreamer_ or _Delusion of the Fury_?


Carl