Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup mills-tuning-list TUNING digest 785

> Having subscribed to this wonderful list for a year and a half I've
> finally got around to trying to work with some non-12tet tunings. I did
> have some quarter-tone pieces of mine performed years ago when I was at
> the Royal College, and still shudder when I recall overhearing someone in
> the audience ask his neighbour, 'Have they finished tuning up yet?' (As a
> matter of fact _I_ wasn't sure whether they had or not.)

hi there,

your experience sounds similar to mine!

i've been composing both in 12ET and 19TET for a while. i always have to
go through a short adjustment period ( a few minutes) when i go from one to the
other. today, i did a (non-rigorous) experiment where i took a 19TET piece,
and forced my office mate to listen to it for a few times. at first, she shook
her head and said "this just sounds so out of tune to me", but after about 5 or
6 listens, she said "oh...hey...this is falling into place". then, i had her
play her favorite CD (a 12TET piece), and she just "tripped". it took her a
few listens to get back into 12TET mode. at this point, my non-microtonalist
friend became convinced about how arbitrary tuning systems are.

i don't have a biliography for this. ;-)

my opinion is that it will take a while for people to get into alternate
tunings on a global scale...the hardest part is to convince them to listen to
new pieces many times. i'm pretty optimistic though.

marcus

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Further, following Jon Szanto's responses, when one directs the American
Festival of Microtonal Music, one is obligated to include music by Harry
Partch. To this end, the AFMM presented Danlee Mitchell intoning Li Po
with Doug Laurent in 1984, as well as as the 2 Studies on Ancient Greek
Scales by Dean Drummond and Stefani Starin. (If I'm disappointed by the
unfair playing field, it should be understandable to the fair minded.)

When I performed the 2 Studies for guitar and bassoon the New York Times
said: "His "Two Studies on Ancient Greek Scales," played here by Mr.
Reinhard and Mr. Catler, occupied a beautifully colored, static, almost
incantatory world." When I sent the tape to Mr. Mitchell, he wrote that
our performance was ghastly..."a mixture of elephants and giraffes at a
watering hole."

>
> Oh. Danlee was wrong to have ever agreed (if he did) to the synth. I'll drive over
> and slap him this afternoon.
>
> > Dean's regular performance of 2 Studies on Ancient
> > Greek Scales for zoomoozophone and flute, and its recording on CD -
> > contrary to Danlee and company - belies the fury that keeps Partch under
> > wraps, unless it is by the blessed few who worked with Partch directly.
>
> I also disagree with Dean using non-Partch instruments for the studies, but here is
> that little disclaimer: Harry *excepted* his little studies from the rigor that he
> imposed on his 'real' works; please see Partch's "These two ideas..." quote in my
> Part One reply. You see, this isn't my idea, it's Harry's. And while I wish Dean
> would do them with the real instruments (maybe he does now...), the fact of the
> matter is that these are JUST STUDIES, little pieces for Partch's investigation into
> tunings. They aren't the masterworks.

The Partch music that the AFMM Ensemble performs is the material that
either had never been played before, or not in NYC for decades. This
includes: "Ulysees Departs" in the original version with boobams, trumpet
and double bass, Version 2 of US Highball and Barstow, December 1942, Li
Po, Dark Brother, Yankee Doodle Fantasy. Bach's 2 part works are
masterworks, why not Partch?

> > Non-corporeal performances by Mr. Mitchell at Lincoln Center flies in the
> > face of further criticisms.
>
> True. I can only think of one other instance where we did a non-corporeal
> performance of a piece, that being a concert version of "The Bewitched" in Cologne
> in 1981. In both cases, they were extensions of full-scale staged productions of
> the work (Bewitched at Berlin New Music Festival, Revelation at American Music
> Theatre Festival); the Bewitched being a live-concert broadcast for West German (my,
> how times change...) Radio. To single out one or two concerts out of the dozens I
> have known about seems, well... But, the point is well taken: do not perform Partch
> non-corporeally.

Like any listener, I was reacting to my experiences. I missed the
non-corporeal performance in Lincoln Center of Revelation, but I saw the
full production in Philadelphia. The instruments were hidden behind the
action, they didn't move, and they were poorly amplified. Dean Drummmond
has greatly improved the Partch experiences I have had since listening in
the NYC area, and gradually so as might be expected.

> > And the value of the synthesizer (which was unavailable to Partch) in
> > performing "all the notes written" by the composer for his music adds an
> > improved dimension - if only the music was listened to, rather than talked
> > about.
>
> Partch's music is not to be simply listened to, but seen, felt and experienced.
> Promoting anything less, except in a desire to 'document' a performance, is a
> cheapening of the work itself. Go find another composer - there are lot's of them.

Exactly, I invite you to see, feel and experience our AFMM Ensemble
performances of Partch's music, perhaps when we tour through California
during the MIcrotonalLENNIUM.

> > territoriality and protectionism. It should not be too surprising - had
> > the same problem with the Charles Ives Society. That one worked through
> > a bit better, thankfully.
>
> Wrong. As before, Partch isn't just "a composer in this country". Not better, but
> radically different, engendering a completely different set of circumstances, both
> when he lived and now. Thanks for the compliment; now, maybe if Ted Mook can get
> Yo-Yo Ma, in spite of his "territoriality and protectionism", to release his
> Stradivarius cello for Ted's use, we can get a mondo-cool version of "Li Po".
> Yo-Yo, that selfish SOB. And it seems the Partch folks aren't the only group Johnny
> has had trouble with. Remember, I don't know JR, but have offered to correspond
> with him.

Jon and I are corresponding separately. I have great respect for his
playing skills having heard him in San Diego, though he didn't remember.
Is Yo-Yo Ma a selfish SOB...I wouldn't know. I hope there is no
inference here about "troublesomeness." I mentioned difficulty with the
Ives Society because there is always difficulties, or almost always, with
the inheritors of composers - often in the form of socities (e.g. Varese,
Wyschnegradsky, Sandberg, Ives, etc.) The difficutly I had with the Ives
Society was that they did not believe that anyone on the outside could
finish sections B and C of what turned out to be a 74 minute work.
Thankfully, their resident musicolgoist found the score admirable and
there were no other difficulties. Please don't read into my comments any
deeper than I've explained.

> I'll close with a final thought. I am not here to say "You are a good person", "You
> are a bad person"; I am offering my thoughts, having performed the literature,
> worked with Harry Partch and spent a good deal of my life helping to spread the
> amazing World of HP and his creations. It bothers me to see phrases such as
>
> "a guitar "better" than Partch could hope for"

Jon Catler's 13-limit stratocaster is better than Parch could hope for.
Please note that Partch discontinued useage of the guitar in his later
music. Listen to Jon play US Highball version 2 and you feel the train,
as with Joshua Pierce performing on the synthesized chromolodeon.
Partch's guitars were poor instruments. No need to romanticize them.

> "Drummond's hoarding of the instruments"

I asked to fix broken instruments, not to borrow a Stradivarious. Dean
told me by telephone "You couldn't afford to rent them."

> "monopoly on his instruments"

I think this is increasingly clear.

> "territoriality and protectionism"

These terms apply to many who feel they hold something of value and want
to retain the power of its use. It is a natural human tendency, if
unfortunate.

I think it necessary to speak out on this issue because it is in the
news, notably the British Harry Partch Newsletter. Look to their review
of our Swiss radio broadcast in a coming issue. I look to the British to
have a fair perspective. Remember, in this country Charles Ives is still
an "amateur" and Harry Partch, well you know.

Johnny Reinhard
Director
American Festival of Microtonal Music
reinhard@styx.ios.com

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TUNING digest 785

🔗marcus@fa.disney.com

🔗alves@osiris.ac.hmc.edu (Bill Alves)

🔗Johnny Reinhard <reinhard@...>

🔗jpff@maths.bath.ac.uk