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To the tuning brethren and sisterethren (ouch!) -

Great to see the action in the mosh pit of erudition -- I know I'm
learning some stuff! Here are some thoughts on recent postings (look out
now, he's naming names...):

**********
To Neil (Digest 792) --

At first I didn't want to respond, because you must be tired of the
harangue, and we don't seem to be on the same page. On the other hand, you
seem so fervent in your music-making desire, I can't give up totally.

The idea of free music makes me think of my days as a child in the 60's:
free love, free music, whatever. That's your (our) idea, but not
everyone would share it. And, even if you feel there isn't a chance that
at least *one* arrangement of your music could make you puke and want to
do violence (heard any of your tunes in an elevator, other composers
might not feel the same -- it is actually *possible* (real easy, come to
think of it) to completely disgrace a work with a heinous arrangement
(anybody remember "A Fifth of Beethoven"?). You think I'm stretching?
Guess again...

As for 'legal' reasons for keeping some sort of control on performances,
the days of "immediate content access" are upon us with the Net, and the
dreaded term "intellectual property" is a subject WAY too deep to touch
here. I will just say that for the last years of his life Harry Partch
lived almost solely on the income from the royalties from his recordings
and what little printed material was there (it was a *bare* existence, I
assure you). So here's a guy who went to the wall for his art: if you
would freely distribute his work, you would have left him looking for
jobs at Burger King. After his death, the ever dwindling money helped
finance tours, performances and upkeep on the instruments. This music
would have been a whole lot less visible had there not been this minimal
sustenance that it created. And I'm damn sure none of the money from
Kronos is going to Dean (for the instruments) or the Partch Foundation,
noooooo, I don't think so...

The others dealt with the elitist issue quite well; I'll just share with
you that during my time with the Left Coast version of the Ensemble, we
were looked *down* on more often than put on a platform. Many critics
and academics (sorry guys!) felt we were too bohemian to produce quality
Partch performances. They were wrong, of course ...

**********

Paul Rapoport's little message (Digest 793) had some nice thoughts. I
especially liked the comments about music for the small group. I have a
tough time, sometimes, with a lot of the contemporary classical musicians
(like when they are always doing the European post-serialists, etc.).
One of the percussionist I really admire as a player was telling me "You
know, we *realize* this is not for a large audience, and the mass
audience is not what we are trying to reach. That takes a lot of
pressure off and lets us concentrate on the music at hand." Interesting.
Harry's stuff fits in here, to some extent; it never ceases to be at
least curious to just about any audience, but I wouldn't ever try to
think of it as 'popular' music.

> I would argue that there is room for both popular and elite
> (unpopular?) art, there always has been, and there always will be.
> Without an artistic elite, important elements of culture cannot thrive,
> and without an educated elite, the major professions would collapse,
> and with it most of democratic society.

And I would add: without the popular, how would we go nightclubbin'?

**********

In the same digest, Gary Morrison has the right idea: let us all get on
with creating anew; our work is in the present. Let's have the ideas
from the past (recent as it may be) serve as springboards for our own
muse.

> But beyond negligently letting them be forgotten, isn't it best just to
> let composers and their music, past and present, stand for nothing
> more, nor nothing less, than what they are?

Sounds good to me...

**********

Lastly, Brian Belet had a gem of a posting in Digest 794, with lot's of
info from Ben Johnston's perspective. It was a great read for me, and I
think I'll put those thoughts in the next posting. Thanks, Brian -- a
balanced diet for *all* of us (yours truly, too!)

Til next time,
Respectfully in 25/16,
Jon
|--------------------------------------------------|
| Jonathan M. Szanto | Once upon a time |
| Backbeats & Interrupts | There was a little boy |
| jszanto@adnc.com | And he went outside. |
|--------------------------------------------------|

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Recent Partch commentaries...

🔗"Jonathan M. Szanto" <jszanto@...>

🔗bil@ccrma.stanford.edu (Bill Schottstaedt)