Partched

To work as a preservationist of past musical works of art, was not a
talent that the Goddess endowed me with at birth (although it is
something I find greatly noble, and is appreciated in others), and I
realized at about age 17, that my time was going to be best spent
trying to find my own way by creating my own musical worlds.

I think when we look at the great "models" of musical composition;
Harry Partch being among the top of my list, I believe there are
truly monumental and archetypal things to be derived from the essence
of his creative spirit. And what we tap into, when we seek these
archetypal essences, is something that does not necessarily require
us to be preservationists of his music to benefit from. Namely that
of learning how to see inside of our unique creative visions, and
have the bravery to make them live in actual living works of music
(theatre?). Being able to harness the power of the most sublime and
noble forms of artistic fantasy and conceptual thought, is something
that can provide a wellspring of energy toward completion of the
creative cycle. With Partch, we see someone who was a complete
package of many wonders - theoretical, musical, philosophical - and
were we might not care to attempt the folly of exactly duplicating
his work, we may derive something profound from the example set by
any who put it all together in such brilliant and lasting ways.

I'm blessed to know many folks out there making it live today, and
making living examples for our living time (there's a bunch of you
right here!).

We are *NOW*!

Let's harness *this moment* to create new models for the new
languages we have happening right now.

We have sufficient heroes to look to.

Thanks,

Jacky Ligon

I appreciate very much the understanding exhibited by the List. Thought you
might like to see this paragraph from an interview with Dean Drummond in the
Newmusicbox.

""I loved Harry Partch as a person, and from the time I got the instruments I
could almost feel his presence there," he says. "But to tell you the truth,
he gets further and further away all the time. He provided theories as a
learning tool, not dogma, and even he as a practitioner used his ideas very
freely. The best thing about him was that he opened whole new ways to become
a self-made person."

Dean Drummond