Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – Sept 3, 1974) “Traditions in music do not begin with the recent European centuries. They begin with the human race, in the deepest wells of wisdom.” excerpt from The Ancient Magic essay by Harry Partch The Telegraph “I have thrown the petty respectable life with all is comforts behind me after the effort to broaden and beautify it has destituted me and drained my stamina. All right–let me throw it behind without guile, without hoping either for a return to it or for a constant absence. After all, it did not request my efforts. The normal live body hopes for the respect and love of others, and enough of the world to bestow largesse. He hopes and he abandons hope by turn. In the first there is fire to live, but in the second there is greater peace.” ― Harry Partch, Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos ------------- “Encouraged by his mother, Partch learned several instruments at a young age. By fourteen, he was composing, and in particular took to setting dramatic situations. He dropped out of the University of Southern California‘s School of Music in 1922 over dissatisfaction with the quality of his teachers. He took to self-study in San Francisco’s libraries, where he discovered Hermann von Helmholtz‘s Sensations of Tone, which convinced him to devote himself to music based on scales tuned in just intonation. In 1930, he burned all his previous compositions in a rejection of the European concert tradition. Partch frequently moved around the US. Early in his career, he was a transient worker, and sometimes a hobo; later he depended on grants, university appointments, and record sales to support himself. In 1970, supporters created the Harry Partch Foundation to administer Partch’s music and instruments." (Wikipedia) For list of instruments he developed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_instruments_by_Harry_Partch #HarryPartch (at Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzHntOnlCkM/?igshid=1ppm74s5mnn0r
