Genesis of a Music

Genesis of a Music is a book first published in 1949 by microtonal composer Harry Partch (1901–1974). Partch first presents a polemic against both equal temperament and the long history of stagnation in the teaching of music; according to Alex Ross, this is "the most startling forty-five-page history of music ever written". In particular, Partch holds Johann Sebastian Bach responsible for "the movement toward equal-tempered tuning, which meant that composers could not absorb the scales of other world traditions; and the urge to make music ever more instrumental and abstract." He then goes on to explain his tuning theory based on just intonation, the ensemble of musical instruments of his own invention (such as the "Surrogate Kithara, a struck-string, harplike instrument", and the guitar with movable frets he used to compose Barstow), and several of his largest musical compositions. The book has been highly influential to succeeding generations of microtonal composers, including Lou Harrison, Ben Johnston, and James Tenney. A revised and enlarged second edition was published just before Partch's death in 1974. Partch presents 4 "basic monophonic concepts": Consonance and dissonance: "The ear informs us that tones which are in small-number proportion, say in the relation of 2 to 1, are strong, clear, powerful, consonant." "The smaller the number involved in the [interval] ratios, the more consonant the ratio; the larger the numbers, the more dissonant". "Dual Identity": "Every ratio of a Monophonic system is at least a dual identity." "Odentity [is] determined by the odd-number ratio component of the numerator, and another one, the Udentity [is] determined by the odd-number component of the denominator. A ratio thus always belongs to two tonalities, an Otonality in accordance with its Odentity, and an Utonality in accordance with its Udentity." Minor: "Under-number Tonality, or Utonality ("minor"), is the immutable faculty of ratios, which in turn represent an immutable faculty of the human ear.

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Genesis of a Music

Harry Partch

Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales, alongside Lou Harrison. He built his own instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described the method behind his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music (1947).

Musical tuning

In music, there are two common meanings for tuning: Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice. Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases. Tuning is the process of adjusting the pitch of one or many tones from musical instruments to establish typical intervals between these tones. Tuning is usually based on a fixed reference, such as A = 440 Hz. The term "out of tune" refers to a pitch/tone that is either too high (sharp) or too low (flat) in relation to a given reference pitch.

Harmonic Mean: Music Proportions MATH-124: Geometry for architects I

Explores the harmonic mean in music proportions and its historical significance in architecture.