Talk:Harry Partch

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This article is part of the WikiProject Tunings, Temperaments, and Scales to improve Wikipedia's articles related to musical tunings, temperaments, and scales.

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"Partch's tuning had its origin Hermann Helmhotlz's study, "On the Sensations of Tone" which described Ancient Greek and Chinese systems using small number frequency ratios such as are described in Max Meyer's tonality diamond, whose diagonals produce Otonalities (o=over, or 'major') and Utonalities (u=under or 'minor') in Partch's scheme. The 11-limit tonality diamond is clearly embodied in Partch's diamond marimba. Due to peculiarities of media reporting, Partch is famous for his 43-tone scale, even though he used many different scales in his work and the number of divisions is theoretically infinite."

Dear lord. I'm afraid I'm going to have to delete most of this paragraph. I don't think this is a fair or even accurate description of Helmholtz's book; if it is a citation is needed. It's confusing to refer to the "diagonals" of the diamond. Discussion of Partch's tuning belongs on another page, or at least under its own heading (certainly not under the biography heading). --CKL