Talk:Harry Partch

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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

Question: I recall, from when I was a student in the Music dept. at U.C.S.D., there being a large room at the Mandivil Center which was full of Harry's instruments. Do any of them remain there? Kyle Thomas 03:44, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

I lived next door to Harry Partch in 1974, the year he died. We both lived on Sunset Drive in Encinitas Ca. While it might not be relevent to the rest of the world, I think that those of us who live in Encinitas would like to see a more accurate mention of his residence having been Encinitas, when he died, not San Diego. The Wiki page for Encinitas also lists Harry Partch as one of our former famous residents.Kyle Thomas 03:55, 31 January 2007 (UTC)