A music man seduced into carpentry

I'm going to spend a couple days with the music of Harry Partch. Partch was a composer that decided that American music should not be based on European tradition so he wrote in his own 43-tone scale. Traditional instruments are not capable of playing music written in the intonation so Partch had to build his own instruments. That's the source of this post's title.

Let's start with an album called A GLIMPSE INTO THE WORLD OF HARRY PARTCH. It's Partch talking about & playing his custom built instruments:

Side One:
1. Partch In Prologue/Adapted Viola
2. Chromelodeon I/Blo-Boy
3. Adapted Guitar
4. Kithara
6. Diamond Marimba
7. Bass Marimba
8. Cloud-Chamber Bowls
9. Spoils Of War
10. Marimba Eroica
11. Surrogate Kithara
12. Kithara II

Side Two:
1. Boo
2. Koto
3. Harmonic Canon I
4. Chromelodeon II
5. Chromolodeons I & II
6. Crychord
7. Zymo-Xyl
8. Mazda Marimba
9. Gourd Tree & Cone Gong
10. Eucal Blossom
11. Quadrangularis Reversum
12. Harmonic Canon III
13. Hand Instruments/Partch in Epilogue

A GLIMPSE INTO THE WORLD OF HARRY PARTCH was included as a bonus LP in the 1969 release of Partch's DELUSION OF THE FURY. It's pretty good on it's own though.

If you want to see more pictures or try playing some of Partch's instruments, go here.