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| Harry Partch playing his instrument, Kithara II (Photo: Danlee Mitchell) |
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About the Instruments
By 1969, the year he recorded "Delusion of the Fury," Harry Partch had designed 27 new instruments, all to be played on stage at the same time in a spatial ritual theater. These instruments were made to be beautiful in sound, vision, and "magical purpose." They were tuned according to the natural overtone series, "Just Intonation" Some, like the Chromelodeon, had as many as 43 tones in a single "octave." He made particular instruments for specific needs in his compositions, not the other way around. But, more than this, he designed the instruments to be "corporeal." To Partch, corporeal meant to involve the whole body, the whole person in the art.
 Play the Virtual Harry Partch Instruments
Below you can play the Partch instruments, listen to Partch explain each instrument, and hear musical examples.
Play options require the Macromedia Flash Player.
Listen options require the RealAudio player. (See How to Listen.)
Percussion - Marimba type
Percussion - Bamboo type
Percussion - Metal, glass, bells
Strings - Adapted
Strings - Kitharas
Strings - Harmonic Canons
Strings - Borrowed ideas, new uses
Other - Voice and hand instruments
Other - Reed organs and pipes
Photos and audio archives courtesy of Danlee Mitchell and The Harry Partch Foundation. Additional sounds recorded at the Harry Partch Institute, under the direction of Dean Drummond. "The Bewitched" recording and motion picture frames from Music Studio provided by Innova Recordings of The American Composers Forum.
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