109-429: The American composer Harry Partch (1901-1974) composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation , derived from the natural Harmonic series ; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller intervals than in the standard Western tuning, which uses twelve equal intervals . The tonal system Partch used has 43 tones to the octave . To play this music he invented and built many new instruments, with names such as
218-429: A local delicacy . Bamboo is also used for livestock feed with research showing some bamboo varieties have higher protein content over other varieties of bamboo. Bamboo forestry (also known as bamboo farming, cultivation, agriculture or agroforestry) is a cultivation and raw material industry that provides the raw materials for the broader bamboo industry, worth over 72 billion dollars globally in 2019. Historically
327-931: A monophyletic group ; instead, the tropical woody and herbaceous bamboos are sister to the temperate woody bamboos. Altogether, more than 1,400 species are placed in 115 genera. 21 genera: 73 genera: 31 genera: Acidosasa , Ampelocalamus , Arundinaria , Bashania , Bergbambos , Chimonobambusa , Chimonocalamus , Drepanostachyum , Fargesia , Ferrocalamus , Gaoligongshania , Gelidocalamus , Himalayacalamus , Indocalamus , Indosasa , Kuruna , Oldeania , Oligostachyum , Phyllostachys , Pleioblastus , Pseudosasa , Sarocalamus , Sasa , Sasaella , Sasamorpha , Semiarundinaria , Shibataea , Sinobambusa , Thamnocalamus , Vietnamocalamus , Yushania . Most bamboo species are native to warm and moist tropical and to warm temperate climates. Their range also extends to cool mountainous regions and highland cloud forests . In
436-418: A piano C2 . It can be played with mallets or by slapping with the pads of the fingers. The Marimba Eroica was built in 1954. It comprises four bars of Sitka spruce on top of large resonator boxes. The lowest bar sounds at 22 Hz, approximately the F below the lowest note of a piano. The Chromelodeons are pump organs modified by Partch to conform to his tonality system. Chromelodeon I was adapted in 1945 from
545-592: A slide ). Partch first started experimenting with such instruments in 1934, and the Adapted Guitar I first appeared in Barstow in 1941. In 1945, he began using amplification for both instruments. The Adapted Viola is the earliest extant instrument created by Partch. It is made from a cello fingerboard neck attached to the body of a viola . It also includes a changeable bridge which allows triple stops , i.e. full triads , to be sustained. Partch hammered brads into
654-478: A 24-hour period, at a rate of almost 40 millimeters ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) an hour (equivalent to 1 mm (0.04 in) every 90 seconds). Growth up to 120 centimeters (47.2 in) in 24 hours has been observed in the instance of Japanese giant timber bamboo ( Phyllostachys bambusoides ). This rapid growth and tolerance for marginal land , make bamboo a good candidate for afforestation , carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation . Bamboo
763-484: A 73-key pump organ. Chromelodeon II was adapted in 1959 from an 88-key pump organ. Both keyboards have colored and numbered labels representing ratios of the tuning system. The Cloud-Chamber Bowls are a set of 12-US-gallon (45 L), 16-inch diameter Pyrex bowls cut from carboys , suspended in a frame. The carboys were originally sourced from the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory , where they were used in
872-500: A Music (1947). He opens the book with an overview of music history, and argues that Western music began to suffer from the time of Bach , after which twelve-tone equal temperament was adopted to the exclusion of other tuning systems, and abstract, instrumental music became the norm. Partch sought to bring vocal music back to prominence, and adopted tunings and scales he believed more suitable to singing. Inspired by Sensations of Tone , Hermann von Helmholtz 's book on acoustics and
981-578: A Music . Genesis was completed in 1947 and published in 1949 by the University of Wisconsin Press . He left the university, as it never accepted him as a member of the permanent staff, and there was little space for his growing stock of instruments. In 1949, pianist Gunnar Johansen allowed Partch to convert a smithy on his ranch in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin into a studio. Partch worked there with support from
1090-413: A bar of eucalyptus , and two Douglas Aircraft bomber nosecones. First built in 1964. The Harmonic Canons (from the same root as qanún ) are 44-stringed sonometer instruments with complex systems of movable bridges that were mostly positioned by Partch on harmonic nodal positions to get a just intoned harmonic relation between the left and right string part. They are tuned differently depending on
1199-691: A biography of Partch. Partch was first cousins with gag cartoonist Virgil Partch (1916–1984). Partch believed he was sterile due to childhood mumps , and he had a romantic relationship with the film actor Ramon Novarro . Partch met Danlee Mitchell while he was at the University of Illinois; Partch made Mitchell his heir, and Mitchell serves as the executive director of the Harry Partch Foundation. Dean Drummond and his group Newband took charge of Partch's instruments, and performed his repertoire. After Drummond's death in 2013, Charles Corey,
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#17330935849661308-702: A blooming interval well in excess of 130 years. The lack of environmental impact on the time of flowering indicates the presence of some sort of "alarm clock" in each cell of the plant which signals the diversion of all energy to flower production and the cessation of vegetative growth. This mechanism, as well as the evolutionary cause behind it, is still largely a mystery. Some bamboo species are acknowledged as having high potential for becoming invasive species . A study commissioned by International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation , found that invasive species typically are varieties that spread via rhizomes rather than by clumping, as most commercially viable woody bamboos do. In
1417-806: A cello. He used this instrument, dubbed the Adapted Viola, to write music using a scale with twenty-nine tones to the octave. Partch's earliest work to survive comes from this period, including works based on Biblical verse and Shakespeare, and Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po based on translations of the Chinese poetry of Li Bai . In 1932, Partch performed the music in San Francisco and Los Angeles with sopranos he had recruited. A February 9, 1932, performance at Henry Cowell 's New Music Society of California attracted reviews. A private group of sponsors sent Partch to New York in 1933, where he gave solo performances and won
1526-608: A commercial basis in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, especially in Rwanda. In the United States, several companies are growing, harvesting, and distributing species such as Phyllostachys nigra (Henon) and Phyllostachys edulis (Moso). The two general patterns for the growth of bamboo are "clumping", and "running", with short and long underground rhizomes, respectively. Clumping bamboo species tend to spread slowly, as
1635-462: A context. Instead, he saw it as a return to pre-Classical Western musical roots, in particular to the music of the ancient Greeks. By taking the principles he found in Helmholtz's book, he expanded his tuning system until it allowed for a division of the octave into 43 tones based on ratios of small integers. Partch uses the terms Otonality and Utonality to describe chords whose pitch classes are
1744-457: A dish called gulai rebung . Other recipes using bamboo shoots are sayur lodeh (mixed vegetables in coconut milk) and lun pia (sometimes written lumpia : fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables). The shoots of some species contain toxins that need to be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely. Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots. The sap of young stalks tapped during
1853-800: A dominant raw material in South and South East Asia, the global bamboo industry has significantly grown in recent decades in part because of the high sustainability of bamboo as compared to other biomass cultivation strategies, such as traditional timber forestry . For example, as of 2016, the U.S. Fiber corporation Resource Fiber is contracting farmers in the United States for bamboo cultivation. Or in 2009, United Nations Industrial Development Organization published guidelines for cultivation of bamboo in semi-arid climates in Ethiopia and Kenya. Because bamboo can grow on otherwise marginal land , bamboo can be profitably cultivated in many degraded lands. Moreover, because of
1962-713: A former doctoral student of Drummond, assumed responsibility for the instruments. The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music in Urbana, Illinois, holds the Harry Partch Estate Archive, 1918–1991, which consists of Partch's personal papers, musical scores, films, tapes and photographs documenting his career as a composer, writer, and producer. It also holds the Music and performing Arts Library Harry Partch Collection, 1914–2007, which consists of books, music, films, personal papers, artifacts and sound recordings collected by
2071-402: A garnish known as hendua . It is also cooked with tender pumpkin leaves to make sag green leaves. In Konkani cuisine, the tender shoots ( kirlu ) are grated and cooked with crushed jackfruit seeds to prepare kirla sukke . In southern India and some regions of southwest China, the seeds of the dying bamboo plant are consumed as a grain known as "bamboo rice". The taste of cooked bamboo seeds
2180-425: A human. Mountain gorillas of Central Africa also feed on bamboo, and have been documented consuming bamboo sap which was fermented and alcoholic; chimpanzees and elephants of the region also eat the stalks. The larvae of the bamboo borer (the moth Omphisa fuscidentalis ) of Laos , Myanmar , Thailand and Yunnan, China feed off the pulp of live bamboo. In turn, these caterpillars are considered
2289-465: A more typical growth rate for many commonly cultivated bamboos in temperate climates is in the range of 30–100 mm (1–4 in) per day during the growing period. Primarily growing in regions of warmer climates during the late Cretaceous period , vast fields existed in what is now Asia. Some of the largest timber bamboo grow over 30 m (100 ft) tall, and be as large as 250–300 mm (10–12 in) in diameter. The size range for mature bamboo
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#17330935849662398-693: A planned recording was blocked by the Yeats estate, which refused to grant permission to use Yeats's translation of Sophocles's play. In February 1953, Partch founded a studio, named Gate 5 , in an abandoned shipyard in Sausalito , California, where he composed, built instruments and staged performances. Subscriptions to raise money for recordings were organized by the Harry Partch Trust Fund, an organization put together by friends and supporters. The recordings were sold via mail order, as were later releases on
2507-446: A plant declines and often dies entirely. In fact, many species only flower at intervals as long as 65 or 120 years. These taxa exhibit mass flowering (or gregarious flowering), with all plants in a particular 'cohort' flowering over a several-year period. Any plant derived through clonal propagation from this cohort will also flower regardless of whether it has been planted in a different location. The longest mass flowering interval known
2616-472: A romantic relationship with the actor Ramon Novarro , then known by his birth name Ramón Samaniego; Samaniego broke off the affair when he started to become successful in his acting career. By 1925, Partch was putting his theory into practice by developing paper coverings for violin and viola with fingerings in just intonation, and wrote a string quartet using such tunings. He put his theories in words in May 1928 in
2725-548: A seven-part Monophonic Cycle . On April 22, 1944, the first performance of his Americana series of compositions was given at Carnegie Chamber Music Hall put on by the League of Composers . Supported by Guggenheim and university grants, Partch took up residence at the University of Wisconsin from 1944 until 1947. This was a productive period, in which he lectured, trained an ensemble, staged performances, released his first recordings, and completed his book, now called Genesis of
2834-484: A viola with a cello's neck fitted on it. He re-tuned the reeds of several reed organs and labeled the keys with a color code. The first was called the Ptolemy , in tribute to the ancient music theorist Claudius Ptolemaeus , whose musical scales included ratios of the 11-limit, as Partch's did. The others were called Chromelodeons , a portmanteau of chrome (meaning "color") and melodeon . Most of Partch's works used
2943-541: A weight of up to 450 kilograms (1,000 lb). The internodes of bamboos can also be of great length. Kinabaluchloa wrayi has internodes up to 2.5 meters (8 ft) in length. and Arthrostylidium schomburgkii has internodes up to 5 meters (16 ft) in length, exceeded in length only by papyrus . By contrast, the stalks of the tiny bamboo Raddiella vanessiae of the savannas of French Guiana measure only 10–20 millimeters (0.4–0.8 in) in length by about 2 millimeters (0.08 in) in width. The origin of
3052-490: A wide range of hardiness depending on species and locale. Small or young specimens of an individual species produce small culms initially. As the clump and its rhizome system mature, taller and larger culms are produced each year until the plant approaches its particular species limits of height and diameter. Many tropical bamboo species die at or near freezing temperatures, while some of the hardier temperate bamboos survive temperatures as low as −29 °C (−20 °F). Some of
3161-412: Is 120 years, and it is for the species Phyllostachys bambusoides (Sieb. & Zucc.). In this species, all plants of the same stock flower at the same time, regardless of differences in geographic locations or climatic conditions, and then the bamboo dies. The commercially important bamboo Guadua, or Cana brava ( Guadua angustifolia ) bloomed for the first time in recorded history in 1971, suggesting
3270-615: Is a sustainable crop that brings environmental, economic and social benefits. Its production can be used from construction to food. Recently, it was qualified and classified for the National Commission for Sustainable Development Objectives - CNDOS of the Presidency of the Republic of the federal government of Brazil. Bamboo used for construction purposes must be harvested when the culms reach their greatest strength and when sugar levels in
3379-666: Is from the Greek zymo- for "fermentation", and xylo- or xyl- for "wood". First built in 1963. 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
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3488-459: Is related to the species, soil and climate conditions. Some send out runners of several meters a year, while others stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, over time, they can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas. Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, with reported growth rates up to 910 mm (36 in) in 24 hours. These depend on local soil and climatic conditions, as well as species, and
3597-450: Is reported to be similar to wheat and the appearance similar to rice, but bamboo seeds have been found to have lower nutrient levels than both. The seeds can be pulverized into a flour with which to make cakes. The Indian state of Sikkim has promoted bamboo water bottles to keep the state free from plastic bottles The empty hollow in the stalks of larger bamboo is often used to cook food in many Asian cultures. Soups are boiled and rice
3706-651: Is similar to timber , and its strength is generally similar to a strong softwood or hardwood timber. Some bamboo species have displayed remarkable strength under test conditions. Bambusa tulda of Bangladesh and adjoining India has tested as high as 60,000 psi (400 MPa) in tensile strength . Other bamboo species make extraordinarily hard material. Bambusa tabacaria of China contains so much silica that it will make sparks when struck by an axe. Bambuseae (tropical woody bamboos) Olyreae (herbaceous bamboos) Arundinarieae (temperate woody bamboos) Pooideae Oryzoideae Bamboos have long been considered
3815-486: Is species-dependent, with the smallest bamboos reaching only several inches high at maturity. A typical height range covering many of the common bamboos grown in the United States is 4.5–12 m (15–39 ft), depending on species. Anji County of China, known as the "Town of Bamboo", provides the optimal climate and soil conditions to grow, harvest, and process some of the most valued bamboo poles available worldwide. Unlike all trees, individual bamboo culms emerge from
3924-475: Is versatile and has notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia , Southeast Asia , and East Asia , being used for building materials , as a food source , and as a raw product, and depicted often in arts, such as in bamboo paintings and bambooworking . Bamboo, like wood , is a natural composite material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures. Bamboo's strength-to-weight ratio
4033-571: The Asia-Pacific region , they occur across East Asia, from north to 50 °N latitude in Sakhalin , to south to northern Australia , and west to India and the Himalayas . China, Japan, Korea, India and Australia, all have several endemic populations. They also occur in small numbers in sub-Saharan Africa , confined to tropical areas, from southern Senegal in the north to southern Mozambique and Madagascar in
4142-804: The Boxer Rebellion . Partch moved with his family to Arizona for his mother's health. His father worked for the Immigration Service there, and they settled in the small town of Benson . It was still the Wild West there in the early twentieth century, and Partch recalled seeing outlaws in town. Nearby, there were native Yaqui people , whose music he would hear. His mother sang to him in Mandarin Chinese , and he heard and sang songs in Spanish. His mother encouraged her children to learn music, and he learned
4251-653: The Ehrhartoideae . The subfamily in its current sense belongs to the BOP clade of grasses, where it is sister to the Pooideae (bluegrasses and relatives). The bamboos comprise three clades classified as tribes, and these strongly correspond with geographic divisions representing the New World herbaceous species ( Olyreae ), tropical woody bamboos ( Bambuseae ), and temperate woody bamboos ( Arundinarieae ). The woody bamboos do not form
4360-702: The Southeastern United States . Bamboo thickets called canebrakes once formed a dominant ecosystem in some parts of the Southeastern United States, but they are now considered critically endangered ecosystems. Canada and continental Europe are not known to have any native species of bamboo. Many species are also cultivated as garden plants outside of this range, including in Europe and areas of North America where no native wild bamboo exists. Recently, some attempts have been made to grow bamboo on
4469-573: The University of Illinois ; Mitchell later became Partch's heir. In March 1957, with the help of Johnston and the Fromm Foundation , The Bewitched was performed at the University of Illinois, and later at Washington University in St. Louis , though Partch was displeased with choreographer Alwin Nikolais 's interpretation. Later in 1957, Partch provided the music for Madeline Tourtelot 's film Windsong ,
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4578-557: The University of Washington in Seattle, where they remained until 2019. They are currently under the care of Charles Corey. Those who have duplicated partial sets of Partch instruments include John Schneider , whose West Coast ensemble includes replicas of the Kithara, Surrogate Kithara, Cloud-Chamber Bowls, Adapted Guitars, Adapted Viola, Diamond Marimba, Bass Marimba, Chromelodeon, and two Harmonic Canons. A complete set of replica instruments
4687-459: The University of Washington, Seattle . They are currently under the care of Charles Corey, Drummond's former PhD student. In 2012 a complete set of replicas was built by Thomas Meixner under commission by Ensemble Musikfabrik and used in performances of Partch's work including Delusion of the Fury . Partch's later works were large-scale, integrated theater productions in which he expected each of
4796-597: The fingerboard to aid with finding fingerings . The Adapted Viola was constructed in New Orleans with the assistance of an Edward Benton, a local violin maker. Partch originally called it the Monophone, but by 1933 it had become known as the Adapted Viola. Partch tuned the Adapted Viola an octave below the violin and the brads inserted into the instrument fingerboard are placed at ratios commonly used in Partch's works. In playing
4905-561: The harmonics or subharmonics of a given fixed tone . These six-tone chords function in Partch's music much the same that the three-tone major and minor chords (or triads ) do in classical music. The Otonalities are derived from the overtone series , and the Utonalities from the undertone series . Genesis of a Music has been influential on later generations of composers interested in new intonational systems, such Ben Johnston and James Tenney (both of whom worked with Partch in
5014-444: The mandolin , violin, piano, reed organ , and cornet . His mother taught him to read music . In 1913, the family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico , where Partch began to study the piano seriously. He obtained work playing keyboards for silent films while he was in high school. By 14, he was composing for the piano. He developed an early interest in writing music for dramatic situations, and cited his lost composition Death and
5123-410: The red panda of Nepal , and the bamboo lemurs of Madagascar . The red panda can eat up to 9 pounds (4.1 kg) a day which is also about the full body weight of the animal. With raw bamboo containing trace amounts of harmful cyanide with higher concentrations in bamboo shoots, the golden bamboo lemur ingests many times the quantity of the taxiphyllin -containing bamboo that would be lethal to
5232-519: The sap are at their lowest, as high sugar content increases the ease and rate of pest infestation. As compared to forest trees, bamboo species grow fast. Bamboo plantations can be readily harvested for a shorter period than tree plantations. Harvesting of bamboo is typically undertaken according to these cycles: Leaching is the removal of sap after harvest. In many areas of the world, the sap levels in harvested bamboo are reduced either through leaching or post-harvest photosynthesis. For example: In
5341-458: The 1950s). The age of specialization has given us an art of sound that denies sound, and a science of sound that denies art. The age of specialization has given us a music drama that denies drama, and a drama that—contrary to the practices of all other peoples of the world—denies music. Partch rejected the Western concert music tradition, saying that the music of composers such as Beethoven "has only
5450-582: The Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl. Partch called himself "a philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry". The path towards Partch's use of many unique instruments was a gradual one. Partch began in the 1920s using traditional instruments, and wrote a string quartet in just intonation (now lost). He had his first specialized instrument built for him in 1930—the Adapted Viola,
5559-418: The Chromelodeon, the Quadrangularis Reversum, and the Zymo-Xyl. Partch described his music as corporeal, and distinguished it from abstract music , which he perceived as the dominant trend in Western music since the time of Bach . His earliest compositions were small-scale pieces to be intoned to instrumental backing; his later works were large-scale, integrated theater productions in which he expected each of
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#17330935849665668-528: The Courtyard Park (1960) used an unaltered small wind band, and Yankee Doodle Fantasy (1944) used unaltered oboe and flute. In 1991, Dean Drummond became the custodian of the original Harry Partch instrument collection until his death in 2013. In 1999 Drummond brought the instruments to Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey , where they resided until November 2014, when they were moved to
5777-497: The Desert (1916) as an early example. In 1919, Partch graduated from high school . The family moved to Los Angeles in 1919 following the death of Partch's father. There, his mother was killed in a trolley accident in 1920. He enrolled in the University of Southern California 's School of Music in 1920, but was dissatisfied with his teachers and left after the summer of 1922. He moved to San Francisco and studied books on music in
5886-506: The Diamond Marimba—hence Reversum . This reverse possibility was shown to Partch by Erv Wilson who helped with its construction. To the left and right are sets of ten alto-register blocks. Bamboo resonators are under the blocks. Partch's initial plan, abandoned due to cost, was to use square bamboo ( C. quadrangularis ) for the resonators—hence the first part of the instrument's name. The curved uprights are eucalyptus, and
5995-649: The Gate 5 Records label. The money raised from these recordings became his main source of income. Partch's three Plectra and Percussion Dances , Ring Around the Moon (1949–1950), Castor and Pollux , and Even Wild Horses , premiered on Berkeley's KPFA radio in November 1953. After completing The Bewitched in January 1955, Partch tried to find the means to put on a production of it. Ben Johnston introduced Danlee Mitchell to Partch at
6104-561: The Guggenheim Foundation, and made recordings, primarily of his Eleven Intrusions (1949–1950). He was assisted for six months by composer Ben Johnston , who performed on Partch's recordings. In early 1951, Partch moved to Oakland for health reasons, and prepared for a production of King Oedipus at Mills College , with the support of designer Arch Lauterer . Performances of King Oedipus in March were extensively reviewed, but
6213-508: The Himalayas. In Assam , India, for example, it is called khorisa . In Nepal , a delicacy popular across ethnic boundaries consists of bamboo shoots fermented with turmeric and oil, and cooked with potatoes into a dish that usually accompanies rice ( alu tama ( आलु तामा ) in Nepali ). In Indonesia , they are sliced thin and then boiled with santan (thick coconut milk) and spices to make
6322-519: The Kithara sketches he had made in England. After taking some woodworking courses in 1938, he built his first Kithara at Big Sur , California, at a scale of roughly twice the size of Schlesinger's. In 1942 in Chicago, he built his Chromelodeon—another 43-tone reed organ. He was staying on the eastern coast of the U.S. when he was awarded a Guggenheim grant in March 1943 to construct instruments and complete
6431-720: The U.S. in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression , and spent a transient nine years, often as a hobo , often picking up work or obtaining grants from organizations such as the Federal Writers' Project . For the first eight months of this period, he kept a journal which was published posthumously as Bitter Music . Partch included notation on the speech inflections of people he met in his travels. He continued to compose music, build instruments, and develop his book and theories, and make his first recordings. He had alterations made by sculptor and designer friend Gordon Newell to
6540-566: The United States, the National Invasive Species Information Center agency of the Department of Agriculture has Golden Bamboo ( Phyllostachys aurea ) listed as an invasive species. Bamboo contains large amounts of protein and very low amounts of carbohydrates allowing this plant to be the source of food for many animals. Soft bamboo shoots , stems and leaves are the major food source of the giant panda of China,
6649-486: The approval of law n~21,162 in the state of Paraná , which encourages Bamboo Culture aiming at the dissemination of its agricultural cultivation and the valorization of bamboo as an instrument for promoting the sustainable socioeconomic development of the State through its multiple functionalities. Bamboo cultivation neutralizes carbon emissions. Bamboo cultivation is cheap and in addition to adding value to its production chain, it
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#17330935849666758-507: The bar across the top is intended to evoke a torii . The instrument is quite large at 103 inches (2.6 m) across the top and 79 inches (2.0 m) tall. The Spoils of War is a collection of several instruments, including more Cloud Chamber Bowls, artillery shell casings, metal "whang-guns", a Pernambuco wood block, and a gourd. First built in 1950. The Zymo-Xyl is an oak-block xylophone augmented with tuned liquor and wine bottles, Ford hubcaps, and an aluminum ketchup bottle. The name
6867-418: The construction of cloud chambers . It was first built in 1950. The Diamond Marimba is a marimba with keys arranged in a physical manifestation of the 11-limit tonality diamond . Partch first built it in 1946. The Eucal Blossom is a bamboo marimba with 33 resonators in three rows of eleven, supported by a branch of eucalyptus. It was first built in 1964. Twelve temple bells bolted to gourd resonators on
6976-541: The correct time of year and then exposed to ground contact or rain will break down just as quickly as incorrectly harvested material. Gardeners working with bamboo plants have occasionally reported allergic reactions varying from no effects during previous exposures, to immediate itchiness and rash developing into red welts after several hours where the skin had been in contact with the plant ( contact allergy ), and in some cases into swollen eyelids and breathing difficulties (dyspnoea). A skin prick test using bamboo extract
7085-657: The culm hardens further. The shoot is now a fully mature culm. Over the next 2–5 years (depending on species), fungus begins to form on the outside of the culm, which eventually penetrates and overcomes the culm. Around 5–8 years later (species- and climate-dependent), the fungal growths cause the culm to collapse and decay. This brief life means culms are ready for harvest and suitable for use in construction within about three to seven years. Individual bamboo culms do not get any taller or larger in diameter in subsequent years than they do in their first year, and they do not replace any growth lost from pruning or natural breakage. Bamboo has
7194-717: The feeblest roots" in Western culture . His non-Western orientation was particularly pronounced—sometimes explicitly, as when he set to music the poetry of Li Bai , or when he combined two Noh dramas with one from Ethiopia in The Delusion of the Fury . Partch believed that Western music of the 20th century suffered from over-specialization. He objected to the theatre of the day, which he believed had divorced music and drama, and he strove to create complete, integrated theatre works, in which he expected each performer to sing, dance, play instruments, and take on speaking parts. Partch used
7303-470: The first draft for a book, then called Exposition of Monophony . He supported himself during this time doing a variety of jobs, including teaching piano, proofreading, and working as a sailor. In New Orleans in 1930, he resolved to break with the European tradition entirely, and burned all his earlier scores in a potbelly stove . Partch had a New Orleans violin maker build a viola with the fingerboard of
7412-528: The first of six film collaborations between the two. From 1959 to 1962, Partch received further appointments from the University of Illinois, and staged productions of Revelation in the Courthouse Park in 1961 and Water! Water! in 1962. Though these two works were based, as King Oedipus had been, on Greek mythology , they modernized the settings and incorporated elements of popular music. Partch had support from several departments and organizations at
7521-405: The ground at their full diameter and grow to their full height in a single growing season of three to four months. During this time, each new shoot grows vertically into a culm with no branching out until the majority of the mature height is reached. Then, the branches extend from the nodes and leafing out occurs. In the next year, the pulpy wall of each culm slowly hardens. During the third year,
7630-429: The growth pattern of the rhizomes is to simply expand the root mass gradually, similar to ornamental grasses. Running bamboos need to be controlled during cultivation because of their potential for aggressive behavior. They spread mainly through their rhizomes , which can spread widely underground and send up new culms to break through the surface. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this
7739-512: The hardiest bamboo species are grown in USDA plant hardiness zone 5, although they typically defoliate and may even lose all above-ground growth, yet the rhizomes survive and send up shoots again the next spring. In milder climates, such as USDA zone 7 and above, most bamboo remain fully leafed out and green year-round. Bamboos seldom and unpredictably flower and the frequency of flowering varies greatly from species to species. Once flowering takes place,
7848-415: The instrument, Partch called for a "one-finger technique," which is "much closer to the spirit of Indian vina playing than it is to the pipe organ." Specifically, he desired that notes should be approached by gliding from tone to tone: The finger may start slowly on its move, increase speed, and hit the next ratio exactly. It may move very fast from the first ratio, and then move slowly and insinuatingly into
7957-491: The instruments he created exclusively. Some works made use of unaltered standard instruments such as oboe , clarinet , or cello , and Revelation in the Courtyard Park (1960) used an unaltered small wind band. In 1991, Dean Drummond became the custodian of the original Harry Partch instrument collection until his death in 2013. In 1999 the instruments began a residency at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey which lasted until November 2014 when they moved to
8066-470: The larger bamboos, particularly species in the genus Phyllostachys , are known as "timber bamboos". Bamboo is typically harvested as a source material for construction, food, crafts and other manufactured goods. In Brazil, the Brazilian Center for Innovation and Sustainability - CEBIS , a non-profit organization, promotes the development of Brazil's bamboo production chain. Last year , it helped with
8175-428: The late 1930s. He published his recordings under the Gate 5 Records label beginning in 1953. On recordings such as the soundtrack to Windsong , he used multitrack recording , which allowed him to play all the instruments himself. He never used synthesized or computer-generated sounds, though he had access to such technology. Partch scored six films by Madeline Tourtelot, starting with 1957's Windsong . He has been
8284-471: The libraries there and continued to compose. In 1923 he came to reject the standard twelve-tone equal temperament of Western concert music when he discovered a translation of Hermann von Helmholtz 's Sensations of Tone . The book pointed Partch towards just intonation as an acoustic basis for his music. Around this time, while working as an usher for the Los Angeles Philharmonic , he had
8393-425: The method behind his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music (1947). Partch composed with scales dividing the octave into 43 unequal tones derived from the natural harmonic series ; these scales allowed for more tones of smaller intervals than in standard Western tuning, which uses twelve equal intervals to the octave. To play his music, Partch built many unique instruments , with such names as
8502-586: The most basal grass genera, mostly because of the presence of bracteate , indeterminate inflorescences, "pseudospikelets", and flowers with three lodicules , six stamens , and three stigmata . Following more recent molecular phylogenetic research, many tribes and genera of grasses formerly included in the Bambusoideae are now classified in other subfamilies, e.g. the Anomochlooideae , the Puelioideae , and
8611-729: The music is intended to sound like. Paul Simon used Partch's instruments in the creation of songs for his 2016 album Stranger to Stranger . In 1974, Partch was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Percussive Arts Society , a music service organization promoting percussion education, research, performance and appreciation. In 2004, U.S. Highball was selected by the Library of Congress 's National Recording Preservation Board as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Partch made public his theories in his book Genesis of
8720-486: The music is scored only for Adapted Viola and intoning voice. Nicknamed "Boo" and "Boo II", the Bamboo Marimbas are marimbas made of bamboo , using the concept of a tongued resonator to produce the tones. The Boo I was first built in 1955. Some of the bamboo was replaced with larger-diameter pieces in 1963. It has a total of 64 bamboo resonators, organized into six ranks. The back ends of the tubes are sealed. Boo II
8829-645: The natural rhythms of the poem." His rhythmic structures that were specified in Castor and Pollux were far more structured: "Each of the duets last 234 beats. In the first half (Castor) the music alternates between 4 and 5 beats to a bar, and there's usually a rest on the eighth of the nine beats. In the second half (Pollux) the rhythm's a bit more complicated, with six bars of 7 beats alternating with six bars of 9 beats until 234 beats are reached." Partch called himself "a philosophic music-man seduced into carpentry". The path towards Partch's use of various unique instruments
8938-406: The next—so slowly, sometimes, that one is not sure as to the point where rest has been achieved. Or, all this may be reversed. What the bow is doing meanwhile, in its capacity of providing an infinitude of nuance, is supremely important. As Partch's first instrument, the Adapted Viola is used heavily in many of his early mature compositions. In works such as Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po and Two Psalms
9047-486: The perception of sound, Partch based his music strictly on just intonation . He tuned his instruments using the overtone series , and extended it up to the eleventh partial. This allowed for a larger number of smaller, unequal intervals than found in the Western classical music tradition's twelve-tone equal temperament . Partch's tuning is often classed as microtonality , as it allowed for intervals smaller than 100 cents , though Partch did not conceive his tuning in such
9156-432: The performers to sing, dance, speak, and play instruments. Partch described the theory and practice of his music in his book Genesis of a Music , which he had published first in 1947, and in an expanded edition in 1974. A collection of essays, journals, and librettos by Partch was published as posthumously as Bitter Music 1991. Partch partially supported himself with the sales of recordings, which he began making in
9265-427: The performers to sing, dance, speak, and play instruments. Ancient Greek theatre and Japanese Noh and kabuki heavily influenced his music theatre . Encouraged by his mother, Partch learned several instruments at a young age. By fourteen, he was composing, and in particular took to setting dramatic situations. He dropped out of the University of Southern California 's School of Music in 1922, dissatisfied with
9374-454: The piece, and are played with fingers or picks, or, in some cases, unique mallets. Harmonic Canon I (1945), II (1953), III (1965). Named after their inspiration, the Greek kithara , the Kitharas are 71-by-43-inch (180 cm × 110 cm) upright 72-stringed instruments, tuned by sliding pyrex rods underneath the strings, and played with fingers or a variety of plectra. The Kithara I
9483-403: The process of water leaching, the bamboo is dried slowly and evenly in the shade to avoid cracking in the outer skin of the bamboo, thereby reducing opportunities for pest infestation. Durability of bamboo in construction is directly related to how well it is handled from the moment of planting through harvesting, transportation, storage, design, construction, and maintenance. Bamboo harvested at
9592-451: The quality of his teachers. He took to self-study in San Francisco's libraries, where he discovered Hermann von Helmholtz 's Sensations of Tone , which convinced him to devote himself to music based on scales tuned in just intonation . In 1930, he burned all his previous compositions in a rejection of the European concert tradition. Partch frequently moved around the US. Early in his career, he
9701-451: The rainy season may be fermented to make ulanzi (a sweet wine) or simply made into a soft drink. Bamboo leaves are also used as wrappers for steamed dumplings which usually contains glutinous rice and other ingredients, such as the zongzi from China. Pickled bamboo shoots (Nepali: तामा tama ) are cooked with black-eyed beans as a delicacy in Nepal. Many Nepalese restaurants around
9810-498: The rapid growth, bamboo is an effective climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration crop, absorbing between 100 and 400 tonnes of carbon per hectare (40–160 tonnes per acre). In 1997, an international intergovernmental organization was established to promote the development of bamboo cultivation, the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation . Bamboo is harvested from both cultivated and wild stands, and some of
9919-680: The south. In the Americas, bamboo has a native range from 47 °S in southern Argentina and the beech forests of central Chile , through the South American tropical rainforests, to the Andes in Ecuador near 4,300 m (14,000 ft), with a noticeable gap through the Atacama Desert . Three species of bamboo, all in the genus Arundinaria , are also native through Central America and Mexico, northward into
10028-605: The spoken inflection in Yeats's recitation of the text. He built a keyboard instrument, the Chromatic Organ, which used a scale with forty-three tones to the octave. He met musicologist Kathleen Schlesinger , who had recreated an ancient Greek kithara from images she found on a vase at the British Museum . Partch made sketches of the instrument in her home, and discussed ancient Greek music theory with her. Partch returned to
10137-447: The staff of the Music and Performing Arts Library and the University of Illinois School of Music documenting the life and career of Harry Partch, and those associated with him, throughout his career as a composer and writer. Partch's notation is an obstacle, as it mixes a sort of tablature with indications of pitch ratios. This makes it difficult for those trained in traditional Western notation, and gives no visual indication as to what
10246-457: The subject of a number of documentary films. Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae . Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of Dendrocalamus sinicus having individual stalks ( culms ) reaching a length of 46 meters (151 ft), up to 36 centimeters (14 in) in thickness and
10355-557: The support of composers Roy Harris , Charles Seeger , Henry Cowell, Howard Hanson , Otto Luening , Walter Piston , and Aaron Copland . Partch unsuccessfully applied for Guggenheim grants in 1933 and 1934. The Carnegie Corporation of New York granted him $ 1500 so he could do research in England. He gave readings at the British Museum and traveled in Europe. He met W. B. Yeats in Dublin, whose translation of Sophocles ' King Oedipus he wanted to set to his music; he studied
10464-495: The tender shoots are grated into juliennes and fermented to prepare kardi . The name is derived from the Sanskrit word for bamboo shoot, karira . This fermented bamboo shoot is used in various culinary preparations, notably amil , a sour vegetable soup. It is also made into pancakes using rice flour as a binding agent. The shoots that have turned a little fibrous are fermented, dried, and ground to sand-sized particles to prepare
10573-687: The university, but continuing hostility from the music department convinced him to leave and return to California. Partch set up a studio in late 1962 in Petaluma , California, in a former chick hatchery. There he composed And on the Seventh Day, Petals Fell in Petaluma . He left northern California in summer 1964, and spent his remaining decade in various cities in southern California. He rarely had university work during this period, and lived on grants, commissions, and record sales. A turning point in his popularity
10682-427: The wood ( xylem ) as in dicots and conifers . The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots , including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering. Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome -dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 91 centimeters (36 inches) within
10791-464: The word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada . In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the walls of the stalk instead of in a cylindrical cambium layer between the bark ( phloem ) and
10900-405: The words "ritual" and "corporeal" to describe his theatre works—musicians and their instruments were not hidden in an orchestra pit or offstage, but were a visual part of the performance. Partch's approach to rhythm ranged from unspecified to complex. In Seventeen Lyrics of Li Po for the Adapted Viola, Partch "doesn't bother with rhythmic notation at all, but simply directs performers to follow
11009-428: The world serve this dish as aloo bodi tama . Fresh bamboo shoots are sliced and pickled with mustard seeds and turmeric and kept in glass jar in direct sunlight for the best taste. It is used alongside many dried beans in cooking during winters. Baby shoots ( Nepali : tusa ) of a very different variety of bamboo (Nepali: निगालो Nigalo ) native to Nepal is cooked as a curry in hilly regions. In Sambalpur , India,
11118-617: Was a transient worker, and sometimes a hobo ; later he depended on grants, university appointments, and record sales to support himself. In 1970, supporters created the Harry Partch Foundation to administer Partch's music and instruments. On June 24, 1901, Partch was born in Oakland, California . His parents were Virgil Franklin Partch (1860–1919) and Jennie (née Childers, 1863–1920). The Presbyterian couple were missionaries , serving in China from 1888 to 1893, and again from 1895 to 1900, when they fled
11227-434: Was built in 1971. It also has 64 tubes, but the tubes are open at both ends. The tongues cut into the bamboo are approximately 1/6 of the length of the tube in order to produce a harmonic at 6/5 of the fundamental. The Bass Marimba and Marimba Eroica have more traditional linear layouts and are very low in pitch. The Bass Marimba was first built in 1950. It has eleven bars made of Sitka spruce . The lowest bar corresponds to
11336-458: Was commissioned by Ensemble Musikfabrik in 2012 and built by German percussionist Thomas Meixner. They were used in performances of Partch's works including his large-scale theater piece, Delusion of the Fury including at The Ruhrtriennale : International Festival of the Arts. Partch built two steel-string guitars: the six-string Adapted Guitar I, and the ten-string Adapted Guitar II (played with
11445-569: Was first built in 1938, and restored in 1972. The Surrogate Kithara was built in 1953, and the Kithara II in 1954. The Mazda Marimba is made of Mazda light bulbs and named after the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda . Partch built the Quadrangularis Reversum in 1965, about twenty years after the Diamond Marimba. The central section's 36 African padauk blocks are an upside-down, mirrored version of
11554-421: Was gradual. He began in the 1920s using traditional instruments, and wrote a string quartet in just intonation (now lost). He had his first specialized instrument built for him in 1930—the Adapted Viola, a viola with a cello's neck fitted on it. Most of Partch's works exclusively used the instruments he had created. Some works made use of unaltered standard instruments such as clarinet or cello; Revelation in
11663-591: Was positive for the immunoglobulin E (IgE) in an available case study. The shoots (newly emerged culms) of bamboo contain the toxin taxiphyllin (a cyanogenic glycoside ), which produces cyanide in the gut. The shoots of most species are edible either raw or cooked, with the tough sheath removed. Cooking removes the slight bitterness. The shoots are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, in both fresh and canned versions. The bamboo shoot in its fermented state forms an important ingredient in cuisines across
11772-453: Was the 1969 Columbia LP The World of Harry Partch , the first modern recording of Partch's music and his first release on a major record label. His final theater work was Delusion of the Fury , which incorporated music from Petaluma , and was first produced at the University of California in early 1969. In 1970, the Harry Partch Foundation was founded to handle the expenses and administration of Partch's work. His final completed work
11881-541: Was the soundtrack to Betty Freeman 's The Dreamer that Remains . He retired to San Diego in 1973, where he died after suffering a heart attack on September 3, 1974. The same year, a second edition of Genesis of a Music was published with extra chapters about work and instruments Partch made since the book's original publication. In 1991, Partch's journals from June 1935 to February 1936 were discovered and published—journals that Partch had believed to have been lost or destroyed. In 1998, musicologist Bob Gilmore published
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