Harry Partch

Los Angeles, California

Partch was born in 1901. He grew up in a town in Arizona still untouched by electricity. He educated himself at public libraries and came to reject western music and invented a 43-tone unequal, un-tempered scale (in contrast to the familiar 12-tone equal tempered one) and a slew of instruments utilizing it. During the Depression, he lived as a hobo for 9 years, transforming his experiences to music. He developed a uniquely American musical art for the stage with roots that stretched to Ancient Greece and the Far East.

Dylan