  harry partch (june 24, 1901&nbsp;â september 3, 1974) was an american composer, music theorist, and creator of 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. he built custom-made instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book genesis of a music (1947). the scales 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 a large number of unique instruments, with such names as 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 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 over dissatisfaction with 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 was a transient worker, and so
1901_births 1974_deaths 20th-century_classical_composers American_classical_composers American_classical_violists American_music_theorists American_musical_instrument_makers Cardiovascular_disease_deaths_in_California Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction Guggenheim_Fellows Harry_Partch Inventors_of_musical_instruments Inventors_of_musical_tunings Just_intonation_composers LGBT_classical_musicians LGBT_composers LGBT_musicians_from_the_United_States Marimbists Musicians_from_Oakland,_California Outsider_musicians