Tablature of 53-TET keyboard and H. Partch's approach

 Tablature of 53-TET keyboard correlated to notes in ET. The note on the staff only means the key number/place of the keyboard in 53-TET, it is not the original sounding pitch in staff (pic below). The letter above the note is the actual sounding pitch approximately in ET.

H. Partch used marking the straight ratios, and colour coding, on the fingerboards, for the performer to have a direct visual notice of finding the note, rather than just listening. I borrow the idea of it. Partch's Chromelodeon, an organ tuned with just intonation, the colour demonstrates the ratios on the keyboard. The notation that the performer actually read is a tablature. 
When the player sees an "F#" in the lower part of the treble clef, for example, he plays it automatically. However, he will not hear "F#" but rather a low "Eb" (11/7). At first, the sounds are strange, but, as suggested above, the player's eyes and fingers are too well correlated to let that strangeness disturb him once the new psychological process has begun. 

Partch, 1979, p215

For ensemble, Partch used color benefit for the communication among performers, for understanding the microtonal pitch bending.

No color -- one of the twelve semitones, approximately

Blue -- slightly flat

Violet -- more flat

Orange -- slightly sharp

Red -- more sharp 

For his marimba, Partch uses round noteheads for Utonalities and triangle noteheads for Otonalities. Otonality and utonality mean finding notes from the overtone and "undertone" series respectively.

Partch, H. (1979) Genesis of a music : an account of a creative work, its roots and its fulfillments. 2nd ed., enlarged. New York: Da Capo Press.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Post-spectralism influence on tuning

Haba's field shifting - and the expansion of traditional functional harmony

Temperament, Tuning, and Timbre -- the underrated trinity in music