Thesis 2025 University of Pittsburgh
Addressing the theoretical and practical schism between Spectralism and American just intonation compositional practices, this paper examines how the compositional parameters of the author's own vocal sextet, In the Shape of a Home, negotiate Harry Partch's foundational dichotomy of Corporeality and Abstraction. Despite their overlapping interest in harmonically derived musical structures, the practices have traditionally remained distinct; Partch's Corporeality insists upon grounding musical architecture in the physical world, prioritizing the human voice and dramatic context, while warning against Abstract, disembodied musical practices.
Read Abstract & Details → Conference Paper 2025 University of Pittsburgh Graduate Music Conference, Pittsburgh, 2025
While Harry Partch’s foundational dichotomy of Corporeality and Abstraction is typically examined through the lens of acoustic tuning and performance practice, this paper argues that these concepts are deeply rooted in Partch’s marginal identity as a gay man and itinerant worker. Expanding on research from the author’s vocal sextet In the Shape of a Home, we explore how Partch’s insistence on Corporeality—grounding music in physical bodies, speech rhythms, and tactile instrument construction—functions as an aesthetic of queer resistance.
Read Abstract & Details → Conference Paper 2025 Joint Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society
and the Society for Music Theory, Minneapolis, 2025
Focusing on the compositional mechanics and theoretical framework of the author's vocal sextet In the Shape of a Home, this paper demonstrates a novel method for reconciling Harry Partch’s foundational dichotomy of Corporeality and Abstraction with spectral acoustic derivation. Drawing from the acoustic resonances of physical rooms via Polyphonic Spectral Analysis, the composition derives specialized scales using Extended Helmholtz-Ellis Just Intonation (HEJI).
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