In the Shape of a Home: Balancing Harry Partch's Corporeality and Abstraction in Just Intonation Music

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. The compositional methodology employed utilizes a core Spectralist technique—analyzing physical spaces via spectrograms and deriving scales from the acoustic resonances of those specific environments—to establish an additional basis for Corporeality. This process, which treats empirical acoustic analysis as a tool for creating grounded musical materials, integrates Partch's corporeal imperative with the extended just intonation systems developed by Ben Johnston. Analysis of In the Shape of a Home demonstrates how the formal structure navigates the Corporeal/Abstract spectrum, mirroring the narrative progression from material to spiritual. The composition's formal sections employ scales closely aligned with the acoustic data retrieved from the rooms, serving as an explicit physical analogue to Partch's Corporeality. Conversely, sections such as the Porch and the interstitial Mysteries transition toward Abstract concepts through the introduction of non-spectrally derived pitches, tonal relationships, and a shift toward melismatic textures, moving away from Corporeality's emphasis on dramatic speech rhythm. Concluding that the opposing forces of Corporeality and Abstraction can function in unison, rather than in contradiction, within a flexible theoretical framework. By successfully integrating spectral acoustic derivation with the systematic structure of extended just intonation, the composition offers a model for reconciling the materialist aesthetics of just intonation—linked historically to the human voice and speech—with contemporary, technology-aided compositional techniques.