Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue: To Sound American
- 1 The Hobo in Partch's Early Life and Aesthetic
- Interlude 1 Transients and Migrants
- 2 The Transient Journey
- 3 Bitter Music
- 4 A Knight of the Road
- Interlude 2 Hoboes
- 5 U.S. Highball: Becoming a Musical Hobo
- 6 A Newsboy Letter
- 7 Trading on a Hobo Image
- 8 The Strangest Kind of Hobo
- Epilogue: To Be American
- Glossary of Instruments and Hobo Slang
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - The Transient Journey
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue: To Sound American
- 1 The Hobo in Partch's Early Life and Aesthetic
- Interlude 1 Transients and Migrants
- 2 The Transient Journey
- 3 Bitter Music
- 4 A Knight of the Road
- Interlude 2 Hoboes
- 5 U.S. Highball: Becoming a Musical Hobo
- 6 A Newsboy Letter
- 7 Trading on a Hobo Image
- 8 The Strangest Kind of Hobo
- Epilogue: To Be American
- Glossary of Instruments and Hobo Slang
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Harry Partch's year in Europe could hardly have been more productive or promising. Upon arriving in London in the fall of 1934, he quickly ensconced himself in the British Museum, where he poured over ancient manuscripts on tuning and began sketching out an idiosyncratic history of the practice. He made his way to Dublin to meet with W. B. Yeats, explain how he used the intoning voice in setting speech to music, demonstrate his theories, and receive enthusiastic affirmation from the poet. He met with Arnold Dolmetsch to discuss new musical instruments and with Kathleen Schlesinger, who was then working on her book The Greek Aulos, to discuss old ones. He finished his Adapted Guitar and engaged a local builder in creating the Ptolemy, a keyboard instrument with forty-three tones to the octave (which he would abandon in a California shipyard a year later). He even met with Ezra Pound in Rapallo, Italy, during an excursion to Malta. In each of these encounters, Partch found encouragement and, if not understanding of, at least an openness to his ideas. After a frustrating few years during which he had struggled for any sort of recognition and had resorted to hoboing, it seemed as though he were finally realizing his goals and the time was ripe for his acceptance.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Harry Partch, Hobo Composer , pp. 63 - 87Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014