Myself I explore a lot on different tuning on every string instruments I play and barely never use conventional tuning. This open a various range of possibilities. Harry Pratch was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales, came up with the math behind his system and created custom instruments that allow to play his compositions. If you are looking for challenging music you might dig it.
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
Yes! I discovered Harry Partch while researching Johnston. There's a decent documentary on YouTube (though the sound quality is terrible - it's a VHS rip).
Johnston studied with Partch, but decided rather than maintaining his warehouse of handmade instruments, he wanted to write music that could be played on traditional instruments - but those poor string players, man!
Strangely enough I'm rather tone-deaf. My singing can kill small animals, and I can't tune a guitar without one of those electric sensor things. But these carefully produced harmonies really do have a unique effect on me.
"My singing can kill small animals", really good skill to have.
Takes care of the mice! (Unfortunately doesn't work on mosquitoes, though.)