Amazon.com: Genesis Of A Music (Music Book Index): Harry Partch: Books

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Purchase this entertainment book and get 12 issues to either Rolling Stone, Men's Journal or Us Weekly for $2.95 each. That's less than $0.25 an issue. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.

Tag this product

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

1 Review

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Master Work of a Genius, December 12, 2000

By	Peter Torbay - See all my reviews

Rarely, if ever in your life do you come across a masterpiece. Think of Mutiny on the Bounty, Nordhoff and Hall as an example, the works of Eiseley or Bradbury or Joyce. But those are works of mere fiction.

Harry Partch was nothing if non-fiction. He was a scientist of musical theory. I knew the man, knew his instruments and his work. Only later, after he died, did I try to understand his masterwork, Genesis of a Music, and I'm still trying to.

Partch is a Titan in a world that went for Pop. Partch is the Steve Jobs to Bill Gates. His music theory was the genesis for the work of Phillip Glass and John Cage, an attempt, like the masters of old, Kepler and Galileo, to set down a definitive tome on the theory of what music really IS, in the sense of its intervals and temperaments, what is mere dissonance, and what is the voice of god.

Any serious musician who hasn't studied Genesis of a Music is missing the calculus of his art, the holy grail of his study.

This one book defines the universe of melodic and inspirational sound that we call music. If ever there was a work with some meat on its bones, Genesis of a Music is it. You must carry it with you night and day, and only take it out late at night, in your study carel in some dark library, sneaking passages like a secret compact, a cipher schrivened on the papyrus of Isis.

Then if you're lucky enough to find one of his old vinyls, you can say you've heard the bells pealing from heaven above.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all customer reviews...

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.

› See featured Amapedia.com articles

Look for Similar Items by Category

Books > Entertainment > Music

Need a Wrench with Great Impact?

Tough jobs require the power of a wrench that won't back down. A variety of impact wrenches are available for any number of projects at prices you'll like.

›Shop for impact wrenches