Search

The Letter is a musical composition by the American composer Harry Partch (1901-1974). Although its title implies a singular creative entity, The Letter is in fact comprised of four distinct versions, composed between 1943 and 1972. I have also elected to consider the various revisions applied to the first version (Letter from Hobo Pablo) as a fifth version of the work. The Letter is a highly significant and unique work within the context of Partch's practice. Unlike any of his other compositions, its numerous distinct incarnations delineate a trajectory that encapsulates almost the entire chronology of his creative practice. Furthermore, they function as models for the composer's development of new instruments, new performance strategies, new technologies for documentation, and new compositional methodologies. Functioning in parallel as a collective of multiple versions, The Letter offers a recurring and developing snapshot of Partch's life on both a personal and artistic level. His recurring creative engagement with, and re-assessment of this particular work offers fundamental insights into the multi-faceted, integrated and yet always pragmatic nature of his creative processes and philosophical intentions. This thesis aims to understand what The Letter is: how its constituent versions differ from each other, as well as to investigate their complex inter-relationships. An exploration of the specific creative processes and the biographical contexts that informed them provides insights into Partch's shifting artistic ideals in relation to his primary focus for each of the versions of The Letter, and how these would eventually manifest - as a score, performance, recording, new instrument, or film. The submitted practical outcomes of this thesis aim to reflect the focus of Partch's labours for each version of The Letter, as well as reinforce the lack of any definitive version or performance representation of the work. The first chapter of this thesis explores not only the biographical contexts that provided the original textual impetus for the work (a letter by Partch's companion Pablo), but also contains an in-depth theoretical analysis that aims to demonstrate the structural, organological and material components that would be retained within all later versions of The Letter. As a creative response to the paucity of its performance history, the first practical outcome of this thesis is a filmed concert performance of the first version of the work (Letter from Hobo Pablo, 1943), played on replica instruments (e.g. the first Adapted Guitar 1 and Kithara 1). In Chapter Two, an investigation and detailed analysis of the various revisions applied to the first version of The Letter - as well as a consideration of this fifth version's organological implications on subsequent incarnations of the work - has resulted in the creation of a legible performance edition of Partch's original revised score. This document also includes a transcription of his instruments' various idiosyncratic tablatures into standard equal temperament notation. The third chapter considers the biographical, technical and organological contexts that informed the composer's (eventual) primary focus of the second 'official' version of the work (The Letter, 1950) - recording and the recorded medium. Previously unheard recordings of proto-versions of a number of pieces (including The Letter), recorded shortly before this latter work's second version was composed, are discussed, as well as Partch's application of recorded objects (vinyl records) within his own performance practice. The chapter's practical outcome, a filmed recording of a hybrid version of the second and third versions of The Letter, aims to portray the nature of the recording process and studio environment, as well as the particular visual architecture of Partch's layered scores. The focus of the third version of The Letter (1955) - new instruments - is explored in Chapter Four through an investigation of the origins of Partch's corporeal principles and their earliest applications in his compositions. An intense period of revision to a number of his works in the mid-1950's - as well as the concurrent development of a number of new instrumental designs - shifted the outcome of the third version of The Letter such that its eventual recording did not satisfy the composer's creative ideals. This chapter's practical outcome was the building of a replica of one of those instruments first incorporated into the third version of the work - the Surrogate Kithara. Additionally, the research required to replicate this instrument coincided with the discovery of a forgotten prototype - the "Oakland Double Canon". Chapter Five outlines the biographical contexts that influenced the creation of the final version of The Letter (1972): the collaborative relationship between the composer and Stephen Pouliot, director of the documentary The Dreamer That Remains, and the new instruments and recording strategies that were developed in order to solve the creative challenges of realising this, the most complex amalgam of Partch's creative focus in relation to The Letter. This chapter's performative outcome aims to embody the individualised performance representation of Partch's practice within the documentary, by means of a recording of Letter from Hobo Pablo, arranged for a solo performer (myself) utilising voice and his replica of Partch's first Adapted Guitar 1. The presentation of a diverse set of practical outcomes within this thesis aims to reflect Partch's rejection of artistic specialisation, as well as reinforce the non-hierarchical nature of the various incarnations of The Letter, where no single version of the work functions as a singular, definitive creative statement.

This dissertation provides a practice-based investigation into how objects can be agential in guiding a fluid practice. It contributes performances, compositions, and installations wherein objects were given prominence as contributing entities. In expanding on my background as a percussionist, this research proposes that being attentive to an object's tactile qualities can direct improvisation and performance, that open notation can serve to transmit one's own bodily encounters with objects to other people, and that using video can help emphasise the associations of objects and their conceptual contributions to a piece. By drawing from post-percussion, New Discipline, and expanded field activities along with posthumanism, new materialism, and object-oriented philosophy, a practice that fluidly shapes to the changing materials and situations one encounters is presented. The portfolio contains creative works wherein objects influenced my performative actions and my compositional choices. Particularly, unstable objects were worked with, and instruments were used beyond their normative functionalities. Significantly, the pieces merge an object-oriented approach with other disciplines, including field recording practice, collaborative devised dance, improvisation, multimedia performance, and audience-interactive installation art. The commentary is divided into two parts. In part one, I consider agents to influence me through their tactile, physical, and immediate qualities and via their associable, referential capacities. While agents within my work have primarily been identified as found objects, instruments, or locations, I also discuss my interactions with video recordings and the collaborators I work with. Part two of the commentary expresses my artistic processes behind the portfolio. It uses autoethnographic writing to recount significant moments and thoughts that occurred during the projects, alongside retrospective reflective discussion. This dissertation contributes an approach to fluidly practicing that centralises the agency of the objects one encounters both in the immediacy of performance and across a project's duration. It contributes artistic works that manifested from an object-oriented approach and provides details on my creative processes. My account as a practitioner offers one possible way for foregrounding objects' agency which may benefit future practitioners.

This commentary accompanies a portfolio of six compositions written between 2017 and 2019 with different co-makers. It discusses the core question explored in this portfolio: how the idiosyncrasies of the participants (makers, performers, audience members) are highlighted and enhanced through the experience of the pieces, as well as the importance of the participants' blossoming in this process. The first chapter looks at the compositional and notational strategies that make this enhancement possible. The second chapter defines and explores in detail the nature of the blossoming, by thoroughly discussing each piece and type of participants. The six pieces of the portfolio are intermedia co-creations. They range from solo to ensemble works and are for performers ranging from professionals to amateurs and students. They all rely on the benevolence of the participants, who are constantly being asked to make important and strategic decisions.