Martians Visit Pasadena, Leave Behind Paint-box of New Colors
MicroFest 2003 recently wrapped up another celebration of microtonal music, which explores the pitch spaces between the piano keys. The late Harry Partch once said, "An artist has five shades of red, why should composers have only one C sharp?"

In a May 20, 2003 Wall Street journal article, microtonal music maven John Schneider is quoted explaining, "The best microtonal music uses new sounds to create new musical emotions that never existed before." The guitarist-composer-radio show host continues, "In the world of art, it would be as if someone sent us a paint box from Mars, with all these colors we've never seen before."

Where are those new colors hiding? In plain sight.

A natural or "just" intonation (tuning) is found in the natural overtones of every instrument. When you divide the length of a vibrating string in half -- think of a guitar note that's played exactly in the middle of the string -- the resulting pitch is one octave higher. It works the same way with a vibrating column of air (think trumpet or clarinet). Additional notes are found by dividing these lengths into thirds, fourths, fifths, etc.

That works fine as long as you're playing in only one key. The problem is that the notes in different keys don't match up exactly. So when the piano came along, a compromise system of tuning was created, the so-called "equal temperament" system, which averaged the pitch of each note -- C sharp, for example -- so that it sounded approximately in tune in any key. The "just" C sharp for the key of A might actually be a little different than the one for the key of E, but the compromise "equal temperament" pitch was close enough for both keys.

But don't say "close enough" to the microtonal music crowd. Their mission is to coax ALL the different notes back into play, usually by using non-standard instruments, in the spirit of the late composer Harry Partch, who invented a bevy of dazzling instruments in order to unlock his microtonal compositions.

Although the overall MicroFest program does sound alien to most Western ears, the microtonal revival has been aided by both the revival in authentic Baroque music -- which used just temperament instruments -- and West's embrace of world music, which incorporates music from cultures that never went "equal temperament."

This year's program highlighted the music of Lou Harrison (who died earlier this year) and Terry Riley (a composer known for pioneering minimalism), as well as the use of synthesizers (the ultimately malleable instruments) in combination with conventional instruments.

The Journal writer who attended this year's festival remarks that "after prolonged exposure to the rich, kaleidoscopic world of microtones, returning to equal-tempered music was for me like going back to black and white after spending a weekend immersed in color." Perhaps next year's MicroFest will be held in Oz?

Learn more about the annual West Coast MicroFest, and its same-named New York counterpart

Hear microtonal music and learn more about it from an actual microtonal organization, or a more informal UK-based site that has compiled a number of useful links.

Learn more about microtonal pioneer (and instrument-maker) Harry Partch from Corporeal Meadows, the Harry Partch Foundation site, the Harry Partch Information Center, or the British Harry Partch Society

Hear the music and read a bio of the recently deceased composer Lou Harrison

Learn more about minimalist composer Terry Riley and microtonal music champion John Schneider