The door to room 5 at the University of Washington School of Music is solid wood, nothing to distinguish it from other classrooms.
But inside this cramped space is a collection of unusual instruments, handcrafted to play one man’s music.
They were built by American composer Harry Partch, who relied on a musical system called "just intonation." Instead of scales and notes, Partch created sounds to mimic the wider range and variety of the human voice. Traditional Western instruments couldn't accommodate those sounds, so Partch invented his own.
After he died in 1974, the 50 instruments he designed and built were placed in the care of a protégé. Eventually, those instruments found a home at Montclair State University in New Jersey.
When that school decided it could no longer keep the instruments, the instruments’ guardian, Charles Corey, set out to find them a new home. Corey, the Harry Partch Foundation and the University of Washington agreed that the School of Music at the UW would be perfect.
Last fall, Corey and the instruments made the long journey to Seattle. Listen (and play!) them below.
Play the chromelodeon (1950) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "Chamber bowls (1950).", "fid": "115300", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_07.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
Play the chamber bowls (1950) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "Charles Corey, the guardian of Harry Partch's instruments, plays the bass marimba.", "fid": "115301", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_13.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
Play the bass marimba(1949) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "Diamond marimba.", "fid": "115302", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_08.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
Play the diamond marimba (1946) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "The harmonic canon II", "fid": "115303", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_03.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
Play the harmonic canon II (1953) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "Charles Corey plays the kithara II at the School of Music on the University of Washington campus.", "fid": "115304", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_16.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
Play the kithara II (1954) on your computer!
[asset-images[{"caption": "Charles Corey is the guardian of Harry Partch's eclectic instrument collection, housed in a small room at the University of Washington. Here, Corey plays the adapted viola (1928).", "fid": "115296", "style": "placed_full", "uri": "public://201502/zDanielBerman_HarryPartchInstruments_04.jpg", "attribution": "Credit KUOW Photo/Daniel Berman"}]]
You can see the entire collection at 7:30 p.m. on May 11 at Meany Hall on campus. On May 26, Corey and his students will perform some of Partch’s compositions in Meany Hall’s Studio Theater.
This story aired originally on Feb. 12, 2015.
