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March 13, 2000
This year's Presidential Invited Faculty Address will please both the eyes and the ears, and introduce the audience to a world of music unlike any other.
In September, Montclair State became home to the Harry Partch Instrument Collection, which includes a variety of unusual sonic sculptures. The collection is named after its creator, composer Harry Partch. Acknowledged as a major inspiration to experimental composers, Partch is credited with inventing a theory of modern just intonation involving an expandable scale and creating unique instruments that he used for his own music.
"Earstretch" on University Day, March 22, will give the campus community the opportunity to learn more about Partch, his collection, and Newband, the world-renowned music ensemble that has been the keeper of the collection since 1990 and is now an Artist-Ensemble-in-Residence at Montclair State.
The presentation will begin with Ting Ho, MSU's coordinator of music theory and composition, and director of the electronic music facilities. Ho will talk about modern music, microtonal music and Harry Partch. Ho is a New Jersey Distinguished Artist (1988) and has received composing grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the American Music Center and Meet-the-Composer.
Ho will be followed by Dean Drummond, co-director of Newband and director of the Harry Partch Instrument Collection. A visiting specialist in the Music Department, Drummond is a composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist and music inventor himself. He will take the audience through a demonstration of Partch instruments‹ranging from the surrogate kithara and bamboo marimba to cloud chamber bowls and a zoomoozophone‹performed by MSU students.
After that Newband will perform "Daphne of the Dunes."
"The annual Presidential Invited Faculty Address is a wonderful occasion in the year, providing the opportunity for the entire University community to pause for a moment and engage in one aspect of the rich intellectual, cultural and scientific life represented by our faculty," said President Susan A. Cole. "I am certain the whole community will enjoy the experience of "Earstretch."
The University Day program begins at 10:30 a.m. in Memorial Auditorium.