PDF score,
both performance version and Johnston notation, with keyboard tuning

In 2023 I flew to Los Angeles for the premiere of my Amateur California Prune-Picker by John Schneider's Partch instrument ensemble. During breaks in rehearsal, John let me play the Partch instruments, and I fell in love with the feel of the Chromelodeon. I commented that it would be fun to write a solo piece for the instrument, which no one else seems to have done - although Harry Partch left a small score called "Progressions within an Octave," which may be more a theoretical exercise than a composition. In any case, John urged me to follow up on the idea in subsequent emails, so I did it.

Harry's scale is difficult to write in - there always seem to be too many pitches, and never the ones you want, plus the Chromelodeon's keyboard range only encompasses an octave and a half. Nevertheless, I wanted to bring out (as always in my microtonal music) the inner logic of the tuning, so I prepared myself with charts of its available chord progressions. I like to think Harry would have been pleased.

- Kyle Gann

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