Editing Lou Harrison (section)

===Overview===
Many of Harrison's early works are for percussion instruments, often made out of what would usually be regarded as junk or [[found object]]s such as garbage cans and steel brake drums.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://the1a.org/segments/more-than-music-lou-harrison/|title=More Than Music: Lou Harrison|author=[[Joseph Horowitz]]|date=November 24, 2022|access-date=November 29, 2022|work=[[1A (radio program)|1a]]|publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref> He also wrote a number of pieces using Schoenberg's twelve tone technique, including the opera ''Rapunzel'' and his Symphony on G (Symphony No. 1) (1952). Several works feature the [[tack piano]], a kind of [[prepared piano]] with small nails inserted into the hammers to give the instrument a more percussive sound. Harrison's mature musical style is based on "melodicles", short motifs which are turned backward and upside down to create a [[musical mode]] the piece is based on. His music is typically spartan in texture but lyrical, and [[harmony]] usually simple or sometimes lacking altogether, with the focus instead being on [[rhythm]] and [[melody]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} [[Ned Rorem]] describes, "Lou Harrison's compositions demonstrate a variety of means and techniques. In general he is a melodist. Rhythm has a significant place in his work, too. Harmony is unimportant, although tonality is. He is one of the first American composers to successfully create a workable marriage between Eastern and Western forms."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lou Harrison |url=https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/musical-arts/documents/maccm/nmf35.pdf |website=bgsu.edu}}</ref>
[[File:Lou Harrison - Old Granddad pentatonic tuning.png|thumb|upright 1.3|Example of just intonation tuning by Harrison, using a pentatonic scale based on perfect ratios for one of his constructed gamelan instruments]]

An often used technique is "interval control", in which only small number of melodic intervals, either ascending or descending, are used, without inversion.<ref name="AG">Leta E. Miller and Fredric Lieberman (Summer 1999). "Lou Harrison and the American Gamelan", ''[[American Music (journal)|American Music]]'', vol. 17, no. 2, p. 168. {{JSTOR|3052712}}</ref> For example, for the opening of the Fourth Symphony, the permitted intervals are minor third, minor sixth, and major second.<ref name="AG"/>

Another component of Harrison's aesthetic is what Harry Partch would call corporeality, an emphasis on the physical and the sensual including live, human, performance and improvisation, timbre, rhythm, and the sense of space in his melodic lines, whether solo or in counterpoint, and most notably in his frequent dance collaborations. The American dancer and choreographer [[Mark Morris (choreographer)|Mark Morris]] used Harrison's Serenade for Guitar [with optional percussion] (1978) as the "basis of a new kind of dance. Or, at least, one I've [Morris] never seen or done before."<ref>{{cite news|last=Morris|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Morris (choreographer)|title=Dance; Mark Morris: The Making of My Dance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/arts/dance-mark-morris-the-making-of-my-dance.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 23, 2003}}</ref>

Harrison and Colvig built two full Javanese-style gamelan, modeled on the instrumentation of Kyai Udan Mas at U.C. Berkeley. One was named Si Betty for the art patron Betty Freeman; the other, built at Mills College, was named Si Darius/Si Madeliene. Harrison held the Darius Milhaud Chair of Musical Composition at Mills College from 1980 until his retirement in 1985. One of his students at Mills was [[Jin Hi Kim]]. He also taught at San Jose State University and Cabrillo College.

He was awarded the [[Edward MacDowell Medal]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=MacDowell Medal winners 1960–2011 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/8447621/MacDowell-Medal-winners-1960-2011.html |website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |date=April 13, 2011}}</ref>

Among Harrison's better known works are the ''Concerto in Slendro'', Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra, Organ Concerto with Percussion (1973), which was given at the [[The Proms|Proms]] in London in 1997; the Double Concert' (1981–82) for violin, cello, and Javanese gamelan; the Piano Concerto (1983–85) for piano tuned in [[Kirnberger temperament#Practical Temperaments: Kirnberger II|Kirnberger#2]] (a form of [[well temperament]]) and orchestra, which was written for [[Keith Jarrett]];<ref>[http://citypaper.com/arts/books/american-made-1.1112225 American Made – Books – Baltimore City Paper<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308041851/http://citypaper.com/arts/books/american-made-1.1112225 |date=March 8, 2011 }}</ref> and a Concerto for Piano and Javanese Gamelan; as well as four numbered orchestral symphonies. He also wrote a large number of works in non-traditional forms. Harrison was fluent in several languages including [[American Sign Language]], [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] and Esperanto, and several of his pieces have Esperanto titles and texts, most notably ''La Koro Sutro'' (1973).<ref name=":0"/>

Like Charles Ives, Harrison completed four symphonies. He typically combined a variety of the musical forms and languages that he preferred. This is quite apparent in the fourth symphony, recorded by the California Symphony for Argo Records, as well as his third symphony, which was performed and broadcast by [[Dennis Russell Davies]] and the [[San Francisco Symphony Orchestra]]. Russell Davies also recorded the third symphony with the Cabrillo Music Festival orchestra.