FROM SCRATCH

One of the twentieth century's most important musical thinkers, James Tenney did pioneering work in multiple fields, including computer music, tuning theory, and algorithmic and computer-assisted composition. From Scratch arranges, edits, and revises Tenney's hard-to-find writings into one indispensable collection. Selections focus on his fundamental concerns—"what the ear hears"—and include thoughts and ideas on perception and form, tuning systems and especially just intonation, information theory, theories of harmonic space, and stochastic (chance) procedures of composition.

James Tenney was a prolific and important experimental composer, theorist, writer, and performer. His books include Meta + Hodos: A Phenomenology of Twentieth-Century Musical Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form and A History of "Consonance" and "Dissonance".
Larry Polansky is Professor of Music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Emeritus Strauss Professor of Music at Dartmouth College, and founding editor of the Leonardo Music Journal.
Lauren Pratt is the associate producer of music at Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater and executor of the Tenney estate.
Robert Wannamaker is Associate Dean at the California Institute of the Arts, where he teaches music composition, theory, history, and literature.
Michael Winter is a composer, the founder and director of the wulf. in Los Angeles, and helped complete Tenney's final musical work, Arbor Vitae.