Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music theorists who experimented with building microtonal scales and instruments. One instrument that Californian microtonalists have utilized since the mid-twentieth century is the guitar. The guitar is an exemplary instrument for demonstrating microtones through string harmonics, scordatura, and pitch bending. However, achieving expanded pitch relations requires drastic modification to the guitar's fixed frets. This investigation reveals how the rich history of microtonal music emanating from the American West Coast is connected to the microtonal guitar in performance, theory, and construction.
","abstract_html":"<p>Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music theorists who experimented with building microtonal scales and instruments. One instrument that Californian microtonalists have utilized since the mid-twentieth century is the guitar. The guitar is an exemplary instrument for demonstrating microtones through string harmonics, scordatura, and pitch bending. However, achieving expanded pitch relations requires drastic modification to the guitar's fixed frets. This investigation reveals how the rich history of microtonal music emanating from the American West Coast is connected to the microtonal guitar in performance, theory, and construction.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cotich, Kenneth M"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Music, PhD","degree_level":"Open Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Arts and Humanities","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Robert Zappulla","Mark Howard"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z","subjects":["Guitar","Instrument design","Microtonality","Music analysis","Musicology","Music","Music Theory"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/764","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Robert Zappulla","Mark Howard"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cotich, Kenneth M"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-05-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Arts and Humanities"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Music, PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Guitar","Instrument design","Microtonality","Music analysis","Musicology","Music","Music Theory"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/764"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music theorists who experimented with building microtonal scales and instruments. One instrument that Californian microtonalists have utilized since the mid-twentieth century is the guitar. The guitar is an exemplary instrument for demonstrating microtones through string harmonics, scordatura, and pitch bending. However, achieving expanded pitch relations requires drastic modification to the guitar's fixed frets. This investigation reveals how the rich history of microtonal music emanating from the American West Coast is connected to the microtonal guitar in performance, theory, and construction.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Tradition of Microtonal Guitar on the American West Coast"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Robert Zappulla","Mark Howard"],"dc:creator":["Cotich, Kenneth M"],"dc:date.available":["2024-05-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music theorists who experimented with building microtonal scales and instruments. One instrument that Californian microtonalists have utilized since the mid-twentieth century is the guitar. The guitar is an exemplary instrument for demonstrating microtones through string harmonics, scordatura, and pitch bending. However, achieving expanded pitch relations requires drastic modification to the guitar's fixed frets. This investigation reveals how the rich history of microtonal music emanating from the American West Coast is connected to the microtonal guitar in performance, theory, and construction.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/764"],"dc:subject":["Guitar","Instrument design","Microtonality","Music analysis","Musicology","Music","Music Theory"],"dc:title":["The Tradition of Microtonal Guitar on the American West Coast"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Arts and Humanities"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Music, PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z"}