Theory IV Class Notes Minimalism Page 1 of 6 MINIMALISM ...

Theory IV Class Notes Minimalism Page 1 of 6
MINIMALISM
paraphrased from Wikipedia
There is much variety in the music called “minimal,” in every regard, from instrumentation to
structure to technique. Tom Johnson, one of the few composers to self-identify as minimalist,
also claims to have been first to use the word as new music critic for the Village Voice:
“The idea of minimalism is much larger than most people realize. It includes, by
definition, any music that works with limited or minimal materials: pieces that use only a
few notes, pieces that use only a few words of text, or pieces written for very limited
instruments, such as antique cymbals, bicycle wheels, or whisky glasses. It includes pieces
that sustain one basic electronic rumble for a long time. It includes pieces made exclusively
from recordings of rivers and streams. It includes pieces that move in endless circles. It
includes pieces that set up an unmoving wall of saxophone sound. It includes pieces that
take a very long time to move gradually from one kind of music to another kind. It includes
pieces that permit all possible pitches, as long as they fall between C and D. It includes
pieces that slow the tempo down to two or three notes per minute.”
The most prominent minimalist composers are John Adams (b. 1947), Philip Glass (b. 1937),
Steve Reich (b. 1936), and Terry Riley (b. 1935); while the less well-known La Monte Young (b.
1935) is generally credited as the "father" of minimalism.
Terry Riley
In C (1966) is probably Riley's best-known work and one that brought the minimalistic music
movement to prominence. Its first performance was given by Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline
Oliveros, and Morton Subotnick, among others, and it has influenced their work and that of
many others, including John Adams and Philip Glass. Its form was an innovation: the piece
consists of 53 separate modules of roughly one measure apiece, each containing a different
musical pattern but each, as the title implies, in C. One performer beats a steady stream of Cs on
the piano to keep tempo. The others, in any number and on any instrument, perform these
musical modules following a few loose guidelines, with the different musical modules
interlocking in various ways as time goes on.
This format, with a collection of minimal musical elements coming together to form a complex
and cohesive whole, launched a movement that was a step away from the increasing
academicism in western classical music. The complex formal structures of the Second Viennese
School and the neoclassicists had dominated the classical musical landscape throughout the
middle of the 20th century; the minimalistic movement abandoned that formalism. Riley often
further denied strict structure by introducing improvisational elements into his compositions
(though he had long been improvising in solo performance). (The Score is attached at the end of
these notes, with performance instructions.)

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Steve Reich
Steve Reich’s Violin Phase (1967) is an example of PHASE MUSIC, a sub-category of
PROCESS MUSIC, which is itself a particular kind of MINIMALISM:
MINIMALISM ==> PROCESS MUSIC ==> PHASE MUSIC
From the liner notes by Steve Reich:
“In Violin Phase the performer plays against one, then two, and finally three pre-recorded tape
tracks of himself. All the gradual shifts of phase are accomplished by the performer moving
slowly ahead of the stationary tape. In two sections of the piece the performer plays several of
the pre-existing patterns created by the interlocking of the same pattern against itself in different
rhythmic positions. These resulting patterns are faded in until they are a bit louder than the tape
and then are gradually faded out, leaving the listener momentarily more aware of that particular
pattern. The choice of these patterns (there are many of them) is largely up to the performer, and
I would like to thank Shem Guibbory for finding several very musical ones.” [excerpt on p. 4]
Reich constructed Come Out (1966) from a recorded voice played in and out of phase. A single
spoken line given by an injured survivor of a race riot is manipulated. The survivor, who had
been beaten, punctured a bruise on his own body to convince police about his beating. The
spoken line includes the phrase “to let the bruise blood come out to show them.” Reich
rerecorded the fragment "come out to show them" on two channels, which are initially played in
unison. They quickly slip out of sync; gradually the discrepancy widens and becomes a
reverberation. The two voices then split into four, looped continuously, then eight, and continues
splitting until the actual words are unintelligible, leaving the listener with only the rhythmic and
tonal patterns of speech.
Clapping Music (1972) was the last (and simplest) of Reich’s strictly “phase” compositions. It
consists of a one-measure rhythmic pattern, twelve eighth-notes in length. The first performer
keeps repeating the pattern. The second performer begins in sync with the first, and then in each
successive measure “rotates” the pattern, beginning with the second duration, then the third, etc.,
until the performers are back in sync at the end. Each measure is played twelve times.
Philip Glass
Koyaanisqatsi (1983), Hopi Indian for “Life out of balance,” is a documentary film directed by
Godfrey Reggio with music composed by minimalist composer Philip Glass and cinematography
by Ron Fricke. The film consists mostly of slow motion and time-lapse photography. The
documentary contains no narration and relies heavily on music to set the film's tone.
The film is the first in the Qatsi trilogy of films, including the films Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi.
The trilogy depicts different aspects of man and technology. Due to copyright issues, the film
was out-of-print for over a decade. Glass and his Philip Glass Ensemble have toured with the
film, playing the music live in front of the film screen.

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Terry Riley’s In C. The composer’s performance directions are listed below. The score is on the
following page.

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Terry Riley: IN C

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The first page of Reich’s “Violin Phase” is shown on the next page. The complete score is in
your anthology.

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