MINIMALISM

Music in the 20th Century

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Learning Objectives
To become familiar and identify with the sound of minimalist music. To know and understand the key features of minimalist music. To be aware of prominent minimalist composers and to know the key terms of phase shifting, ostinato, layering, gradual change and repetition.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Minimalism is a style of music which originated on the West coast of America in the 1960s.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

KEY COMPOSERS
La

Monte Young Believed a single sound can be interesting in its own right. Works include Composition 1960#7

Is

it possible to get more minimal than this? Yes 433 by John Cage
Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Terry Riley
Heavily

inuenced by La Monte Young using cells short musical ideas. It was up to the performers to decide how often to repeat the ideas. works: In C

Composed

Famous

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

In C by Terry Riley

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Steve Reich was born in 1936. His compositions are influenced by nonWestern traditions. He studied African drumming, with its complex counterpoint, and Balinese gamelan music, with its complex layering and fast interlocking patterns. He composed using phasing Result was a complicated multi rhythmic texture based on repetition and slow change. His well-known pieces include Clapping Music, Different Trains and Music for Pieces of Wood.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

KEY COMPOSERS
John Adams
A very inuential American composer born in 1947. A California based composer. Famous works include: Nixon In China, Shaker Loops, Hallelujah Junction, Phrygian Gates, Chamber Symphony

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Philip Glass
The highly inuential American composer, Philip Glass was born in 1937 and is famous for his classical compositions and lm scores. His well-known works include: Einstein on the Beach, Violin Concerto, Two Pages. His lm scores include: The Hours, The Truman Show, The Illusionist
Wednesday, 30 March 2011

KEY FEATURES
Reduced

style e.g. lack of dynamics, constant

tempo. Repetition ideas repeated several times. Steady pulse. Tonal Harmonies. Layered Textures. Gradually changes over a long period of time. Phasing. Altered time frame pieces are quite long. Can include sampling and looping.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Learning Objectives
To become familiar and identify with the sound of minimalist music. To know and understand the key features of minimalist music. To be aware of prominent minimalist composers and to know the key terms of phase shifting, ostinato, layering, gradual change and repetition.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011