978-0393639032 Chapter 64

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271

cians, Tehillim, Dif fer ent Trains (Classical

Music Grammy, 1990)

D. African influence

1. 1970, Reich studied drumming in West Africa

2. Ewe drummers: polyrhythms, interlocking

patterns

a. similarities with phase and pro cess music

3. minimalist style developed

a. mostly consonant harmonies

b. small musical ideas combined, recombined

over extended time frames

c. gradual changes in patterns

E. Electric Counterpoint

1. written for twelve guitars; nuanced, complex

a. one live guitarist with prerecorded tracks

b. also performed by guitar ensembles

2. three movements, “fast”– “slow”– “fast”

a. structure of Baroque concerto

b. canon: Baroque feature

3. “pro cess” ele ments of earlier style

4. ambiguity, complexity

a. layering of instruments in dif fer ent ranges

b. small shifts in musical patterns

c. ambiguity resolved, instrumental layers

“peel off”

5. departures from pre– modernist period

a. dif fer ent approach to goal- oriented tonality

b. consonant nature

F. LG 59: Reich: Electric Counterpoint, III (1987)

1. through- composed chamber work for guitar and

tape

2. highly polyphonic, with canons

3. short melodic ideas repeated, ostinato

4. “pulse- units,” regular rhythms, varying patterns

5. trance– like effect

OUTLINE

I. From Twelve- Tone to Pro cess and Phase

A. Pro cess music

1. some composers rejected 12- tone methods

a. dissatisfied with lack of harmonic center

b. developed new harmonic approach

2. musical pro cess

a. simple, harmonically clear, one or two chords

b. consonant snippet repeats, gradually changing

or elaborating

3. more developed style eventually called minimalism

B. Phase music

1. Terry Riley Reich (b. 1935), LaMonte Young

(b. 1935)

2. pro cess music developed

3. early 1960s technology

a. music recorded on loop of magnetic tape

b. several copies of loop played si mul ta neously

c. tape speeds slowly changed

d. loops combined in vari ous ways

e. later, replicated by live musicians

f. musicians speed up or slow down, go “in and

out of phase”

C. Steve Reich (b. 1936)

1. New York– born composer

2. one of the most influential musicians of the

twentieth and early twenty- first centuries

3. pioneer of minimalist music

4. education: Juilliard School, Mills College

(California)

5. influences: Ewe drumming, Balinese gamelan,

Judaism, Stravinsky, Bach

6. works include: It’s Gonna Rain, Come Out,

Piano Phase, Violin Phase, Music for 18 Musi–

CHAPTERfi64 Less Is More: Reich and Minimalist Music

272 | Chapterfi64

through 1980— jazz and rock– and- roll— cannot be

ignored. They can be refined, filtered, rejected, or

accepted in part, but they can’t be ignored, or you’re an

ostrich; you’re ill- informed” (p.408). What connections

do you see between Reich’s acknowl edgment of popu lar

music and his minimalist compositional approach?

2. Compare Reich’s encounter with African drumming and

Bartók’s encounter with the folk music of Eastern

Eu rope. How do these composers differ in their incor–

poration of “other” music into their compositions?

3. Reich’s music has been recognized by musicians in both

the serious world of art music and the popu lar domain

of jazz, rock, and pop music. One example comes from

the world of jazz: Pat Metheny, the dedicatee of Electric

Counterpoint, first performed this work in 1987. A more

recent example is the guitarist Johnny Greenwood (from

the band Radiohead), who has toured throughout the

early 2010s performing Electric Counterpoint. Listen to

these two performers interpret Reich’s music. How do

Metheny’s background in jazz and Greenwood’s back–

ground in rock influence their par tic u lar renditions of

the piece? How are we to categorize and understand

these two per for mances? Are these rock or jazz “ver–

sions”? Is Reich a rock or a jazz composer—or neither?

How is such genre bending an expression of a postmod-

ern attitude toward music?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

The repetition encountered in some minimalist pieces may

challenge the attention spans and listening endurance of some

students.

SUPPLEMENTAL REPERTORY

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fink, Robert. Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as

Cultural Practice. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cal–

OVERVIEW

Here minimalism is introduced as a reaction against the

perceived prestige of twelve- tone methods at mid-century.

Steve Reich’s pro cess and phase music are introduced as

aspects of minimalist style, and within the context of Reich’s

interest in the polyrhythmic drumming of Africa. Reich’s

Electric Counterpoint has ele ments of his earlier pro cess

music.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To understand minimalism as a reaction against twelve-

tone systems in Eu ro pean and American music at

mid-century

2. To understand Steve Reich’s phase and pro cess music

and its significance in establishing the style known as

minimalism

3. To understand Electric Counterpoint as representative of

Reich’s minimalist style, with an emphasis on the influ-

ence of polyrhythmic African drumming on Reich’s

musical thinking

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Share with your students some of Reich’s early phase

music in which he used tape loops (It’s Gonna Rain or

Come Out) and compare these early experiments in min–

imalism with his later pieces scored for live instruments

(Piano Phase or Violin Phase). Discuss with your stu-

dents the evolution of Reich’s minimalist procedures as

evident in these two groups of pieces.

2. Play for your students some examples of African poly–

excerpt from Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, discussing

with your students Reich’s explanation of how African

drumming influenced his musical thinking (see p.410 for

Reich’s statement).

Less Is More: Reich and Minimalist Music | 273

Carnatic music of southern India, gamelan music of Indone–

sia. How are the rhythmic patterns similar to and dif fer ent from

the rhythms we have studied so far? What do you find distinc–

YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE

Find examples of polyrhythm in dif fer ent musical traditions,

MODEL RESPONSES

Example Rhythms/Melody Parallels to Electric Counterpoint

1. Ewe drumming (https:// www . youtube

. com / watch ? v = DG91NlH5lCE)

This example is made up of several dif fer-

ent rhythmic patterns. Any one of these

Shifting, overlapping rhythmic patterns.

2. Balinese gamelan (https:// www . youtube

. com / watch ? v = L _ 93HkMujys)

The biggest difference from the previous

example is the use of both pitched and non–

Fairly static melodic content, use of ostina-

tos, subtle rhythmic change over time.