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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.
