Steve Reich's Music Analysis
MUS 603E
Wenye Li
Dr. Alexandra Monchick
05/07/2016
Simple but not easy:
Taking Steve Reich’s Music for 18 musicians as an example
After World War II, there were two alternative paths through the musical avant-garde. One follows the twelve-tone composing technique of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, which is the path of serialism. The other is “chance music”, which was created by John Cage and is based on the philosophy of I-Ching. Serialism and aleatorism are the mainstream genres of 20th century music. Serialism composers aimed to put notes, chords, harmonies, melodies, dynamics, texture, meter and so on, in tedious order and detailed organization. Meanwhile, aleatorism composers did not want to control every aspect of a performance …show more content…
Like impressionism, minimalism was borrowed from visual arts. Similar to impressionism, it was initially used with derision. The most distinguished minimalists are La Monte Young and Terry Riley, who are both considered as the first generation of minimalism. Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who both came from the second generation, developed and enriched the composition methods of minimalism. Although most minimalists are “impatient” with the term, only Young satisfactorily accepts the term “minimalism” to describe his earliest compositions. Scholars and minimalist composers often disagree with each other, as scholars consider minimalist music as ambiguous. However, in consideration to its development, the minimalists gave plenty of new ideas and pushed for the evolution of 20th century …show more content…
He is one of most impressive American composers in 20th century music. His compositions influenced many contemporary composers and inspired other emerging musical genres. As audience members become more willing to spend time and money on pop and jazz music instead of serious music, Reich’s music gives concert-goers more options and ideas of new music in the 20th century. Conforming to the minimalist style, repetition is frequently used in his music. With his use of repetition, he also emphasized the connection between music and the audibility of audience. He said that “to ensure that audibility, the process must unfold very systematically and very slowly”. In an essay, he
Wenye Li
Dr. Alexandra Monchick
05/07/2016
Simple but not easy:
Taking Steve Reich’s Music for 18 musicians as an example
After World War II, there were two alternative paths through the musical avant-garde. One follows the twelve-tone composing technique of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, which is the path of serialism. The other is “chance music”, which was created by John Cage and is based on the philosophy of I-Ching. Serialism and aleatorism are the mainstream genres of 20th century music. Serialism composers aimed to put notes, chords, harmonies, melodies, dynamics, texture, meter and so on, in tedious order and detailed organization. Meanwhile, aleatorism composers did not want to control every aspect of a performance …show more content…
Like impressionism, minimalism was borrowed from visual arts. Similar to impressionism, it was initially used with derision. The most distinguished minimalists are La Monte Young and Terry Riley, who are both considered as the first generation of minimalism. Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who both came from the second generation, developed and enriched the composition methods of minimalism. Although most minimalists are “impatient” with the term, only Young satisfactorily accepts the term “minimalism” to describe his earliest compositions. Scholars and minimalist composers often disagree with each other, as scholars consider minimalist music as ambiguous. However, in consideration to its development, the minimalists gave plenty of new ideas and pushed for the evolution of 20th century …show more content…
He is one of most impressive American composers in 20th century music. His compositions influenced many contemporary composers and inspired other emerging musical genres. As audience members become more willing to spend time and money on pop and jazz music instead of serious music, Reich’s music gives concert-goers more options and ideas of new music in the 20th century. Conforming to the minimalist style, repetition is frequently used in his music. With his use of repetition, he also emphasized the connection between music and the audibility of audience. He said that “to ensure that audibility, the process must unfold very systematically and very slowly”. In an essay, he