Minimalism Research Paper

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Minimalist Concepts in the Past and Today Minimalism as a defined genre has only recently emerged in the history of music, but minimalist concepts have been in music tracing back centuries before. Even now, after the golden age of minimalism has passed, many minimalist concepts can be found in music of varying styles that are otherwise not considered to be within the genre of minimalism. Examples of this can be found in the music of ans !immer, "lafur  #rnalds, or even the $apanese experimental rock band, Toe, Toe, to name a few. %ince its conception as a genre, minimalism has evolved and influenced other types of music. Minimalist ideas can be found within pieces all throughout time. # more current example of this can be found in &avel's Bolero. Though not considered minimalist, and speculated to have been written the way it was due to the onset of #l(heimer's, Bolero contains many of the same s ame ideas that make up minimalist music) repetition of melody, rhythm, and staying within the same tonality.* +t wasn't until - years later that what's considered to be the first truly minimalist work was written.  /orn from the desire to turn away from post tonal music, minimalism began in the downtown area of 0ew 1ork. +ts beginnings were merely means to simplify music after experiencing the complex post tonal music that preceding composers had worked so hard to achieve. The first man to truly do this is arguably Terry Terry &iley with his work, In C . In C , 2ust like its name states is a declaration that music can be written in the key of C

ma2or yet still be interesting. The piece itself is a bold statement. +ts minimalist nature is http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/jlm/ravelsbolero.html. /ravelsbolero.html. 1 "Bolero." Bolero. http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/jlm http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M!/pdf/minimalism.pdf malism.pdf.. 2 "Minimalism in Music." http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M!/pdf/mini

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found in the idea that one can make interesting music by having several people repeatedly play different melodic cells that are not complex in themselves, but brought together can create a trancelike experience for the listener. %ince In C  is also aleatoric, performances of the piece can range anywhere from twenty minutes to well past an hour. # drastic change from the music preceding &iley in which a very high importance was placed on mathematical relationships and the listener must not tune out otherwise lose the meaning of the music. &iley's In C 3denies the existence of boredom4 and asks that the listener loses themselves in the music.  /ut perhaps the most well known and most influential founding minimalist composer was Philip 5lass. 5lass' music is self6described as 3music with repetitive structures4 rather than minimalist, but there is no denying its place is firmly planted in minimalism. 7 5lass' works have influenced later composers, from many different genres. is music ranges from musical theatre, film scores, piano pieces, symphonies, opera, and even to rock and pop music.8 is opera, Einstein on the Beach, utili(es repetitive vocal counting over an electric bass line for a powerful, and often imitated, effect that the listener can get lost in while listening to. - 5lass' music is 9uite well known for both high and low

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pitched drones, and use of repetitive minor thirds. : # prime example of this can be found in his piece for solo piano, Metamorphosis. The first movement alone is comprised almost entirely of oscillating minor thirds under a very simple and continuously repeated melody. The simplicity of the piece forces the performer to truly feel the music rather than 2ust reading the music and following all the directions on the page. ;or the listener, it provides something of an escape as well due to the passive and floating nature of the piece. The second movement continues this trend with somewhat of a variation of the melody of the first movement. #s the piece continues, the melody slowly begins to develop into something entirely different than what it began as. +t's only until the original melody has come back that the listener reali(es 2ust how far they had strayed. Thus is the nature of 5lass' work. These concepts of his works have continued to influence composers throughout time. %lightly after the conception of the genre of minimalism new composers arose to take up the mantle of composing in the minimalist style. #n influential figure of this time is composer #rvo P
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Perhaps the most prominent piece influenced by minimalism outside of its golden age is Short Ride in a Fast Machine  by $ohn #dams. Aritten in *>=-, the piece is far removed

from the time when minimalism was first being codified, yet minimalist influences are 9uiet apparent throughout the piece. The main aspects of minimalism within the piece are the repetition featured throughout, the steady beat given by the woodblock, and the surprisingly overwhelming emphasis on consonance the piece contains. %tarting at the beginning of the piece, the woodblock continues to play 9uarter notes through nearly the entirety of the piece. The melody of the piece is short and rather simple, preferring to focus more on rhythmic variation than complex melodies. Bnlike earlier minimalist pieces though, Short Ride in a Fast Machine  is not meant to bring one to a meditative state or relax the mind. +nstead, it's meant to invoke a picture in the listener's mind. &eferring to the title, #dams said 31ou know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a terrific sports car, and then you wish you hadn't4 * The picture the piece is creating is that of riding in a speeding sports car according to #dams. The minimalism employed in the piece serves to propel the idea forward by the use of the 9uick, repetitious phrases and slight uncomplicated harmonic language, creating a whirlwind experience for the listener. Though not entirely a minimalist work, the minimalist concepts in the piece create the feeling #dam's was trying to produce of a mechanical adventure without any complex harmonies detracting from it. Today, many composers and recording groups employ minimalism in a variety of ways. ;or some, it's used for more subtle effects in the music. ;or others, the use of minimalist concepts is so apparent that even the uninformed listener could recogni(e it in the 12 (teinber=% Michael. "(hort *ide in a @ast Machine." 8he &ohn 'dams *eader.

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music. The use of minimalism today is found everywhere. # few examples of where its use is prevalent are in contemporary piano and orchestral works, movie scores, electronic dance music, ambient music, and even to experimental rock genres such as math rock, to name a few. Dne of the bigger names in the contemporary piano scene is +talian pianist and composer udovico Einaudi. Einaudi was classically trained under experimental composer uciano /erio, yet he had no urge to write in the atonal system of the twentieth century. Einaudi is 9uoted as saying, 3+ couldn't find a way to write music with numbers and rules and schedules. %o + tried to forget the academic idea of music and started to see if it was possible to do creative work, taking in all the influences + wanted to keep.4* The result of all of the influences he took in was a musical style involving a little bit of everything with impressionist and minimalist 9ualities playing a big role. Much of Einaudi's music involves the endless repetition of a specific chord progression6 which strays from the traditional concept of minimalism where even a chord progression was too busy6 under a repetitive and simple melody. /ut unlike purer minimalist composers, Einaudi's music comes out much softer and arguably more melodic in terms of feeling like the music is going somewhere. This is in part due to his ability to follow the influence of minimalist concepts without getting tied to the 3rules4 of pure minimalism. $ust when the music starts to get to the point where it could potentially become too repetitive to the listener, the music changes to a different section of more minimalist influenced music. # prime example of this is found in his piece, Brothers. +n Brothers, 1# (weetin=% 'dam. "Audovico 4inaudi: 8he nventor of )atmospherica)" 8he  8ele=raph. 'pril 1!% 2!1#.

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Einaudi creates a piece that draws upon &iley's In C . The foundation of the piece is based upon a three note motive and se9uences off of it that, after extended periods of time, are inverted. #lso calling back to the earlier days of minimalism, and more specifically P
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the essence of minimalist ideas for film better than 5erman composer ans !immer. !immer is known for his ability to produce vibrant, energetic, and sometimes enigmatic, orchestral works, many of which are simple in idea and brought to life with the instrumentation and interpretation. # piece that encapsulates his minimalist nature is Time from the movie, Inception. The only melody in the piece is a moderately paced

progression of four notes that are repeated throughout the entirety of the piece. The payoff for such minimal melodic activity is huge though. !immer also calls upon the ideas employed by &iley and layers voice after voice on top of each other. Bnlike &iley though, the music is made to build from a peaceful beginning into a soaring magnificent climax before settling back down, rather than being static in terms of energy throughout.  #lso, with the exception of a few voices that engage in an ostinato to accompany the melody, the instruments are all playing the same thing rather than differed complementary ideas. This makes !immer's work even more firmly cemented into the realm of minimalism since the only thing driving the music is the entrances and exits of voices and gratuitous use of dynamics. /ut what seems to separate his music from being entirely minimalist is his apparent use of the 5olden &atio. True to the 5olden &atio, the piece comes to a head around two6thirds of the way through, something not followed by traditional minimalism, yet the way it occurs, Fadding more voices to create tension,G is completely minimalist in nature. Hue to this, !immer creates a floating feeling that was 9uite common in the minimalism of old, and he reflects back to the title as time itself seems to float by. !immer's works have proven that both minimalist and minimalist6inspired soundtracks have a place in cinema.

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 # rising genre over that past few decades that has only come available due to recent inventions is electronic music. +n its most well6known and current form, electronic music already has a minimalist 9uality to it due to the heavy repetitive drum beat that seems to superimpose the slight melodic material. /ut earlier efforts of electronic music held a different type minimalist 9uality to them. &yo2i +keda, a $apanese sound artist, was a pioneer of sorts for minimalism in electronic music. *7 +n much of his electronic music, the very approach towards how it should sound is minimalist in 9uality. is pieces don't rely on drum beats or prerecorded fake sounds, but are instead built upon sine waves. This idea makes for a very interesting and not often used sound. +n his piece data.matrix, he begins with a single sound and slowly layers in other sounds to go alongside it until the individual sounds heard actually begin to form what many listeners would consider a melody with accompaniment. The process and end result is reminiscent of the phasing used by %teve &eich. *8 Hue to the limited use of tones, the rhythmic variation becomes the driving force of the piece. +keda managed to create an entire piece based off of pure sine waves and keep it interestingI something of a more modern twist on the minimalists of earlier days. The curious thing about this piece though is that +keda divides his piece into clear sections of varying ideas rather than letting the phasing develop the music through the pieces entirety. This may be the only nontraditional minimalist element to the entire piece. Even so, all the way from the idea for the colors of the sounds used to the way the melody and piece itself develops, this piece, like so many others of the genre, is heavily steeped in minimalism. 1 9lover% *ichard. "Minimalism% 8echnolo=> and 4lectronic Music." niversit> of . 17 bid.

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 #mbient music, which already lends itself to minimalist practices due to its nature, is another recently rising genre due to its availability as poignant and nonintrusive background music. /ecause the purpose of ambient music is not to draw the listener into its melodic or harmonic complexities, but to relax the listener and serve as something to either set the mood or to avoid complete silence, minimalist techni9ues are 9uite prevalent in modern ambient music. +t can actually be argued that much of 5lass' music is also ambient due to the closeness of the partnership between the two genres. #s concepts, the main differentiator tentatively established between the two genres is that minimalist pieces are to be performed in concert halls while ambient music is to be recorded in a studio. *- That's only dealing with the concept though. Ahen actual pieces are placed into the mix the line between the two becomes thicker. # very good example of this comes from +celandic composer "lafur #rnalds. Dne of #rnalds' compositions, This Place is  Shelter, is reminiscent of the works of Philip 5lass, particularly Metamorphosis. %imilar to much of the ambient music of today, a short melody is repeated continually over a repeating harmonic progression much in the style of 5lass' works. The rhythm never changes, and neither does the melody or harmony. Ahat begins to break it away from true minimalism though is the change of register or instrument playing the melody. The only other things separating this piece from pure minimalism are the dynamic changes that breathe life into the piece and the appearance of an introduction to the piece. Ahen asked about the minimalist ideas found in his music, #rnalds stated, +Jm much more fond of achieving big things with

1 Bates% 4liot. "'mbient Music." Ma> % 100.

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small things than with big things.4 *: Many composers of ambient music seem to feel the same wayI the minimalism found in their music was not placed there with the specific intent of being minimalist, it was more due to how they wanted to give life to their compositions. #mbient music is meant to provide a wash of sound to relax and not intrude unwelcomely into the listener's mind while minimalist pieces are meant to be contemplated. *= Ahile fundamentally similar, the two genres have a few differences that are further exploited by the composers of the genre to create something with the meditative pull of minimalist music without immediately grabbing the attention of the listener.  # final example of a genre where minimalist ideas are prevalent is a subgenre of rock known as math rock. Math rock is a type of experimental rock which generally has different instruments playing in different time signatures and features many polyrhythms. Hue to this, it seems natural that repetition would need to play a large part in the music otherwise the resulting sound would be somewhat of a mess. This is demonstrated very clearly in the composition Metronome by the $apanese band, Toe. Metronome starts out with phasing similar but not identical to %teve &eich's use of it. Dne guitar plays in 7K7 while the other plays the same melodic material in 8K7, creating a pattern that is constantly changing even though the melodic material is staying the same. Much of the piece is done in this style with occasional se9uencing to break up the monotony and then eventually light contrasting sections occur that slightly break it away from the 1 (ullivan% 3aul. "8<4 CD': EA'@* '*+'A$(% M(5'+% 4F34*M4+8'A(8." More ntelli=ent Aife. 1 Bates% 4liot. "'mbient Music."

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minimalist feel. #lthough math rock is a wide6varied genre, these basic concepts of repetition are a very common occurrence in it and provide a genre that seems unlikely to have minimalist ties until looked into. Minimalism is a genre that has influenced music from before it was codified as a genre and has continued to influence much of the music of today in both obvious and unexpected ways with the ideas of the founding fathers of minimalism being reflected in many works of today.