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Wednesday, 28 March 2012

Minimalism

Minimalist Music was born in the late 1960’s and can be associated with a group of American composers classified as “minimalists”. 



However, the origins of Minimalist music can be traced to the ‘total serialism’ music of Webern whose music was based on the mathematical control of the musical elements. 


Minimalist music consists of cells which are ‘looped’ at shifting time intervals. This creates a hypnotic quality to the music as the cells shift in and out of ‘phase’ with each other


This is a piece where you can clearly hear the phrases coming in and out in time with each other. It's a weird sound but it doesn't sound wrong. Its a piece by Steve Reich








This is an example in dance which illustrates the concept of minimalism very well.






Composers of Minimalism


Philip Glass: This piece is entitled Koyaanisqatsi




Steve Reich: This piece is called 'Different Trains'. The tape 
consists of vocal samples of Holocaust survivors depicting Jewish people being sent on ‘different trains’ to concentration camps. The string quartet in this piece emulate speech patterns and melodies. 



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