Minimal Music, Part 1

Minimalism’s cool. How’s that?

Dennis O’Keefe Minimalism Part 1 Young, Reily, Reich 3/20/14 This barely qualifies as a sentence. GRADE: -2

Okay Miss Busy Body, I’ll go into more detail.

Minimalism is a form of composing and art that’s grounded in simplicity. It began as an architecture term in the 19th century, inspired by the traditional architecture of Japan. In fact, it is from this movement that the famous phrase “Less is More” comes from.

In music, minimalism (or minimal music as it’s technically called) first had its roots in the 1940s and 50s, with the music of Louis Hardin, better known by his nickname Moondog. A street musician during his New York years, he is best known for music like this:

Now, to be fair, this piece is part of record released in 1969. However, one can already hear the influences in the constantly repeating, unwavering ostinato behind the Tenor and Baritone Sax solos. They certainly caught the attentions of two important men: Philip Glass and Steve Reich. And of course, the rest is history.

This leads to topic that I’ve been curious about: what are the characteristics the define Minimal Music? I raise this question because many of the defining characteristics of Minimal Music is easily accessible in other genres of music. One would assume that the characteristics that make Minimal Music Minimal Music would be obvious.

Not so as it turns out.

In 1994, Leonard Meyer defined Minimal Music thusly:

“Because there is little sense of goal-directed motion, [minimal] music does not seem to move from one place to another. Within any musical segment there may be some sense of direction, but frequently the segments fail to lead to or imply one another. They simply follow one another.”

This one’s fairly easy to define because here, he’s basically saying that all the segments blend into each other. It’s not like a suite where each piece clearly leads into each other. Even in continuous works like the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, there are clear indicators where each movement starts and ends. In Minimal Music, however, the piece is seamless. Even with multiple movements, there is no clear indicator of where each movement starts and ends. To show what I’m talking about, let’s take a look at a textbook example: Steve Reich’s 18 Musicians.

4:58 in the above video marks the end of the 1st section and the beginning of the 2nd. It is defined by the introduction of B minor into the equation. While noticeable, the music does not pause for its appearance in any way, nor do they really find a need to. By contrast, let’s look at the Symphonic Dances.

4:12 marks the transition between the Prologue and Somewhere. Notice how the Prologue slows down considerably in preparation for Somewhere: there is a clear cut warning that the next section is about to begin. In 18 Musicians, however, there’s almost no warning. The only sign of a transition is a slight diminuendo. Otherwise, hardly anything. The Vibraphone comes in and we’re in the next section. This is only one of Minimal Music’s defining qualities: abrupt shifts in music. On that note, let’s move on to the next subject I want to talk about.   

Another defining feature of Minimal Music is its use of repetition, not only internally (as in 18 Musicians) but also externally as I’ll explain. Now, this feature probably is misplaced the most often of the features because, well, it’s repetition: you don’t really get more basic than that. I mean, listen to the beginning of Zadok the Priest:

Some people can confuse, and have confused, it for genuine Minimal Music. But there are two major problems with their conclusions:

1.) The tonic shifts at every measure, unlike repetitiveness in Minimal Music where everything is kept at a constant.   

and 2.) This repetitiveness doesn’t last long as we go into a boisterous waltz section: the repetitiveness heard at the beginning was only the introduction to a coronation anthem.

There’s also the Snare Drum part to Bolero where, up until only the final measure, only the same rhythm is played ad nauseum:

Repeat again and again until your death bed.

This doesn’t work either because, well, it’s part of a larger work. Besides, it’d make for a mighty boring piece by itself.

Besides, when repetition is the forefront of a Minimalist work, it’s usually never used straight. Two notable examples are both by Steve Reich: Clapping Music (which delves into abrupt repetition):

and Piano Phase (which is done more gradually; it’ll make sense when you hear it.):

Then we have perhaps the most infamous feature of Minimal Music: Silence. First pioneered, of course, by John Cage, this is probably the most sparingly used of the features, but it’s still used nonetheless. This is perhaps the most flexible feature in all of Minimal Music because is mostly used as anticipation, just like a G.P. in a common work.

Take Lamonte Young’s Excerpt 31|69 C 12...eh, I’ll just call it Phil. Phil begins with 30 seconds of pure silence. The audience is no doubt wondering what’s going to happen, and are a little scared about what will happen. Then, when 30 seconds passes, boom! A piercing B♭5 comes in and stays unrelentingly for 6 ½ minutes straight. The audience is caught off guard. Many have to be taken to the hospital.

This is the power of silence. It builds anticipation, it builds fear, it builds wonder, and often the payoff is worth it. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, traditional G.P.s work the same kind of magic, but most G.P.s aren’t usually 30 seconds long. So I suppose in terms of silence, because you can’t get much more minimal than that, more is more. Just ask John Cage.

You know, maybe I’m judging these pieces too harshly. After all, none of the contrary-examples I mentioned are actually Minimal Music. But then again, the tropes of Minimal Music must be used in a careful function. It is not enough to simply put something on loop for 30 minutes. Something must be done with that loop. It shouldn’t be too severe, but with a good combination of skill and talent, it can be done. One can make something from nothing.          

There. Better?

Dennis O’Keefe Minimalism Part 1 Young, Reily, Reich 3/20/14 Not really. GRADE: -1.5