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Name
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M I N I M A L I S M
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Form
Like impressionism, minimalism was originally a style in art before it became a type of
music. Minimalist art is a type of art in which objects are stripped down to their basic
geometric form and presented in an impersonal manner. It is an abstract style of art.
When the term “minimal” is used in music, it means compositions that are created with the
most basic and limited amount of material.
Minimalist music draws on a number of features from different types and styles of music including those from African music of the Burundi region and Gamelan music from Bali in
Indonesia - such as repetition, cyclic rhythms and polyrhythms.
Minimalism began in America in the 1960’s where composers were looking for new an
innovative ways to create music. The three main minimalist composers are Terry Riley,
Steve Reich and Philip
Glass
The main feature of minimalist music is a limited number of short melodic, rhythmic and
harmonic patterns called MOTIFS. These motifs form the basis of minimalist music and
are often repeated again and again before being changed ever so slightly in some way.
One way of changing a motif is to “move” it so that it becomes “out of time” or “out of sync”
with the original motif and this is called a PHASE SHIFT. Phase shifting and repetition of
these motifs often give the music a hypnotic effect.
Steve Reich composed “Clapping Music for Two Performers” in 1972. Reich wanted to
perform a piece needing only the human body and decided to use the sound of a human
clap as a basis for his piece. “Clapping Music” uses just one rhythmic motif. One person
plays this motif all the time while the other displaces this motif by one beat and repeats this
new pattern 12 times – an example of PHASE SHIFTING. Listen to an extract from
“Clapping Music” and answer the questions.
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M I N I M A L I S M
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1. What happens to the pulse in the music? Does it speed up, slow down
or stay the same?
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2. Can you tell when one of the performers changes their rhythmic motif
and begins to clap a new one?
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3. What effect does this have on the music?
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4. What do you think of this piece of music?
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5. It is really music at all?
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above – group performing “Clapping Music”
below – score of “Clapping Music”
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