Steve Reich

[gfish]

Over the last year I've been dabbling with orchestral/classical/ugh-I-hate-naming-genres music. For the most part it still doesn't do a whole lot for me, but there have been some successes. I've become quite fond of The Rite of Spring, for instance. And I've ended up absolutely enamored with the minimalist composer Steve Reich. The irony of setting out to explore symphonic music and ending up focusing on the most minimal and restricted version of this is not lost on me, but some things are beyond my control.

"Steve Reich - Clapping Music (Scrolling)" (Watch on YouTube)

Clapping Music was my introduction. The elegance and precision of it blew me away. Like most of his work, it feels like a finely crafted watch without any ornament or complication. Everything absolutely has to be the way it is, a piece of art utterly lacking in the contingent. I'm working on a design for a mechanical device to perform it, with hand-cranked cams that advance every 8th rotation.

"Reich: Piano Phase" (Watch on YouTube)

I don't even understand how these performances are humanly possible.

"Steve Reich, "Music for 18 Musicians" - FULL PERFORMANCE with eighth blackbird" (Watch on YouTube)

Music for 18 Musicians is downright magical in its effects on me. I genuinely enjoy listening to it on its own, but it can also serve as a particularly valuable form of whitenoise -- I can crank it on headphones to drown out boring lunchroom conversation or pre-movie ads, and still be able to read dense texts! I'm very easily distracted by sensory input, so this is a glorious feature. I wouldn't have even thought it was theoretically possible for anything more aesthetically advanced that pure white noise.

Comments

[yam]

Huh, neat. Very Philip Glass Is Stranded On An Island With Chamber Performers And No Electricity.

I think the clapping device should have giant Hamburger Helper hands. For reasons.

[gfish]

Hrm. I had been thinking uncanny valley silicone casts, but big white cartoon hands are not without their charm...

[darkoshi]

I like the clapping music a lot. As you say, it's hard to fathom how the performers / musicians can keep that up with the right rhythm and not missing any beats. For some reason, that song reminded me of Sheila Chandra's Speaking in Tongues pieces, which also remind me of Kecak / Monkey Chant pieces, which led to me watching several videos of the latter, which are quite engrossing & entrancing, and reminded me that I used to love Indonesian & gamelan style music, and I suppose I still do.

[maribou]

I am excited at the thought of what you might make to perform the clapping music. When I heard it my brain went OH FLAMENCO, and ... I don't know if you find it 'classical' enough or not, but if so you might be interested in finding more performances of castanets, in particular.

Things like this for eg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuHHUDnFSO0


I was gratified to find this Steve Reich song in the 'also too' youtube thinger, which made me think he's not.... uninfluenced by flamenco castanets:
(plus i just like it plus i assume you might like the visualization aspect though you've probably seen this?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy2kyRrXm2g

[beaq]

I keep waiting for the blackbird. Reading comprehension is my middles names.


(edit: HHHAAAAYYYYYYYY wtf DW? Somehow I deleted a comment I wasn't even editing. :((((((((( Anyway: thanks; and: neato!)

1st reply recovered thru magic back button

[beaq]

Thx v useful (I need this for similar work/focus reasons) and cool. I find myself trying to imagine my way through playing that piano piece (we did 'experimental' music in band in HS but not this experimental) and can only think that there's a certain degree of detachment from what the other person is doing. I would need my own metronome.

[randomdreams]

I keep listening over and over to piano phase