DOCSLIB.ORG

Dissertation Final

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

THE INTERACTION OF LINEAR AND VERTICAL TIME IN MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST PIANO MUSIC A DISSERTATION IN Performance Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS by RICHARD ANDREW LEE B.M., Truman State University, 2004 M.M., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2006 Kansas City, Missouri 2010 © 2010 RICHARD ANDREW LEE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE INTERACTION OF LINEAR AND VERTICAL TIME IN MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST PIANO MUSIC Richard Andrew Lee, Candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2010 ABSTRACT Minimalist compositions thwart most attempts at analysis given their remarkable simplicity. Moreover, minimalist works are deliberately non-manipulative in order to allow the listener freedom in constructing his or her own experience. For formalist analysis of this music to be of value, it must account for this freedom while simultaneously explaining beyond mere description, a duality which can be achieved by incorporating musical time. Jonathan Kramer describes minimalist compositions as existing in vertical time, an almost eternal present. This notion does much to explain the general listening experience, but fails to accommodate the variety found in minimalism. Instead, it is best to see in this genre that an interaction between the musical elements that create vertical time and those that create linear time establishes the musical time of each piece. This dissertation explores minimalist music's manipulation of time through brief analysis of Terry Riley's Keyboard Study no. 1, Steve Reich's Piano Phase, and Philip Glass's Two Pages. While all three pieces create an overall sense of vertical time, linear time is also present, particularly at the local level, with each composition creating a unique iii temporal experience. The concepts established are then expanded to a full analysis of Tom Johnson's An Hour for Piano, which not only has interaction between the different species of musical time, but also interacts with objective time and varieties of psychological time. The implications of this theoretical approach are even more significant for postminimalist music. As postminimalist composers combined minimalism with a variety of other influences, linear time became more prominent but did not completely overwhelm the sense of vertical time. Instead, postminimalist music tends to create a hybrid between the two, a conclusion that helps justify and clarify the use of the term "postminimalist." This clarity is demonstrated through brief analysis of pieces by William Duckworth, Peter Garland, Beth Anderson, James Sellars, and Paul Epstein. A full analysis of David Borden's Double Portrait then shows the full potential of this approach as the piece begins in near- vertical time and ends in linear time. iv The faculty listed below, appointed by the Dean of the Conservatory of Music and Dance, have examined a dissertation titled "The Interaction of Linear and Vertical Time in Minimalist and Postminimalist Piano Music," presented by Richard Andrew Lee, candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, and hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Supervisory Committee S. Andrew Granade, Ph.D., Committee Chair Conservatory of Music and Dance William Everett, Ph.D. Conservatory of Music and Dance John McIntyre, M.M. Conservatory of Music and Dance Diane Petrella, D.M.A. Conservatory of Music and Dance Reynold Simpson, D.M.A. Conservatory of Music and Dance v CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... xiii PREFACE ........................................................................................................................ xv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Postminimalism ......................................................................................... 5 Time ......................................................................................................... 10 Linear Time .............................................................................................. 11 Vertical Time ........................................................................................... 15 Vertical Time and Minimalism ................................................................ 17 Time and Postminimalism ....................................................................... 21 2. LINEAR AND VERTICAL TIME IN MINIMALISM .................................. 25 Sources of Vertical Time ......................................................................... 26 Terry Riley's Keyboard Study no. 1 ......................................................... 30 Steve Reich's Piano Phase ....................................................................... 35 Philip Glass's Two Pages ......................................................................... 45 Conclusions .............................................................................................. 50 3. TOM JOHNSON'S AN HOUR FOR PIANO ................................................... 52 Overview of An Hour for Piano .............................................................. 53 vi Vertical Time ........................................................................................... 57 Melodic Sources of Linear Time ............................................................. 66 Harmonic Basis of Primary Themes ........................................................ 70 Form and Linear Time ............................................................................. 74 Protracted Duration, Temporal Compression, and Synchronicity ........... 79 Conclusions .............................................................................................. 82 4. LINEAR AND VERTICAL TIME IN POSTMINIMALISM ........................ 85 Rhythm and Meter ................................................................................... 86 Melodic Implications ............................................................................... 91 Harmonic Implications ............................................................................ 99 Form ....................................................................................................... 104 Conclusions ............................................................................................ 110 5. DAVID BORDEN'S DOUBLE PORTRAIT .................................................. 112 Section One ............................................................................................ 113 Section Two ........................................................................................... 118 Section Three ......................................................................................... 122 Sections Four and Five .......................................................................... 125 Coda ....................................................................................................... 128 6. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 132 Appendix A. BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION OF POSTMINIMALIST COMPOSERS ........................................................................................ 141 B. MAJOR INSTANCES OF EACH THEME IN AN HOUR FOR PIANO .... 146 vii C. PROGRAM NOTES FOR AN HOUR FOR PIANO ..................................... 148 D. ANALYSIS OF THE RHYTHMIC GROUND IN THE TIME CURVE PRELUDES, IX ...................................................................................... 159 E. FURTHER ANALYSIS OF PAUL EPSTEIN'S INTERLEAVINGS "PARAPHASE: (3x2)x5, 7" .................................................................. 161 F. INTEVIEW WITH DAVID BORDEN ......................................................... 166 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 171 VITA .............................................................................................................................. 176 viii MUSICAL EXAMPLES Example 1.1 W. A. Mozart's Sonata in A Major, K 331, measures 1-8 ............................ 12 2.1. Terry Riley's Keyboard Study no. 1 modules 1-2, 7-8, and 11-12 ............... 31 2.2. Keyboard Study no. 1, realized combination of modules 5 and 16 ............. 34 2.3. Keyboard Study no. 1, realized combination of modules 8 and 15 ............. 35 2.4. Steve Reich's Piano Phase, analysis of section one .................................... 41 2.5. Piano Phase, analysis of section two ........................................................... 42 2.6. Piano Phase, analysis of section three ......................................................... 42 2.7. Philip Glass, Two Pages, measures 1-4 ....................................................... 47 2.8. Two Pages, measures 15-16 ......................................................................... 48 2.9. Two Pages, measures 21-22 ........................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Microtonal University (Mu)

    Microtonal University (Mu)

    MICROTONAL UNIVERSITY (MU) a virtual microtonal university SCHEDULE September 5, 2021 – August 28, 2022 A Program of the American Festival of Microtonal Music Inc. (AFMM) Johnny Reinhard - Director [email protected] MU’s Definition of “Microtonal Music”: “All music is microtonal music cross-culturally. Twelve-tone equal temperament is in itself a microtonal scale, only it enjoys exorbitant attention and hegemonic power, so we focus on the other tuning arrangements.” Johnny Reinhard, MU Director Financial Structure: $50. annual subscription; after September 1, 2021 annual membership increases to $200. Checks must be made out fully to: American Festival of Microtonal Music Inc. Or, please go to www.afmm.org and look for the PayPal button at the bottom of the American Festival of Microtonal Music’s website on the front page. MU c/o Johnny Reinhard Director, MU/AFMM 615 Pearlanna Drive San Dimas, CA 91773 347-321-0591 [email protected] 2 MU MU – a virtual microtonal university Beginning September 5, 2021, the American Festival of Microtonal Music (AFMM) presents a new project: MU Faculty members are virtuoso instrumentalists, composers and improvisers Meredith Borden (voice/interstylistic) Svjetlana Bukvich (synthesizer/electronics) Jon Catler (guitar/rock) Philipp Gerschlauer (saxophone/jazz) Johnny Reinhard (bassoon/interstylistic) – Director of MU Manfred Stahnke (viola/music composition) Michael Vick (multi-instrumental/technology) Using various platforms, MU will make available a host of different courses, instruction, entertainment, connections,
  • All These Post-1965 Movements Under the “Conceptual Art” Umbrella

    All These Post-1965 Movements Under the “Conceptual Art” Umbrella

    All these post-1965 movements under the “conceptual art” umbrella- Postminimalism or process art, Site Specific works, Conceptual art movement proper, Performance art, Body Art and all combinations thereof- move the practice of art away from art-as-autonomous object, and art-as-commodification, and towards art-as-experience, where subject becomes object, hierarchy between subject and object is critiqued and intersubjectivity of artist, viewer and artwork abounds! Bruce Nauman, Live-Taped Video Corridor, 1970, Conceptual Body art, Postmodern beginning “As opposed to being viewers of the work, once again they are viewers in it.” (“Subject as Object,” p. 199) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IrqXiqgQBo A Postmodern beginning: Body art and Performance art as critique of art-as-object recap: -Bruce Nauman -Vito Acconci focus on: -Chris Burden -Richard Serra -Carolee Schneemann - Hannah Wilke Chapter 3, pp. 114-132 (Carolee Schneemann and Hannah Wilke, First Generation Feminism) Bruce Nauman, Bouncing Two Balls Between the Floor and Ceiling with Changing Rhythms, 1967-1968. 16mm film transferred to video (black and white, sound), 10 min. Body art/Performance art, Postmodern beginning- performed elementary gestures in the privacy of his studio and documented them in a variety of media Vito Acconci, Following Piece, 1969, Body art, Performance art- outside the studio, Postmodern beginning Video documentation of the event Print made from bite mark Vito Acconci, Trademarks, 1970, Body art, Performance art, Postmodern beginning Video and Print documentation
  • Ambiant Creativity Mo Fr Workshop Concerts Lectures Discussions

    Ambiant Creativity Mo Fr Workshop Concerts Lectures Discussions

    workshop concerts lectures discussions ambiant creativity »digital composition« March 14-18 2011 mo fr jérôme bertholon sebastian berweck ludger brümmer claude cadoz omer chatziserif johannes kreidler damian marhulets thomas a. troge iannis zannos // program thursday, march 17th digital creativity 6 pm, Lecture // Caught in the Middle: The Interpreter in the Digital Age and Sebastian Berweck contemporary ZKM_Vortragssaal music 6.45 pm, IMA | lab // National Styles in Electro- acoustic Music? thomas a. troged- Stipends of “Ambiant Creativity” and Sebastian fdfd Berweck ZKM_Vortragssaal 8 pm, Concert // Interactive Creativity with Sebastian Berweck (Pianist, Performer), works by Ludger Brümmer, Johannes Kreidler, Enno Poppe, Terry Riley, Giacinto Scelsi ZKM_Kubus friday, march 18th 6 pm, Lecture // New Technologies and Musical Creations Johannes Kreidler ZKM_Vortragsaal 6.45 pm, Round Table // What to Expect? Hopes and Problems of Technological Driven Art Ludger Brümmer, Claude Cadoz, Johannes Kreidler, Thomas A. Troge, Iannis Zannos ZKM_Vortragssaal 8 pm, Concert // Spatial Creativity, works by Jérôme Bertholon, Ludger Brümmer, Claude Cadoz, Omer Chatziserif, Damian Marhulets, Iannis Zannos ZKM_Kubus 10pm, Night Concert // Audiovisual Creativity with audiovisual compositions and dj- sets by dj deepthought and Damian Marhulets ZKM_Musikbalkon // the project “ambiant creativity” The “Ambiant Creativity” project aims to promote the potential of interdisciplinary coopera- tion in the arts with modern technology, and its relevance at the European Level. The results and events are opened to the general public. The project is a European Project funded with support from the European Commission under the Culture Program. It started on October, 2009 for a duration of two years. The partnership groups ACROE in France, ZKM | Karlsruhe in Germany and the Ionian University in Greece.
  • Form in the Music of John Adams

    Form in the Music of John Adams

    Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2018 Form in the Music of John Adams Michael Ridderbusch Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Ridderbusch, Michael, "Form in the Music of John Adams" (2018). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6503. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6503 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Form in the Music of John Adams Michael Ridderbusch DMA Research Paper submitted to the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Theory and Composition Andrew Kohn, Ph.D., Chair Travis D. Stimeling, Ph.D. Melissa Bingmann, Ph.D. Cynthia Anderson, MM Matthew Heap, Ph.D. School of Music Morgantown, West Virginia 2017 Keywords: John Adams, Minimalism, Phrygian Gates, Century Rolls, Son of Chamber Symphony, Formalism, Disunity, Moment Form, Block Form Copyright ©2017 by Michael Ridderbusch ABSTRACT Form in the Music of John Adams Michael Ridderbusch The American composer John Adams, born in 1947, has composed a large body of work that has attracted the attention of many performers and legions of listeners.
  • Teaching Post-Tonal Music to Twenty-First- Century Students Author(S): Miguel A

    Teaching Post-Tonal Music to Twenty-First- Century Students Author(S): Miguel A

    Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University A Pedagogical and Psychological Challenge: Teaching Post-Tonal Music to Twenty-First- Century Students Author(s): Miguel A. Roig-Francolí Source: Indiana Theory Review, Vol. 33, No. 1-2 (Summer 2017), pp. 36-68 Published by: Indiana University Press on behalf of the Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/inditheorevi.33.1-2.02 Accessed: 03-09-2018 01:27 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Indiana University Press, Department of Music Theory, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Indiana Theory Review This content downloaded from 129.74.250.206 on Mon, 03 Sep 2018 01:27:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms A Pedagogical and Psychological Challenge: Teaching Post-Tonal Music to Twenty-First-Century Students Miguel A. Roig-Francolí University of Cincinnati ost-tonal music has a pr problem among young musicians, and many not-so-young ones. Anyone who has recently taught a course on the theory and analysis of post-tonal music to a general Pmusic student population mostly made up of performers, be it at the undergraduate or master’s level, will probably immediately understand what the title of this article refers to.
  • Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Summer, 1976

    Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs, Summer, 1976

    I M' n, v ~# ^ »>'* •«*^ ^T* > ^'^.._, KlLBu**%m*lJcML^teff-'il Btf^^flB IS^.'^I For 104 years we've been serious about people who make music. In 1872 Boston University established the first professional music program within an American university to train creative and talented students for careers in music. 104 years later the Boston University School of Music is still doing what it does best. • Performance • Music Education • History and Literature • Theory and Composition strings music history and literature Walter Eisenberg, violin Charles Kavaloski, French horn Karol Berger ' Gerald Gelbloom, violin Charles A. Lewis, Jr., trumpet Murray Lefkowitz Bernard Kadinoff, viola David Ohanian, French horn Joel Sheveloff Endel Kalam, chamber music Samuel Pilafian, tuba theory and composition ' Robert Karol, viola Rolf Smedvig, trumpet David Carney ' Alfred Krips, violin ' Harry Shapiro, French horn David Del Tredici 'Eugene Lehner, chamber music ' Roger Voisin, trumpet John Goodman 'Leslie Martin, string bass ' Charles Yancich, French horn Alan MacMillan George Neikrug, cello percussion Joyce Mekeel ' Mischa Nieland, cello * Thomas Ganger Malloy Miller Leslie Parnas, cello ' Charles Smith Gardner Read 'Henry Portnoi, string bass Allen Schindler 'Jerome Rosen, violin harp Tison Street Kenneth Sarch, violin Lucile Lawrence " Alfred Schneider, violin music education * Roger Shermont, violin piano Lee Chrisman 'Joseph Silverstein, violin Maria Clodes Allen Lannom Roman Totenberg, violin Anthony di Bonaventura Jack O. Lemons Walter Trampler, viola
  • Postmodern Art and Its Discontents Professor Paul Ivey, School of Art Pivey@Email.Arizona.Edu

    Postmodern Art and Its Discontents Professor Paul Ivey, School of Art [email protected]

    Humanities Seminars Program Fall 2014 Postmodern Art and Its Discontents Professor Paul Ivey, School of Art [email protected] This ten week course examines the issues, artists, and theories surrounding the rise of Postmodernism in the visual arts from 1970 into the twenty-first century. We will explore the emergence of pluralism in the visual arts against a backdrop of the rise of the global economy as we explore the “crisis” of postmodern culture, which critiques ideas of history, progress, personal and cultural identities, and embraces irony and parody, pastiche, nostalgia, mass or “low” culture, and multiculturalism. In a chronological fashion, and framed by a discussion of mid-century artistic predecessors Abstract Expressionism, Pop, and Minimal Art, the class looks at the wide-ranging visual art practices that emerged in 1970s Conceptual Art, Performance, Feminist Art and identity politics, art activism and the Culture Wars, Appropriation Art, Neo-expressionism, Street Art, the Young British Artists, the Museum, and Festivalism. Week 1: October 6 Contexts and Setting the Stage: What is Postmodernism Abstract Expressionism Week 2: October 13 Cold War, Neo-Dada, Pop Art Week 3: October 20 Minimalism, Postminimalism, Earth Art Week 4: October 27 Conceptual Art and Performance: Chance, Happenings, Arte Povera, Fluxus Week 5: November 3 Video and Performance Week 6: November 10 Feminist Art and Identity Politics Week 7: November 17 Street Art, Neo-Expressionism, Appropriation Week 8: December 1 Art Activism and Culture Wars Week 9: December 8 Young British Artists (YBAs) Week 10: December 15 Festivalism and the Museum .
  • View PDF Online

    View PDF Online

    MARLBORO MUSIC 60th AnniversAry reflections on MA rlboro Music 85316_Watkins.indd 1 6/24/11 12:45 PM 60th ANNIVERSARY 2011 MARLBORO MUSIC Richard Goode & Mitsuko Uchida, Artistic Directors 85316_Watkins.indd 2 6/23/11 10:24 AM 60th AnniversA ry 2011 MARLBORO MUSIC richard Goode & Mitsuko uchida, Artistic Directors 85316_Watkins.indd 3 6/23/11 9:48 AM On a VermOnt HilltOp, a Dream is BOrn Audience outside Dining Hall, 1950s. It was his dream to create a summer musical community where artists—the established and the aspiring— could come together, away from the pressures of their normal professional lives, to exchange ideas, explore iolinist Adolf Busch, who had a thriving music together, and share meals and life experiences as career in Europe as a soloist and chamber music a large musical family. Busch died the following year, Vartist, was one of the few non-Jewish musicians but Serkin, who served as Artistic Director and guiding who spoke out against Hitler. He had left his native spirit until his death in 1991, realized that dream and Germany for Switzerland in 1927, and later, with the created the standards, structure, and environment that outbreak of World War II, moved to the United States. remain his legacy. He eventually settled in Vermont where, together with his son-in-law Rudolf Serkin, his brother Herman Marlboro continues to thrive under the leadership Busch, and the great French flutist Marcel Moyse— of Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode, Co-Artistic and Moyse’s son Louis, and daughter-in-law Blanche— Directors for the last 12 years, remaining true to Busch founded the Marlboro Music School & Festival its core ideals while incorporating their fresh ideas in 1951.
  • AMRC Journal Volume 21

    AMRC Journal Volume 21

    American Music Research Center Jo urnal Volume 21 • 2012 Thomas L. Riis, Editor-in-Chief American Music Research Center College of Music University of Colorado Boulder The American Music Research Center Thomas L. Riis, Director Laurie J. Sampsel, Curator Eric J. Harbeson, Archivist Sister Dominic Ray, O. P. (1913 –1994), Founder Karl Kroeger, Archivist Emeritus William Kearns, Senior Fellow Daniel Sher, Dean, College of Music Eric Hansen, Editorial Assistant Editorial Board C. F. Alan Cass Portia Maultsby Susan Cook Tom C. Owens Robert Fink Katherine Preston William Kearns Laurie Sampsel Karl Kroeger Ann Sears Paul Laird Jessica Sternfeld Victoria Lindsay Levine Joanne Swenson-Eldridge Kip Lornell Graham Wood The American Music Research Center Journal is published annually. Subscription rate is $25 per issue ($28 outside the U.S. and Canada) Please address all inquiries to Eric Hansen, AMRC, 288 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0288. Email: [email protected] The American Music Research Center website address is www.amrccolorado.org ISBN 1058-3572 © 2012 by Board of Regents of the University of Colorado Information for Authors The American Music Research Center Journal is dedicated to publishing arti - cles of general interest about American music, particularly in subject areas relevant to its collections. We welcome submission of articles and proposals from the scholarly community, ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 words (exclud - ing notes). All articles should be addressed to Thomas L. Riis, College of Music, Uni ver - sity of Colorado Boulder, 301 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0301. Each separate article should be submitted in two double-spaced, single-sided hard copies.
  • The Philip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966-1976 David Allen Chapman Washington University in St

    The Philip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966-1976 David Allen Chapman Washington University in St

    Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Spring 4-27-2013 Collaboration, Presence, and Community: The Philip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966-1976 David Allen Chapman Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Chapman, David Allen, "Collaboration, Presence, and Community: The hiP lip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966-1976" (2013). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 1098. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1098 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Music Dissertation Examination Committee: Peter Schmelz, Chair Patrick Burke Pannill Camp Mary-Jean Cowell Craig Monson Paul Steinbeck Collaboration, Presence, and Community: The Philip Glass Ensemble in Downtown New York, 1966–1976 by David Allen Chapman, Jr. A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 St. Louis, Missouri © Copyright 2013 by David Allen Chapman, Jr. All rights reserved. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................
  • How Does the Brain Process Music?

    How Does the Brain Process Music?

    I MEDICINE, MUSIC AND THE MIND How does the brain process music? Jason Warren Jason D Warren ABSTRACT – The organisation of the musical rhythm, metre) and the distinctive instrumental or PhD FRACP, brain is a major focus of interest in contemporary human voices (‘tone quality’ or timbre) that carries Honorary neuroscience. This reflects the increasing sophis- the tune. It is not obvious a priori how these dimen- Consultant tication of tools (especially imaging techniques) sions might translate to brain organisation, though it Neurologist, to examine brain anatomy and function in health would seem unlikely that a single ‘music centre’ National Hospital and disease, and the recognition that music processes them all. for Neurology and provides unique insights into a number of aspects The problems this entails are not unlike those con- Neurosurgery, of nonverbal brain function. The emerging picture fronting the study of that other uniquely human, Queen Square, is complex but coherent, and moves beyond London multidimensional capacity, language. Like language, older ideas of music as the province of a single music is an abstract, rule-based system (arguably the Clin Med brain area or hemisphere to the concept of music only one of comparable complexity), and the 2008;8:32–36 as a ‘whole-brain’ phenomenon. Music engages a parallels between music and language are seductive. distributed set of cortical modules that process It is possible to devise musical analogies for linguistic different perceptual, cognitive and emotional elements such as ‘vocabulary’ and ‘grammar’, and components with varying selectivity. ‘Why’ rather at a clinical level, to find musical equivalents for the than ‘how’ the brain processes music is a key aphasias.
  • “Classical” Minimalism

    “Classical” Minimalism

    from Richard Taruskin, “Oxford History of Western Music Volume V: Music in the Late Twentieth Century; Chapter 8: A Harmonious Avant-Garde?”. Retrieved 4/29/2011 from oxfordwesternmusic.com. “CLASSICAL” MINIMALISM For many listeners, the most characteristic and style-defining aspect of In C is the constant audible eighth-note pulse that underlies and coordinates all of the looping, and that seems, because it provides a constant pedal of Cs, to be fundamentally bound up with the work's concept. Like much modernist practice since at least Stravinsky, it puts the rhythmic spotlight on the “subtactile” level, accommodating and facilitating the free metamorphosis of the felt beat —for example, from quarters to dotted quarters at the twenty-second module of In C—and allows their multiple presence to be felt as levels within a complex texture. It may be surprising, therefore, to learn that the constant C-pulse was an afterthought, adopted in rehearsal for what seemed at the time a purely utilitarian purpose (simply to keep the group together in lieu of a conductor), and that it was not even Riley's idea. It was Reich's. Steve Reich came from a background very different from Young's and Riley's. Where they had a rural, working-class upbringing on the West Coast, Reich was born into a wealthy, professional- class family in cosmopolitan New York. Like most children of his economic class, Reich had traditional piano lessons and plenty of exposure to what in later years he mildly derided as the “bourgeois classics.” He had an elite education culminating in a Cornell baccalaureate with a major in philosophy.