If you want to explain someone something, you can do so with many or with few words. Sometimes, just a few well-chosen words can be more effective than a long discourse in which one tries to be as complete as possible. This raises the question how much can be left out without losing the essential message. In art this question led to the style movement of Minimalism in the 1960s and 1970s. The aim was to get maximal expression with minimal means. It even was thought that this ‘art of leaving out’ brings us closer to the essence of things.
Among artists embracing this ideal, there were also composers. Especially in the U.S. The most important were La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Of course, the question is what could be left out in music. Music is unlike e.g., a painting or a sculpture. Music unfolds in time and not in space. The answer was found in repeating patterns that gradually shift towards new patterns. As an example, let’s have a look at Piano Phase of Steve Reich. This is the opening: (mp3 – source). Two piano’s are playing exactly the same motif of twelve tones. But then one of the piano’s accelerates: (mp3 – source). The result is that after a while the tones of the piano’s are synchronous again, but the motifs have been shifted one note with respect to each other. This is repeated twelve times. After that, the same happens to related motifs of eight tones and of four tones. Except for the fact that the melodic material has been minimized, also the contribution of the composer has been minimized. He has to specify the process and when it has initiated, his role is over.
This piece by Reich is a quite strict example of minimal music. There are also minimalistic compositions in which more musical material is used, or where changes are not so deterministic as in Piano Phases.
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