Minimal music facts for kids

Minimal music (also called minimalism) is a type of art music that uses very few musical ideas. It often features sounds that repeat over and over. You'll hear steady beats, calm harmonies, and musical phrases that come back many times. This music can also include phase shifting, where sounds slowly move out of sync. It focuses on the music itself, helping you listen closely to how it changes.

This style started in New York City in the 1960s. It was first seen as a type of experimental music. American composers like La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass helped create this sound. Many composers were involved, but these four, plus John Adams, became very well known. In Europe, composers like Arvo Pärt and Henryk Górecki also used minimalist ideas.

No one is completely sure where the name "minimal music" came from. Some think Michael Nyman or Tom Johnson first used the term.

The Story of Minimal Music

The term "minimal" was likely first used for music in 1968 by Michael Nyman. He described it after seeing a show that included simple, repeated performances. Nyman later wrote more about minimal music in his 1974 book. Tom Johnson, a composer who called himself a minimalist, also said he used the word first. He was a music critic for The Village Voice.

Johnson explained that "minimalism" is a big idea. It includes any music that uses limited materials. This means pieces with only a few notes or a few words. It can also be music for unusual instruments, like bicycle wheels. Some pieces might have one electronic sound for a long time. Others might use recordings of rivers. It can be music that moves in endless circles or slowly changes over a very long time.

Even before 1968, art historian Barbara Rose talked about "minimal art" in 1965. She mentioned music by La Monte Young and Morton Feldman. She saw their work as examples of art that used very few elements.

The most famous minimalist composers include John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and La Monte Young. Other important names are Gavin Bryars and Tom Johnson.

Early music by Glass and Reich was very simple. It had few extra sounds. These pieces were often for small groups of instruments. Glass used organs, saxophones, and singers. Reich focused on drums and percussion. Later, John Adams wrote for larger groups, like a full orchestra.

Art galleries and museums often supported the early music of Reich and Glass. Their music was shown alongside art by famous minimal artists like Robert Morris and Richard Serra.

How Minimal Music Started

The music of Moondog from the 1940s and 1950s influenced Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Moondog's music used steady beats and repeated patterns. Glass said that he and Reich took Moondog's work seriously. They liked it more than the music they heard at their school.

La Monte Young's 1958 piece, Trio for Strings, is seen as a starting point for minimal music. It mostly uses long musical sounds and silences.

One of the first minimalist pieces was November by Dennis Johnson in 1959. This piano piece lasted about six hours. It showed many features of minimalism, like repeating phrases and long playing times. La Monte Young said this piece inspired his own long work, The Well-Tuned Piano.

In 1963, Terry Riley used tape recorders to create repeating sounds in his electronic works. In 1964, Riley's In C became very famous. It uses 53 short musical ideas that any group of instruments can play together. Many people see In C as the true beginning of musical minimalism.

From 1965 to 1966, Steve Reich created pieces like It's Gonna Rain and Piano Phase. These works introduced "phase shifting." This is where two identical sounds or phrases play at slightly different speeds. They slowly go out of sync and then come back together.

Starting in 1968, Philip Glass wrote pieces that used "additive process." This means building music by adding small parts, like 1, then 1-2, then 1-2-3. Glass was inspired by Indian music, especially by Ravi Shankar. He learned that Western music divides time, but Indian music strings small units together.

What Minimal Music Sounds Like

Minimalist music often repeats simple chords in a steady rhythm. It might have a calm, flowing tune over these chords. It uses repeating melodies and harmonies that sound pleasant. The music often feels continuous, without sudden stops or changes.

It has bright sounds and an energetic feel. The harmonies are usually simple and clear. They often use basic chords that change slowly.

Some experts say minimal music does not have long, flowing melodies. Instead, it uses short, repeating rhythmic patterns. These patterns are the most important part of the music.

Leonard B. Meyer described minimal music in 1994. He said it doesn't seem to move from one place to another. The parts just follow each other. The music doesn't have a clear "goal" like some other types of music.

Here are some things you might find in minimal music:

• Quiet moments
• Music based on a simple idea
• Shortness, or sometimes great length
• Slow changes in sounds or patterns
• Repeating patterns that shift over time

Famous pieces that use these ideas include parts of Glass's Einstein on the Beach. Also, Reich's tape pieces Come Out and It's Gonna Rain are good examples. Adams's Shaker Loops also uses these techniques.

Minimal Music in Popular Culture

Minimal music has also influenced popular music. The band The Velvet Underground was connected to the New York music scene where minimalism started. This was because of the close work between John Cale and La Monte Young.

Terry Riley's album A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969) was popular with rock and jazz fans. It was one of the first minimalist works to reach a wider audience. The Beach Boys' album Smiley Smile (1967) has been called "protominimal rock" because of its experimental sounds.

Minimal music also influenced experimental rock genres. These include krautrock, space rock, noise rock, and post-rock.

Some electronic dance music styles, like minimal techno, sound similar to minimal art music. This might be because the technology used for dance music often uses repeating loops. The British ambient group The Orb was clearly aware of minimal music. Their 1990 song "Little Fluffy Clouds" uses a sample from Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint. In 1999, an album called Reich Remixed was released. It featured electronic artists remixing Steve Reich's music.

Minimalist Composers

See also

In Spanish: Música minimalista para niños

• Holy minimalism
• Ostinato
• Postminimalism