Terry Riley facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Terry Riley
Riley in 2017
Background information
Birth name	Terrence Mitchell Riley
Born	(1935-06-24) June 24, 1935 (age 89) Colfax, California, US
Genres	Minimalism, avant-garde, tape, electronic, microtonal, classical
Instruments	Electric organ, tape machine, saxophone, keyboards, synthesizer, piano, tambura
Years active	1950s–present

Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and musician. He is famous for being a pioneer of minimalist music. This style uses simple musical ideas repeated and changed over time.

Terry Riley's music is special because it uses lots of repetition. He also used new techniques with tape music and delay systems. His work was influenced by jazz and Indian classical music.

His most well-known pieces are In C (from 1964) and the album A Rainbow in Curved Air (from 1969). Both are considered very important in minimalist music. They also influenced experimental music, rock, and modern electronic music. Later works, like Shri Camel (1980), explored different tuning systems called just intonation.

Riley grew up in Redding, California. He started studying music and playing piano in the 1950s. He worked with other composers like La Monte Young. He also joined groups like the San Francisco Tape Music Center. In the late 1960s, he signed a record deal with CBS, which helped more people hear his music.

In 1970, he began studying with Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath. Riley often performed with him. Throughout his career, Riley has worked with many artists. He has worked a lot with the chamber ensemble Kronos Quartet and his son, guitarist Gyan Riley.

Early Life and Musical Journey

Terry Riley was born in Colfax, California, on June 24, 1935. He spent his childhood in Redding, California. In the 1950s, he started playing piano by himself. He also studied music composition at several universities. These included San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley.

He became friends with composer La Monte Young. Young's early minimalist music, which used long, held notes, influenced Riley. They even performed together in 1959–60. Riley later joined the experimental San Francisco Tape Music Center. Here, he worked with other famous composers like Morton Subotnick and Steve Reich.

During the 1960s, Riley traveled often in Europe. He learned about different kinds of music. He supported himself by playing piano in bars. He also performed briefly with the Theatre of Eternal Music in New York.

Important Teachers and Influences

His most important teacher was Pandit Pran Nath (1918–1996). He was a master of Indian classical singing. Riley traveled to India many times to study with him. He also played instruments like the tabla and tambura with him. In 1971, Riley began teaching Indian classical music at Mills College.

Riley also says that John Cage influenced his work. He was also inspired by great chamber music groups. These included groups led by John Coltrane and Miles Davis. In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate degree in music.

Around 1980, Riley started working with the Kronos Quartet. He met their founder, David Harrington, at Mills College. Riley has written 13 string quartets for this group. He wrote his first orchestral piece, Jade Palace, in 1991. He continues to write music for orchestras. He also performs and teaches as an Indian raga singer and a solo pianist.

Riley still performs live today. He was part of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2011.

Riley at the Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, 1985

Musical Techniques

Terry Riley's music often involves improvising. He uses a series of modal figures that have different lengths. Pieces like In C (1964) show this technique. The first time In C was performed, it included Steve Reich and Pauline Oliveros.

The way In C is structured was very new. The piece has 53 short musical parts, each about one measure long. All parts are in the key of C. One musician plays a steady pulse of C notes on the piano. Other musicians, using any instrument, play these musical parts. They follow a few simple rules. The different musical parts fit together in many ways as the music plays.

In the 1950s, Riley was already using tape loops. This was a very new technology back then. Later, he created something he called a "time-lag accumulator." He has continued to use tape manipulation in his music. He uses it in the studio and in live shows. An early tape loop piece was Music for the Gift (1963). It featured the trumpet playing of Chet Baker.

Riley also uses just intonation and microtones in his compositions. In New York City in the mid-1960s, he played with his friend La Monte Young. He also played with John Cale and Angus MacLise. These two were founding members of The Velvet Underground. Riley is said to have inspired John Cale's keyboard part on the song "All Tomorrow's Parties".

Riley's famous electronic album A Rainbow in Curved Air (released 1969) inspired many electronic music artists. For example, Pete Townshend of The Who was influenced by it. His organ parts on "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley" show this. The song "Baba O'Riley" is even named after Terry Riley. The English progressive rock group Curved Air, formed in 1970, took its name from Riley's album.

Riley performing in 2018

Riley has worked with many other musicians. These include the Rova Saxophone Quartet and Pauline Oliveros. His 1995 Lisbon Concert recording shows him playing solo piano. He improvises on his own works. In the notes for the album, Riley calls Art Tatum and Bill Evans his piano "heroes." This shows how important jazz was to his music.

Personal Life

Terry Riley has three children. His daughter is Colleen. His sons are Gyan Riley, who is a guitarist, and Shahn. He was married to Ann Riley until she passed away in 2015.

Discography

• 1963: Music for The Gift
• 1965: Reed Streams
• 1967: You're No Good (released in 2000)
• 1968: Germ, with Gérard Frémy & Martine Joste
• 1968: In C
• 1969: A Rainbow in Curved Air
• 1971: Church of Anthrax, with John Cale
• 1972: Happy Ending (soundtrack to Joël Santoni's film Les Yeux Fermés)
• 1972: Persian Surgery Dervishes
• 1975: Le Secret de la Vie (Lifespan film soundtrack)
• 1975: Descending Moonshine Dervishes
• 1980: Shri Camel, for solo electronic organ
• 1983: Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets
• 1984: Terry Riley: Cadenza on the Night Plain, with the Kronos Quartet
• 1984: Terry Riley and Krishna Bhatt: Terry Riley and Krishna Bhatt Duo, with Krishna Bhatt
• 1985: No Man's Land
• 1986: The Harp of New Albion, for piano
• 1987: Chanting the Light of Foresight, with Rova Saxophone Quartet
• 1989: Salome Dances for Peace, for the Kronos Quartet
• 1995: In C – 25th Anniversary Concert
• 1995: Lisbon Concert, solo piano concert
• 1997: Lazy Afternoon Among the Crocodiles, with Stefano Scodanibbio
• 1998: Piano Music of John Adams and Terry Riley, performed by Gloria Cheng
• 1999: The Book of Abbeyozzud
• 2001: Moscow Conservatory Solo Piano Concert
• 2001: Terry Riley: Requiem for Adam, with the Kronos Quartet
• 2002: Atlantis Nath
• 2003: Cantos Desiertos
• 2004: I Like Your Eyes Liberty, duets with Terry Riley, piano and Michael McClure, poetry
• 2004: The Cusp of Magic, with the Kronos Quartet
• 2005: Diamond Fiddle Language duets with Stefano Scodanibbio, bass
• 2005: Assassin Reverie, Arte Quartett, saxophone qt.
• 2008: Banana Humberto, piano concerto with Paul Dresher Ensemble
• 2008: The Last Camel in Paris, live solo electric organ performance
• 2010: Two Early Works, performed by the Calder Quartet
• 2010: Autodreamographical Tales
• 2011: Keyboard Studies Nos. 1 and 2 / Tread on the Trail
• 2012: Aleph
• 2015: ZOFO Plays Terry Riley, ZOFO piano duo
• 2015: One Earth, One People, One Love: Kronos Plays Terry Riley, Kronos Quartet
• 2015: Music Of Terry Riley – Sunrise Of The Planetary Dream Collector, Kronos Quartet
• 2019: Sun Rings, Kronos Quartet
• 2019: The Lion's Throne, with singer Amelia Cuni
• 2019: Archangels, with conductor Julian Wachner, Trinity Choir, Novus Cellos
• 2021: Zephyr, Francesco D'Orazio, violin
• 2022: Autodreamographical Tales, for the Bang on a Can All-Stars
• 2022: Keyboard Studies, John Tilbury
• 2022: Organum for Stefano, Terry Riley pipe organ, voice
• 2022: The Sands, James Feddeck, Cleveland Orchestra
• 2023: Standard(S)and: Kobuchizawa Sessions #1

Filmography

• 1970: Corridor. Film by Standish Lawder.
• 1975: Lifespan. Film by Alexander Whitelaw. Soundtrack released as Le secret de la vie.
• 1976: Crossroads. Film by Bruce Conner.
• 1976: Music with Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television. Tape 6: Terry Riley. Produced and directed by Robert Ashley.
• 1986: In Between the Notes...a Portrait of Pandit Pran Nath, Master Indian Musician. Produced by Other Minds, directed by William Farley.
• 1995: Musical Outsiders: An American Legacy – Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and Terry Riley. Directed by Michael Blackwood.
• 2008: "A Rainbow in Curved Air" is in the game Grand Theft Auto IV. You can hear it on the radio station "The Journey."
• 2017: Hochelaga, Land of Souls. Film by François Girard.

See also

In Spanish: Terry Riley para niños