MInimalist Music and Social Platforms – Part II of Part IV

According to music researcher, Jonathan Benard, Minimalism’s purposeful development of individualism included the ideas of thought that music was created by Minimalist composers “in a spirit of rebellion against the rigidities of the musical “establishment” or because they felt genuinely isolated in the world of music and were looking for some way to connect with the arts – or both. (1) This “rebellion” is modeled in Terry Riley’s, “In C” composition - a reactionary response to atonality. The listener can hear the Minimalist rhythmic and melodic simplicity within the ”limited improvisational freedom” (2) of the fifty-three varying figures. Yet, “In C” gives rise to an overall sonic complexity and seemingly non-unified blanket of sound when all ensemble members are playing. This blanket of sound can be viewed as a metaphor for the structure of individualism found in Minimalism –patchworks of ideas that obtusely display unique qualities while still being held together by the common frame of humanity.
In a brief period of time, and with the American cultural paradigm shift of the late 1960s, the construct for individualism grew in acceptance. The welcomed shift for individualism spurred musical reactions throughout the United States as exemplified in the style of Conceptual Rock. The seemingly unknown band named Devo’s made a 1978 appearance on Saturday Night Live that sparked questions, and laughter, about individualism in music style. With its rebellious robotic-like dance, repetitive motion and simplistic form, Devo made a Minimalist response to the Rolling Stones’ song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
Reacting to the loss of individuality in rock music, Theo Cateforis describes Devo having displayed “an absurd procession of minimalist, stunted riffs and nervous vocals.” This nationally broadcasted musical rebellion of Minimalism made a light-hearted disguise of the growing shift of music attitude that would continue to surface in other music outgrowths that focused not only on the self-adorning individualism, but inclusion of the Minimalist style of sonic independence.
Sonic independence can be heard in Reich’s use of phasing vocal lines from a street evangelist, in “It’s Gonna Rain.” This composition was a statement that demanded the listener to view to the music as an entire structure. The concept of hearing music through whole sonic structures, and not only pitch or rhythm, was the focal point. A shift from regular rhythmic pulses and pitch relationships and that of Western music’s harmonic form had emerged. Thus, with this shift, Minimalists laid the foundation for sonic independence. Not only was the composer in rebellion to previous musical ideas of form and structure, the Minimalist works themselves were sonic composites of rebellion. In order for the listener to understand a work, the entire work had to be viewed as its own identity with each piece creating its own form and independent structure.

-----
1. Jonathan W. Bernard “Theory, Analysis and the “Problem” of Minimal Music” Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies (New York: University of Rochester Press, 1995), 281.
2. Wim Mertens, American Minimal Music: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (New York: Pro/Am Music Resources, Inc., 1983), 42.