1

ASHGATE
RESEARCH
COMPANION

Analysing Minimalist and

Postminimalist Music:
an overview of methodologies
Tristian Evans

Introduction
Two important questions immediately spring to mind when considering the purpose
of analysing music: first, 'how does it work?' and secondly, 'what does it mean?' Given
the frequent dependency of minimalist music upon drones and/or repetition, certain
issues might well be considered problematic for the analyst, such as the scarcity of
materials employed, absence of dialectical structures, or the music's purported lack
of teleology and narrativity. Nevertheless, scholars have promoted an understanding
of minimalism by examining its formal construction, motivic characteristics, aspects
relating to temporality and repetition, the use of static harmonies and its interaction
with other media in film, theatre, ballet, television and opera. By addressing these
issues, they have examined its effect on the listener, thereby helping to answer the
question 'what does minimalism mean?'
This chapter provides a broad survey of developments relevant to the analysis of
minimalist and postminimalist music. First, the work of formalist theorists since the
mid-1980s will be outlined: work often concentrating on the study of pitch, rhythm
and repetition from a mainly mathematical and scientific perspective. Second, a survey
of more pluralist approaches will be offered: attempts to engage with this music in a
wider sense by addressing its sociological contexts, cultural practices, subjective affects
and the music's relationship with other media. The final section of this chapter will
propose a new model for analysing minimalist music, taking into account aspects of
space, temporality and the theories of Nicholas Cook, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault,
Jonathan Kramer and Rebecca Leydon. By incorporating a number of extant theoretical
interactions, this holistic model will finally be applied to an example of 'high minimalism',
Steve Reich's Music for Eighteen Musicians, as used in a television commercial by Orange,
in order to demonstrate its ability to offer new insights into this music.
ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMALIST & POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
Structuralist Analytical Approaches
As shown in the theoretical writings of Arnold Schoenberg, Milton Babbitt, Pierre
Boulez and others from the last century, both musicologists and composers have
engaged in an increasing amount of analytical activity. In the area of minimalist music,
Paul Epstein, a composer and a theorist, was one of the first to engage analytically with
this field. His pioneering analysis of Piano Phase (1967) by Steve Reich (b. 1936) reveals
how the music represents the 'coming together of the impersonal and the personal'
and demonstrates how an objective process can affect the listener's psycho-acoustic
response.] By examining the note-to-note details of the work, Epstein argues that the
phasing process 'greatly resembles a gradual process in nature' comparable to that of
a solar eclipse. 2 Numerous other theorists have followed in Epstein's path, taking a
mathematical and/or scientific approach to the analysis of minimalist compositions.
Such analyses pay particular attention to the music's effect on listeners' cognitive
awareness without examining extra-musical meanings or semiological significations to
any great extent. The analysis of the music as a process is the main focus here, thereby
reflecting minimalist composers' preoccupation with 'process' (as evident in Reich's
1968 manifesto, 'Music as a Gradual Process').3
Around the time that Reich was developing his theories relating to rhythm, process
and resulting psycho-acoustic effects, Babbitt had formulated a method of applying
the 12-note system to classify rhythmic parameters in electronic music. 4 While
serialism and minimalism were once regarded as opposing forces in contemporary
music, they forged a relationship from the 1970s onwards where they became not
entirely mutually exclusive. In Las Vegas in 1978, Justin Saragoza began to develop
'serial-minimalist' techniques for composition, and his efforts came to the attention
of David Lewin during the mid-1980s;5 James Tenney's Chromatic Canon for two
pianos (1980-83) was heavily influenced by Anton Webern's music and dedicated to
Steve Reich. 6
In analytical terms, Babbitt's method of studying pitch classes, as developed since
the late 1940s, later informed the theoretical work of Allen Forte and Lewin, and the
analyses of Richard Cohn.? In his study of Reich's phase-shifting compositions, Cohn
1 Paul Epstein, 'Pattern Structure and Process in Steve Reich's Piano Phase', The Musical
Quarterly, 72/4 (1986): p. 494.
2 Epstein, 'Pattern Structure and Process', pp. 501-2.
3 Steve Reich, 'Music as a Gradual Process' (1968), in Writings on Music 1965-2000, Paul
Hillier (ed.) (Oxford, 2002), pp. 34-6.
4 See Milton Babbitt, 'Twelve-Tone Rhythmic Structure and the Electronic Medium',
Perspectives ofNew Music, 1/1 (1962): pp. 49-79.
5 Saragoza's treatise and exchange of correspondences with Lewin may be found in
'Serialminimalist Files for Composition' (1978, revised 1995), at <http://justinsaragoza.
com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Serialminimalist_Files_for_Composition.
pdf> (accessed 8 October 2011).
6 See Eric Smigel, "'You've put me in bed with Schoenberg": James Tenney, gradual
process, and the reconciliation of opposing musical forces', paper presented at the
Third International Conference on Minimalist Music (12-15 October 2011), Catholic
University of Leuven, Belgium.
7 For an example of how the set theories of such writers have been applied to other
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ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
highlights rhythm as 'the [self-determined] dominant parameter in Reich's music',s and
therefore adapts a method from pitch-class analysis to study beat-class sets: a.method
that, as John Roeder has also demonstrated, proved effective in illustrating how the note-
to-note details of the 'small-scale beat-class sets' inevitably impact on the overall 'large-
scale textural design of these pieces'. 9 Roeder's analysis of Reich's Six Pianos (1973), New
York Counterpoint (1986) and The Four Sections (1987) demonstrates how the build-up
of beat-class sets creates pitch and rhythmic accents, or 'tonics'. More recently, Roeder
has examined pitch spaces and transformations in three compositions by Arvo Part
(b. 1935), his Fratres (1977), Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem (1982) and
The Beatitudes (1990), observing how melody and harmony are closely integrated due to
the composer's use of tintinnabulation: a technique that is highly suitable to pitch-class
analysis. lO Drawing on Igor Stravinsky'S notion of 'meaningful freedom',ll Roeder puts
forth the plausible argument that strict processes can accommodate subtle changes and,
more importantly, expression, even though melodic, harmonic and formal attributes
appear'constrained' by such systemsY
Taking a scientific approach rather than the mathematical route developed by
Babbitt, Cohn, Roeder and others, Keith Potter, Geraint Wiggins and Marcus Pearce
have used computational methods based on human perception of pitch in order to
study repetitive music's cognitive effectsY By applying events of structural importance
in Gradus (1968) and Two Pages (1969) by Philip Glass (b. 1937) to a model based on
information dynamics that takes into account short-term and long-term memory
models, their research has proved 'to be a powerful tool to increase objectivity in data-
based music analysis' .]4 A survey of the distribution of pitch classes hypothesizes on
how higher musical expectancy (e.g. at the start of a new section) can lead to higher
information content and entropy, while lower expectancy (at sectional conclusions and
during descending scales) results in lower information dynamics and lower entropy.]5
minimalist repertoire, see Brett Boutwell on the formation of La Monte Young's
'dream chords' and the harmonic language of Terry Jennings, in 'Terry Jennings at the
Margins', paper presented at the Third International Conference on Minimalist Music
(12-15 October 2011), Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
8 Richard Cohn, 'Transpositional Combination of Beat-Class Sets in Steve Reich's Phase-
Shifting Music', Perspectives ofNew Music, 30/2 (1992): p. 149.
9 John Roeder, 'Beat-Class Modulation in Steve Reich's Music', Music Theory Spectrum,
25/2 (2003): p. 275. This concept accords with Richard Middleton's treatment of
'musematic' and 'discursive' repetition, as discussed later with regard to Rebecca
Leydon's theories.
10 In a somewhat light-hearted manner, Paul Hillier refers to the origins of the
tintinnabulation teclmique - the English bell-ringing tradition - as a precursor of
minimalism; see Paul Hillier, Arvo Plirt (Oxford, 1997), p. 18.
11 John Roeder, 'Transformational Aspects of Arvo Part's Tintinnabuli Music', Journal of
Music Theory, 55/1 (2011): p. l.
12 Ibid., p. 36.
13 Keith Potter, Geraint A. Wiggins and Marcus T. Pearce, 'Towards Greater Objectivity
in Music Theory: information-dynamic analysis of minimalist music', Musicae Scientiae,
11/2 (2007): pp. 295-324.
14 Ibid., p. 295.
15 Ibid., p. 303.
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ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMAUST & POSTMINIMAUST MUSIC
The results of these experiments were largely supported by the hypothesis set out in
their investigation.
Glass's Two Pages has also been the subject of an analysis by Rob Haskins, who has
looked at harmony in Glass's works up to Einstein on the Beach (1976). Haskins employs
pitch-class theory to examine Two Pages and Music in Similar Motion (also 1969) and
identifies certain common features in Glass's selection of pitch-class configurations. 16 In
the former work, attention is drawn to the prevalence of prime form 5-23 (heard as c, d,
f and g), which represents the first five pitches of the minor scale, and/or the Aeolian
and Dorian modes. In the latter, the prime form 3-9 has been identified, transcribed as
pitches c, d and g, as heard in the bass register of the . .
While set-theoretical approaches have proven of value m analysmg atonal mUSIC
(Babbitt, Forte et a1.), their use in rhythmic contexts relating to minimalism (Cohn,
Roeder et a1.) and Haskins's deployment to illustrate Glass's use of certain motivic
patterns demonstrate that set-theory can be effective in the analysis of music that is
largely based on a tonal framework. Glass often employs motiv.ic and
progressions across a broad range of works that are based on slmllar, yet not ldenhcal,
intervallic configurations. This would suggest that such intervallic patterns belong to
subsets of a broader fuzzy-logic set/7 explained by Rodrigo F. Cadiz as a 'set whose
members belong to it to a certain degree' .18 According to Cadiz, the premise a Steve Reich in La Rochelle in 1976, and Keith Potter and John Pymm's examination
fuzzy-logic set hinges on the notion that 'things are not true or false - black or whlte-
anymore, they can be partially true or false or any shade of gray' .19 Glass's of
class sets that are similar yet not identical consequently suggests that these mtervalhc
configurations amalgamate into a single'generic' entity, forming an integrated set of
pitch collections that the listener might associate with his works on a general leveL
Heinrich Schenker's illustration of voice-leading and tonal structures is yet another
method that has been applied to some extent to minimalist music. Robert Fink has
highlighted the lack of deep hierarchical layers within minimalism by drawing
attention to the so-called'degraded hierarchies' of Reich's Piano Phase. 20 Ron Woodley's
16 Rob Haskins, 'Another Look at Philip Glass: aspects of harmony and formal design
in early works and Einstein on the Beach', Journal of Experimental Music Studies (2005),
at <http://www.users.waitrose.com/-chobbslhaskinsglass.html> (accessed 9 September
2008).
17 In poststructuralist terms, fuzzy logic can be considered as the mathematical/scientific
equivalent of deconstructive theory in linguistics.
18 Rodrigo F. Cadiz, 'A Fuzzy-Logic Mapper for Audiovisual Comp.uter Music
30/1 (2006): p. 69. Cadiz's article presents a study of fuzzy lOgIC ill relation to multim?dla
contexts. Keith Potter refers to Ian Quinn's research into contour theory and generalized
pitch-class spaces, particularly in relation to Reich's see ';976 and All That:
minimalism and post-minimalism, analysis and listenmg strategIes, keynote lecture
presented at the FirstInternational Conference on Minimalist Music (31 August-2 September
2007), University of Bangor, North Wales, at <http://www.musicminimalism.org>.
Quinn's own writings, see Ian Quinn, 'Fuzzy Extensions to the Theory on Contour', MUSIC
Theory Spectrum, 19/2 (1997): pp. 232-63; and 'Minimal Challenges: process music and the
uses of formalist analysis', Contemporary Music Review, 25/3 (2006): pp. 283-94.
19 Cadiz, 'A Fuzzy-Logic Mapper for Audiovisual Media', p. 69.
20 See Robert Fink, 'Going Flat: post-hierarchical music theory and the musical surface',
in Nicholas Cook and Mark Everist (eds.), Rethinking Music (Oxford, 1999), pp. 102-37.
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ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
broad-ranging analysis of Reich's Proverb (1995) and Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices
and Organs (1973), in addition to Eight Lines (1979) and New York Counterpoint, at times
applies quasi-Schenkerian techniques/I while Chia-Ying Wu adopts a similar method
in his analysis of the 'Opening' movement from Glass's Glassworks (1982).22
Poststructuralism: thinking outside the box?
The application of formalist approaches such as set theory and Schenkerian techniques
to minimalist and postminimalist music has brought to light certain characteristics
that are common across a range of composers' works, such as the consistent use of
related harmonic progressions. This seems to suggest some kind of generic intertext.
Pwyll ap Sian's study of referentiality in the music of Michael Nyman (b. 1944), for
instance, uncovers the Widespread use of the repetition of musical material in his
output. 23 Robert and Susan McClary have, in different ways, accommodated both
poststructural and semiological approaches, by placing minimalist music within its
sociological milieu. 24 Source studies by ap Sian focusing on Nyman's interview with
of the sound footage for Reich's It's Gonna Rain (1965)/5 are examples of a new trend
in analysing minimalist music: one that sets out to examine the semiotic relationship
between the composer's intentions and subsequent results found in scores and
sound recordings, representing the interaction between the poietic level ('process of
creation')26 and the neutral level ('the material reality of the work)}? as found in Jean
Molino and Jean-Jacques Nattiez's semiological tripartition.
21 See Ron Woodley, 'Steve Reich's Proverb, Canon, and a Little Wittgenstein', in Katelijne
Schiltz and Bonnie J. Blackburn (eds.), Canons and Canonic Techniques, 14th-16th
Centuries: theory, practice, and reception history (Leuven, 2007), pp. 457-8l.
22 Chia-Ying Wu, The Aesthetics of Minimalist Music and a Schenkerian-Oriented Analysis of
the First Movement 'Opening' of Philip Glass' Glassworks (MMus thesis, University of
North Texas, 2009).
23 See Pwyll ap Sian, The Music ofMichael Nyman: texts, contexts and intertexts (Aldershot,
2007).
24 See Robert Fink, Repeating Ourselves: American minimal music as cultural practice (Berkeley
and Los Angeles, 2005); Susan McClary, Conventional Wisdom: the content of musical
form (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000); McClary, Feminine Endings: music, gender and
sexuality (Minneapolis, 1991); and McClary, 'Minima Romantica', in Daniel Goldmark,
Lawrence Kramer and Richard Leppert (eds.), Beyond the Soundtrack: representing music
in cinema (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2007), pp. 48-65.
25 Pwyll ap Sian, "'I'm now concerned with making beautiful music above everything
else ... n: new light on Michael Nyman's interview with Steve Reich, La Rochelle, 1976';
and Keith Potter and John Pymm, 'Steve Reich's It's Conna Rain: new light on its source
materials': both papers presented at the Third International Conference on Minimalist
Music (12-15 October 2011), Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
26 Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Music and Discourse: toward a semiology of music, trans. Carolyn
Abbate (New Jersey, 1990), p. 12.
27 Ibid., p. 15.
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The catalyst for this plethora of analytical approaches might be identified in the
aesthetic shift from minimalism to postminimalism, especially when it is combined with
other media. John Richardson's study of Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten (1984)28 which
places the work within its historical and theatrical context, and Fink's later analysis of
repetition as cultural practice 29 support the idea that a composer such as Glass is, in
John Adams's words, a 'cultural icon'.3o The greater recognition of minimalist music
within the wider society has inevitably led to more holistic analytical approaches.
Nevertheless, structuralist methodologies (such as set-theoretic applications) continue
to appear in recent publications (as in the case of John Roeder, for instance). However,
such approaches have taken into account the subjectivity of minimalism or the'nuances'
that it might provide. 31 In postminimalist music, strict processes appear to have become
relaxed; likewise, post-set-theoretical approaches have also become more considerate
of other analytical factors.
In fact, Roeder's observation relates to a certain degree to Rebecca Leydon's
'typology of minimalist tropes', which offers an 'affective' vocabulary of specific
forms of repetition and argues that repetitive music can indeed express specific
cognitive meanings. 32 In an article published in 2002, Leydon discusses the manner
in which repetition in minimalist music causes different effects upon the listener. The
'linear trajectory' of 'musical syntax' is superseded by 'obstinate motivic repetition'
that ultimately results in varied subjective interpretations. 33 With reference to Naomi
Cumming's work on 'the musical subject',34 Leydon articulates the three parameters
that are attributed to subjectivity as defined by Cumming. First, timbre (the 'grain of the
musical sound') has an effect upon the listener. Cumming's second parameter, gesture,
allows 'a listener [to gain] access to a vicarious kinaesthesia: physical gestures of the
body serve as interpretants for motivic shapes, rhythms and contours'. Third, and
finally, syntax is related to 'causality and 'intentionality', i.e. the direction of the music,
or in Schenkerian terms, goal-orientated motion. While non-minimalist music 'speaks,
28 John Richardson, Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass's Akhnaten (Hanover, CT, 1999).
29 Fink, Repeating Ourselves.
30 John Adams, Hallelujah Junction: composing an American life (London, 2008), p. 96.
31 Roeder, 'Transformational Aspects of Arvo Part's Tintinnabuli Music', p. 1.
32 Rebecca Leydon, 'Toward a Typology of Minimalist Tropes', Music Theory Online, 8/4
(2002), at <http://www.societymusictheory.org/mto/issues/mto.02.8.4.leydon.html>
(accessed 8 July 2008). Leydon's theory also resonates with the listening experiences
of Dick Higgins, as referred to by Michael Nyman in his 'Cage and Satie', The Musical
Times, 114/1570 (1973): pp. 1227-9. Higgins commented on the effect of listening to
Satie's Vieux Sequins et Vieilles Cuirasses, in which a passage is repeated 380 times,
and noted that 'the music first becomes so familiar that it seems extremely offensive
and objectionable. But after that the mind slowly becomes incapable of taking further
offence, and a very strange, euphoric acceptance and enjoyment begins to set in'. See
Dick Higgins, Foew&ombwhnw (New York, 1969), p. 97; also Larry Austin and Douglas
Kahn (eds.), Source: music of the avant-garde 1966-1973 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2011),
p. 178. This experience therefore demonstrates shifts in perception when listening to
repetitive music, and emphasizes the subjective nature of such listening.
33 Leydon, 'Toward a Typology of Minimalist Tropes'.
34 Naomi Cumming, 'The Horrors of Identification: Steve Reich's Different Trains',
Perspectives ofNew Music, 35/1 (1997): pp. 129-52.
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ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
moves and intends', in this particular context, however, 'syntax is undermined by the
obstinate repetition of a single motivic gesture'. Postminimalist music has, nevertheless,
evolved in a more complex fashion: simultaneous repetitive layers of music are often
heard, which demonstrate that it offers more than just'a single motivic gesture'.35
Some considerations regarding the employment of different forms of repetition may
be found in Richard Middleton's research on popular music, which is equally relevant
to minimalist or postminimalist music. 36 Leydon refers to Middleton's 'repetition
strategies', in which distinctions are drawn between 'musematic' repetitions, i.e.
the repetition of 'short motivic fragments', and 'discursive' repetitions of longer
unit lengths, as discussed earlier. Building on Middleton's research, Leydon offers a
typology of six minimalist tropes that represent different subjective states. These tropes
are listed and described as the maternal (a 'holding environment'); mantric ('a state
of mystical transcendence'); kinetic ('a collectivity of dancing bodies'); totalitarian (an
'involuntary state of unfreedom'); motoric ('indifferent mechanized process'); and the
aphasic (implying 'notions of cognitive impairment, madness or logical absurdity').37
The next section seek to identify various examples of minimalist music that relate
to Leydon's categories.
Applying Leydon's Typology
The interrelationship between the visual and musical elements in the second instalment
of Philip Glass and Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi trilogy, Powaqqatsi (1988), which depicts 'life
in transformation', results in several repetitive effects relating to Leydon's typology,
particularly the kinetic and the motoric types. The opening scene, 'Serra Pelada', showing
workers toiling en masse in the open air under harsh conditions, clearly points towards
the kinetic type, the 'collectivity of dancing bodies' in Leydon's terms. Although the
workers in the film are not necessarily dancing (the footage is in fact presented in slow-
motion), a strong emphasis on collective bodily movement is evident here. Both the
projection of workers in the silent film in the opera Quarry (1976) by Meredith Monk
(b. 1942), and the presentation of the construction of the 'Hindenburg' airship in
Steve Reich and Beryl Korot's 'documentary digital video opera', Three Tales (2002),
also share this kinetic quality. The labourers' toil in Quarry, for instance, is musically
represented in the 'Weave' scene, in which a multitude of interweaving vocal lines is
heard, forming an assemblage of sounds. Similarly, Reich's reworking of Wagner's
'Nibelung' leitmotif in 'Hindenburg' also conveys a sense of productivity when used in
conjunction with Korot's manipulation of visual montage based on found footage. 38 The
war-like implications of both works form an additional link to the totalitarian trope, as
discussed later.
35 All these quotations are taken from Leydon, 'Toward a Typology of Minimalist Tropes'.
36 See Richard Middleton, Studying PopUlar Music (Milton Keynes, 1990).
37 Leydon, 'Towards a Typology of Minimalist Tropes'.
38 Other examples of the kinetic element in postminimalist music include Glass's The
Photographer (1982) and the typing scenes in Reich and Korot's The Cave (1992).
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ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMALIST & POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
Repetitive music's ability to convey motion is again obvious in the motoric trope.
The gradual intensification of engine noises in Monk's 'Engine Steps' from Turtle
Dreams (1983) sets out to depict the 'dehumanisation of modern man' through a
theatrical medium. 39 Leydon's motoric trope is equally applicable to Glass's Einstein
on the Beach (especially the 'Train' and 'Spaceship' sections), John Adams's Short Ride
in a Fast Machine (1986) and Reich's Different Trains (1988). Naomi Cumming analyses
the latter from a listener's perspective, and observes the train as a 'shared sign' that
evokes different emotions as the work develops.40 The title of the work is in itself
indicative of this feature. The function (or functions) of repetition therefore vary as the
composition unfolds, offering different semiological meanings for, and in relation to,
the central image of trains. On one hand, it can have nostalgic implications that evoke
'positivity and regression in time (like a pleasure trip on a renovated steam train)'.41 On
the other, Reich's work also carries a sinister undertone in its portrayal of death facing
those individuals on their journey to the gas chambers in Nazi Germany. Such sinister
connotations of the train are strongly related to the totalitarian concept, described
by Leydon as evoking 'an involuntary state of unfreedom'.42 The motion of the train
in Reich's work conveys a twofold effect, then: the 'primitive "drive'" in Leydon's
terms is an obvious example of motoric repetition, yet Cumming also notes that 'in
the first movement, an engagement with the motoric rhythm can alternate with the
recognition of "a steam train" as a nostalgic object'.43 This 'nostalgic' element suggests
a relationship to Leydon's concept of the maternal trope; and although it does not revert
as far back to'an imagined state of prelinguistic origins',44 nostalgia may plausibly refer
to early childhood memories, or to past times. The maternal trope features heavily in
Monk's output. Writing in the Village Voice, Kyle Gann has suggested that the lullaby
is paradigmatic of her compositional approach. 45 Monk's own manifesto as laid out in
'Notes on the Voice' (1976) demonstrates a conscious effort to expand on the emotive
capabilities of the voice, and explains how it may be used'as a tool ... for demonstrating
primordial/pre-logical consciousness', while also capable of serving 'as a direct link to
the emotions' and 'as a manifestation of the self, persona or personas'.46 'Lullaby' from
Quarry, for instance, illustrates the voice's ability to express emotive content outside
its semantic context, and serves as another example of the maternal trope in its use of
39 Mo Bates, 'Crossing the Boundaries of Art', Theatre Ireland, 15 (1988), pp. 18-20.
40 Cumming, 'The Horrors of Identification', p. 131.
41 Ibid., p. 131.
42 Leydon, 'Towards a Typology of Minimalist Tropes'. This sense of entrapment is also
apparent in Reich's already-mentioned 'Hindenburg', in the 'Prison' scenes of Glass
and Robert Wilson's Einstein on the Beach, in Glass's chamber opera In the Penal Colony
(2000) and in the captive nature of his opera Waiting for the Barbarians (2005). Other
examples exist in which the music simultaneously invokes two subjective states, as
discussed in due course.
43 Cumming, 'The Horrors of Identification', p. 138.
44 Leydon, 'Towards a Typology of Minimalist Tropes'.
45 Kyle Gann, 'Ancient Lullabies', Village Voice, 27 December 1988: pp. 1 and 3; reprinted in
Deborah Jowitt (ed.), Meredith Monk (Baltimore and London, 1997), pp. 164-6.
46 Meredith Monk, 'Meredith Monk', The Painted Bride Quarterly, 3/2 (1976): p. 13; see also
Bates, 'Crossing the Boundaries of Art', p. 18.
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ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
gentle oscillations between C-minor and chords and the gradual layering of
various vocal timbres.
Other examples of postminimalist lullabies might well be offered in this context.
Lullaby (1978) by Daniel Lentz (b. 1942), is a 10-minute contrapuntal composition
built on layers of various arpeggio figures and static harmonies performed by voices,
synthesizer and harp, presented in a child-like setting. (Incidentally, the work was
written for Lentz's young daughter, who played a non-pedal 'troubadour' harp, and
its diatonic configuration and use of octaves and open fifths occurred as a result. 47)
'Nite Nite', a love song by Ben Neill (b. 1957) released on his Automotive album (2002)
is based on the composer's music for Volkswagen commercials, and also uses open
fifths in a pendulum-like manner. The song fuses minimalist jazz and Drum and Bass
elements, together with alternating G-minor-seventh and G-major chords (providing an
intervallic step of a minor third for the lyrics 'nite nite'), which give it a lulling motion.
Even though 'Nite Nite' resides comfortably within pop music in its instrumentation, its
slightly longer length (6 minutes and 40 seconds) reveals minimalist associations with
larger-scale structures, while the use of open-fifth ostinati on the organ is reminiscent
of the sound of Glass's works: the organ passages in the opening track of Koyaanisqatsi
(1982), for instance.
Two examples from Glass's film music immediately form an association with the
maternal trope. The music of 'Truman Sleeps', from The Truman Show (1998), is based
on a harmonic pattern consisting of the chords F major-C major.
This cyclical progression provides a lulling motion that supports the visual narrative.
The soundtrack to No Reservations (2007) forms yet another instance of a maternal or
caring emotion through its harmonic gestures. The film is based on the story of a young
girl who comes to live with her aunt after the death of her mother in a car accident. The
narrative develops the story of the aunt, who is a professional chef, adapting to her new
and unexpected maternal role as a result of her sister's death.
While Glass's oscillating harmonic progressions contribute towards an eloquently
poignant atmosphere in No Reservations and provide an equally 'holding environment'
in The Truman Show, postminimalist music by other composers is often based more
on melodic content (not surprising, given the voice's association with the lullaby).
Strawberry Fields (1999), the melodramatic opera by Michael Torke (b. 1960), is centred
on the reminiscences of an elderly lady suffering from dementia, who is found sitting in
New York's memorial park, believing that she is attending the matinee performance of
an opera. Her son and daughter arrive to take her to a care home; however, she passes
away towards the work's end. In this context, Leydon's aphasic and maternal tropes
seem to overlap, due to the lady's illogical frame of mind and the maternal role reversal
of the son and daughter who are taking care of their mother. The lulling motion of
Torke's music suggests an emotive regression to a past era, while modal harmonies,
tinged with nostalgia and sadness (as is the music in Glass's No Reservations, discussed
above), relate to the libretto.
Glass and Torke's applications of oscillating motions generate a reassuring emotional
state, as demonstrated here by the relevance of the maternal trope. Yet unconventional
uses of tonality in postminimalist music can convey unsettled psychological states,
such as the semitonal shifts often employed by Glass, for instance. The exploitation of
47 Personal correspondence with the author, 28 August 2011.
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tonality to express extreme emotional states, or aphasia, seem to occur fairly regularly
in postminimalist contexts: one example is Delirium (1997).by Elizabe.th Brown (b. 1953),
which, through its microtonal use of flute, cello, syntheSIzed harpsIch?rd sounds.
Harry Partch-like instrumentation, recreates a confused and blurred mmdscape withm
a distorted Baroque aesthetic.
The mystical element in the output of Harry Partch (1901-74) can also be traced to
the Cathedral (1997-) and iOrpheus (2007) projects by William Duckworth (1943-2012);
while Partch's own proto-minimalist work, The Bewitched (1957), eVi.nces a certain d:?ree
of mysticism, probably as a consequence of his predilection for Greek
and forms of intonation. 48 As in the case of this theatrical compositlon, the mantnc trope
inherently relates to rites or spirituality: Glass's operas (1980) and Akhnaten,
the Biblical texts in Reich's 'Bikini' from Three Tales and Requlem (2007) by John Tavener
(b. 1944) serve as examples of the use of repetition in the c?ntext of ritual ceremony.
In his study of Akhnaten, John Richardson draws attentlOn to the of ?ell
motifs in Act I, relating them to the symbolic use of bells by European postmimmahsts:
the 'European "school" of "New Mystic" composers', as Glass once called them, such
as Arvo Part and Tavener. 49
Analysing Minimalist Multimedia
Most of the examples discussed above in relation to Rebecca s its own terms: individual differences are always conceived of as a function of
drawn from opera and music theatre, and it is also often the case that mimmahst muslC
is reused in new televisual or filmic contexts. Nicholas Cook's 'three basic models of
multimedia' have been applied in this instance by Pwyll ap Sian and the present author
in the analysis of televisi?n :hat have Glass's
music and Godfrey RegglO's vIsual matenals from Koyaamsqatsl, meanmgs formed
within the music's primary and secondary contexts are tested against Cook's models
of conformance, complementation and difference in order to assess or the
music works 'with' or'against' the visual image, or indeed perhaps occupIes a mIddle
ground. In Cook's basic models, similarity and media are pitted
against each other in a dialectical manner. In the final sectlOn of thIS chapter, however,
a model that does not depend on such clear-cut opposition will be formulated, based
on the philosophical ideas of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault. Once this model has
48 For more on Partch's composition, see Harry Partch, Genesis of a Music (New York,
1974). . one sphere of activity by another, taken together with the idea of a "middle term"
49 Richardson, Singing Archaeology, p. 135; see also Hillier, Arvo Part, pp. wherem
Part's use of bells is discussed in relation to ritual contexts. For more on Part, Tavener
and other 'spiritual minimalists', see David Dies's chapter in the present
50 See Nicholas Cook, Analysing Musical Multimedia (Oxford, 1:98); Pwyll ap ar: d
Tristian Evans, 'Parallel Symmetries? Exploring RelationshIps
Music and Multimedia Forms', in Graeme Harper (ed.), Sound and MUSIC In Film and
Visual Media (New York, 2009), pp. 671-91; see also Rebecca M. Doran Eaton,
Minimalisms: the functions ofthe minimalist technique in/ilm scores (PhD diss.,
Texas at Austin, 2008); and Sean Atkinson, An Analytical Model for the Study ofMultimedia
Compositions: a case study in minimalist music (PhD diss., Florida State University, 2009).
250
ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
been presented, a synthesized version will be applied to examples of postminimalist
music used in conjunction with other media.
In previous sections of this chapter, references were made to John Roeder's
consideration that emotion might be expressed within a system that has fixed
boundaries. Leydon's typology has also shown how the 'sameness' of repetition can
lead to different subjective affects. These observations form part of the next section,
in which Deleuze's concept of difference as the root of everything will support a new
method of analysing relationships between various media. Drawing on his philosophy
that 'difference is behind everything, but behind difference there is nothing',SI this
section will argue that similarity should plausibly be regarded as one of the mediating
forms of difference. Furthermore, difference is mediated by one of four means: identity,
analogy, opposition or resemblance, which can be seen to represent the 'four shackles of
mediation'.52 Figure 12.1 offers an overview of these mediating factors.
According to Eric Prieto, the first form of mediation, identity, is one of the most
influential parts of Deleuze's Difference and Repetition, primarily due to its contradiction
of the Aristotlean notion that everything must be classified into two categories - that of
genus and species: .
By paying special attention to the taxonomical procedures that characterize
Aristotlean thought (where every individual is a member of a conceptual
category and every category a member of a still more general category),
Deleuze is able to show that Aristotle is unable to conceive of difference on
the categories to which the individuals belong; difference itself is defined as
a function of identity.53
51 Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, trans. Paul Patton (London, 1994 [original
French 1968]), p. 69. Over the last two decades, aspects of Deleuze's poststructural
theories have been applied to the study of minimalism by only a few writers, such as
Wim Mertens, Robert Fink and Brian Hulse; see, for instance Hulse, 'A Deleuzian Take
on Repetition, Difference, and the "Minimal" in Minimalism' (n.d.), at <http://www.
operascore.com/files/Repetition_and_Minimalism.pdf> (accessed 3 February 2010).
52 Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, p. 37. Georgina Born has approached the subject
of mediation and the 'negotiation of differences' from an Adornian perspective; see
Born, 'On Musical Meditation: ontology, technology and creativity', Twentieth-Century
Music, 2/1 (2005): pp. 7-36. Born refers to Max Paddison's explanation of the concept of
mediation as 'interactions, interconnections, interchanges, between otherwise different
activities, areas, spheres or processes. It can also have the sense of the reflection of
in which this reflection takes place, or in which shared characteristics of the different
spheres converge or coincide as aspects of a larger totality'; see Paddison, Adorno's
Aesthetics ofMusic (Cambridge, 1993), p. 109. Paddison's definition of this 'middle term'
can be regarded as the counterpart of Cook's complementation model, or of Algirdas
Julien Greimas's 'synthetic' position in his semiotic square (see Cook, Analysing Musical
Multimedia, pp. 102-4).
53 Eric Prieto, 'Deleuze, Music, and Modernist Mimesis', in Suzanne M. Lodato and David
Francis Urrows (eds.), Words and Music Studies: essays on music and the spoken word and
on surveying the field (Amsterdam, 2005), p. 7; see also Deleuze, Difference and Repetition,
p.7l.
251
 ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMALIST & POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC

Currie, involve the combination of similarity and difference, which raises the question
of whether this concept therefore reflects Cook's complementation mode1,58
Deleuze explains the second form of mediation, analogy, as 'the relation between
ultimate determinable concepts', or as defined in the OxJord American Dictionary,
'a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for
the purpose of explanation or clarification'. This is represented in Figure 12.1 by an
Identity Analogy Opposition Resemblance I Similitude analogical relation8hip, an external link between twin elements. The concept of analogy

will be discussed in greater detail a little later when aspects of Foucault's theories on

D DO I I I
resemblance will be combined with Deleuze's 'four shackles'.59
Deleuze describes opposition (or ratio fiendi in Foucaultian terms) as 'the relation
between determinations within concepts'; hence an inner connecting line between both
elements has been constructed in Figure 12.1. As the model shows, opposition is divided
1. Contradiction Z. Privation 3. Contrariety into three subcategories: contradiction, privation and contrariety - the latter of which
is defined as 'the capacity of an object to bear opposite while remaining substantially
the same'.60 Similar to Cook's model, and equally relevant to Greimas's semiotic square,
Deleuze's contradictory opposition is considered greater than contrariness, while
Foucault's 'four similitudes' privation 'expresses a determinate incapacity on behalf of an existing subject'.61
The final category, resemblance, provides a connecting link to the second part of
this Deleuzian-Foucaultian model. Described by Deleuze as 'the determined object
1. Convenience } 4. Sympathy
of the concept itself, resemblance is regarded as the product of difference instead of
(V5. Antipathy) its antithesis. In analysing Rene Magritte's painting, The Treachery oj Images (1928-29)
2. Emulation 3. Analogy
(which includes the subtitled statement: 'This is not a pipe'), Foucault also attempts
to explain the concept of resemblance. According to him, resemblance "'presumes a
primary reference that prescribes and classes" copies on the basis of the rigor of their
mimetic relation to itself. Resemblance serves and is dominated by representation.'62
54 Foucault further introduces into his analyses the term 'similitude', which he argues is a
Figure 12.1 Methodological Framework based on Deleuze and Foucault's Theories
variant of resemblance due to 'the reference anchor [being] gone. Things are cast adrift.'63
In The Order oj Things, Foucault's use of both terms, resemblance and similitude,
Identity (or ratio cognoscendi in Foucault's terms) represents 'the undetermined concept'55
appears to be somewhat more intermingled. He states that four types of similitude
and, as defined by Mark Currie, can mean one of two things: either 'the property of
exist: convenience, emulation, analogy and sympathy - all of which appear to be concerned
absolute sameness between separate entities', or 'the unique characteristics determining
primarily with spatial connections. 64 In this respect, Foucault's classification can be
the personality and difference of a single entity'.56 This latter interpretation surely
associated with Roman Jakobson's theories on metaphor and metonymy: 'the internal
resonates with Prieto's claim that an identity requires uniqueness in order to function.
relation of similarity (and contrast) underlines the metaphor; the external relation
Figure 12.1 attempts to address the notion of identity as a single object, which conforms
of contiguity (and remoteness) determines the metonymy'.65 Metonymy, according
to Deleuze's theory on 'difference in itself.57 Both definitions of identity, according to
to Jakobson, is concerned with spatial or temporal relationships, which therefore

58 See Currie, Difference (the New Critical Idiom), p. 3.

54 See Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, pp. 36-40 and 330; also Michel Foucault, The
59 Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, p. 330.
Order of Things, trans. Alan Sheridan (London, 1974 [original French 1966]), pp. 17-24.
60 Ibid., p. 39.
55 Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, p. 40. 61 Ibid., p. 38.
56 Mark Currie, Difference (the New Critical Idiom) (London, 2004), p. 3.
62 Michel Foucault, This is Not a Pipe, trans. James Harkness (ed.) (Berkeley and Los
57 In fact, the origin of 'identity' as a single (even anti-dialectical) entity is traceable
Angeles, 1983 [original French Ceci n'est pas une pipe, 1968]), pp. 9-10.
back to Hegelian and subsequently Adornian thought. According to Paddison, both
63 Foucault, This is Not a Pipe, pp. 9-10.
philosophers considered that 'mediation does not simply refer to the way in which
64 Foucault, The Order of Things, pp. 17-24.
unlike spheres are connected. It is to be seen rather as the process of interaction and
65 on Child Language and Aphasia (The Hague, 1971), p. 41; cited
interconnection itself, whereby subjectivity and objectivity partake of each other
In Randa Dubmck, VISIble Poetry: metaphor and metonymy in the paintings of Rene
perceptually within the hermetically sealed-off and monad-like dialectic of musical
Magritte', Contemporary Literature, 21/3 (1980): p. 407.
material'; Paddison, Adorno's Aesthetics ofMusic, p. 110.
253
252
ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMALIST & POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC

correspond to Foucault's convenient, emulative and analogical forms of similitudes. 66

Deleuze's identity, analogy and opposition, on the other hand, might best be associated
with metaphor, which is primarily concerned with (dis)similarities between objects. 67
Figure 12.1 shows a convenient relationship involving two elements that are near t!',
ClJ'
<J'
to each other: 'a resemblance connected with space in the form of a gradual scale t::,
ClJ',
....
of proximity'.68 Emulation is considered as its subcategory (not its opposite)
described as 'a sort of "convenience" that has been freed from the law of place and Ii; ,,
w ,
is able to function without motion, from a distance'.69 Analogy, as mentioned earlier !za ,,
,,
in relation to Deleuze's 'four shackles of mediation', might well be considered as the u
,,,
asymmetrical synthesis of convenience and emulation; analogy 'like [emulation] makes ,,
possible the marvellous confrontation of resemblances across space; but it also speaks, ,,,
like [convenience] of adjacencies, of bonds and joints'.7o ,,
,
,,, ....<n<n
-=
Operating on a more independent level, the final form of similitude, sympathy, 'plays
,, >.
through the depths of the universe in a free state ... Sympathy is an instance of the same ,, !U
so strong and so insistent that it will not rest content to be merely one of the forms ,,,
of likeness; it has the dangerous power of assimilating, of rendering things identical , <
to one another.'71 This 'dangerous power of assimilation' is, however, limited by
,,,
,
....
"C
!U

Qi

-....
sympathy's opposition, antipathy, which 'maintains the isolation of things and prevents S
their assimilation'.72 This final form of similitude thus demonstrates a certain degree !zw ; :l
of opposition, which differs from the seemingly interconnected forms of convenience, ::;:
W
...J
emulation and analogy.
-
.....0""
0..
::;:
a
u Qi
"C
0

Towards a New Hermeneutic Model -....-

!U
tJ

;:l
Figure 12.2 presents a synthesized model that takes into account a number of the Qi

methodologies discussed earlier. Pitch-class and beat-class analysis are incorporated, =

Qi
S
as are Nicholas Cook's models of multimedia (displayed in thin diagonal line boxes).
In this model, the use of identical set-theoretic pitch-class sets is related to Cook's
"" Qi
::t:
'conformance' model, while generalized sets are associated with 'complementation' <
due to their incorporation of a middle ground. Elements of the theories of Gilles C'l
Deleuze and Michel Foucault are shown, for purposes of clarification, in curved square N
t""'I
boxes and connected to the subcategories as presented in oval frames. This diagram Qi
""
;:l
also emphasizes how repetition is interrelated with temporality and the anti-dialectic, ........
00
both of which are important in the identity of minimalist music. Jonathan Kramer's The
Time of Music, for instance, developed the notion of linear and non-linear temporality,
while Eero Tarasti and Wim Mertens also ruminated on aspects of (anti-)narrativity and :e ,,
,,
----------------- c:
Q) "t: I
:!2 C',
=::::
f
66 See Jakobson, Studies an Child Language and Aphasia, p. 41. ,,
67 See Dubnick, 'Visible Poetry', p. 407. ,
'
68 Foucault, The Order afThings, p. 18.
69 Ibid., p. 19.
70 Ibid., p. 21.
71 Ibid., p. 23.
72 Ibid., p. 24.

254
ASHGATE RESEARCH COMPANION TO MINIMALIST & POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
temporality in minimalism.73 The model also incorporates the extra-musical identity of
this music.
This hermeneutical framework will now be tested in relation to a case study, in which
the interaction between musical and visual temporality, and the lack of any dialectical
resolution, assume a more prominent position. During 2008, the telecommunications
company Orange rolled out a series of commercials entitled 'I Am', one of which fealtUJred
the Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont (who currently holds the Guinness world record for
cycling around the world). In the commercial, Beaumont attributes his success. to the
support he has gained from family, friends and others along the way, summa:1zed at
the end of the commercial in the statement 'I am who I am because of everyone.
The message transmitted in this campaign is subliminal due to its lack of direct
reference to the brand's products or services, and might thus be regarded as a more
nuanced or 'sophisticated' mode of advertising. The use of extracts from Steve Reich's
Music for Eighteen Musicians further contributes towards sense of
and its abstract nature seemingly offers no overt connection to the advertisement s
subject matter. As a result, no extra-musical meaning is carried forward from text to
new context.
The commercial is centred around Beaumont, who is positioned cycling on the spot,
surrounded by video walls, with footage recalling his journeys to date. The geometric
layout of the commercial's set shows a degree the n::inin::alist
aesthetic. Further symmetries between the mUS1C m the commerClal and 1tS v1sual
dimension may be observed in the combination of motion/movement and stasis: the
overall stasis of the bicycle versus the movement of the bicycle's wheels. The moving
images on screen thus interact with the temporal aspect of music. ..
In teleological terms, the music conveys a sense of motion through repetItlOn, but
avoids any sense of goal-orientation. It is thus an instance of 'non-directed time',
in Kramer's description. Rebecca Leydon's typology would suggest that th1s sense of
motion might be connected to the 'motoric' trope, albeit a natural or organic forn:: of
motoricism due to the fact that the bicycle is driven by a human not by a mechamcal
object. Repetition in this instance does not convey a 'state of mechanized indifference'
associated with industrialism. Through the cycling process, Beaumont generates
electricity that powers the visual screens, representing a symbiotic relationship between
humans and machines.
The combination of motion and stasis in both audio and visual domains suggests
a similar relationship between both media. Both interact with temporality to promote
a similar relationship between the music and its subject matter. Contrast this with the
original context of Music for Eighteen Musicians, where no visual dimension belongs
to the work and its abstract nature offers no extra-musical meaning. In the Orange
73 See Jonathan Kramer, The Time of Music (New York, 1988); Eero Tarasti, A Theory of
Musical Semiotics (Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1994), pp. 282-5; and Wim Mertens,
American Minimal Music: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, trans.
J. Hautekiet (London, 1988), p. 17. R. Andrew Lee also discusses the notion of
temporality in minimalist and postminimalist music, to the notion.of
time' in such works; see R. Andrew Lee, The InteractIOn of Lmear and Vertical Time m
Minimalist and Postminimalist Piano Music (PhD diss., University of Missouri-Kansas
City, 2010), pp. 17-21.
256
ANALYSING MINIMALIST AND POSTMINIMALIST MUSIC
commercial, Eighteen Musicians acquires a 'new' identity. This relationship between
text and context might therefore be explained primarily due to the fact that sound
and vision bear no direct relationship to each other. Rather like the linguistic sign, the
audio-visual sign is also arbitrary (there is no direct correlation between the signifier
and signified), but together they combine to form a new sign. The Orange commercial
thus simultaneously demonstrates instances of similarity and difference.
However, certain questions do arise in relation to the formulation of Figure 12.2,
including the paradoxical nature of the notion of 'identity'. Identity, according
to the theories discussed in this framework, is interpretable as either an object
that is identical to another or, alternatively, a unique object that is entirely
different to everything else; hence its appearance on both ends of the spectrum in
Figure 12.2, connected with dotted lines. As a result, it has been necessary to distinguish
logically .between both definitions as 'identity (aY and 'identity (bY. Another
problematic aspect might be the positioning of the'contrary' element: in Cook's model,
it represents middle-ground 'complementation', although in Deleuze's 'four shackles
of mediation', it is a /orm of opposition (hence belonging to Cook's contesting model).
For the purposes of this diagram, the connecting lines are shown in double-dotted lines.
The expansion of Cook's models of multimedia through its integration with Foucault
and Deleuze's theories has resulted in a model which suggests a richer network of
relationships between different media. The addition of Kramer and Leydon's theories
to Figure 12.2 provides further scope in the analysis of minimalist and postminimalist
music.
Conclusion
This chapter has attempted to sum up many of the developments which have taken
place in the analysis of minimalist and postminimalist music. The initial focus was on
three main areas, which have established themselves from the mid-1980s onwards:
formalist applications of set theory, information-dynamic theory and Schenkerian
methods. Added to these, a poststructural approach has been adopted via a discussion
of repetition tropes and the development of a new theoretical model, as shown in
Figure 12.2.
All these methods prove fruitful in bringing to light different perspectives on
music that is often based on either stasis or repetition, which in turn demonstrates
the vast potential for the interpretation of such music. The survey of formalist and
poststructuralist approaches undertaken in this chapter has also demonstrated the
significance of'difference' in understanding minimalist and postminimalist music. John
Roeder's identification of subtle distinctions in Arvo Part's music, and the repetition
tropes built on Rebecca Leydon's typology, for instance, illustrate the emotional
engagement that is possible in such music, and a clear shift from objectivity towards
subjective thought. By integrating a selection of key concepts that take formalist and
poststructuralist principles into account, it is anticipated that the hermeneutical model
presented in Figure 12.2 may be deployed effectively in future applications.
257