In C is a semi-aleatoric musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for … Read Full Bio ↴In C is a semi-aleatoric musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for any number of people, although he suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". It is a response to the abstract academic serialist techniques used by composers in the mid-twentieth century and is often cited as the first minimalist composition.
In C consists of 53 short, numbered musical phrases; each phrase may be repeated an arbitrary number of times. Each musician has control over which phrase he or she plays: players are encouraged to play the phrases starting at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase. The performance directions state that the musical ensemble should try to stay within two to three phrases of each other. The phrases must be played in order, although some may be skipped. As detailed in some editions of the score, it is customary for one musician ("traditionally played by a beautiful girl," Riley notes) to play the note C (in octaves) in repeated eighth notes. This functions as a metronome and is referred to as "The Pulse".
In C has no set duration; performances can last as little as fifteen minutes or as long as several hours, although Riley indicates "performances normally average between 45 minutes and an hour and a half." The number of performers may also vary between any two performances. The original recording of the piece was created by 11 musicians (through overdubbing, several dozen instruments were utilized), while a performance in 2006 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall featured 124 musicians.
The piece begins on a C major chord (patterns one through seven) with a strong emphasis on the mediant E and the entrance of the note F which begins a series of slow progressions to other chords suggesting a few subtle and ambiguous changes of key, the last pattern being an alteration between Bb and G. Though the polyphonic interplay of the various patterns against each other and themselves at different rhythmic displacements is of primary interest, the piece may be considered heterophonic.
In C consists of 53 short, numbered musical phrases; each phrase may be repeated an arbitrary number of times. Each musician has control over which phrase he or she plays: players are encouraged to play the phrases starting at different times, even if they are playing the same phrase. The performance directions state that the musical ensemble should try to stay within two to three phrases of each other. The phrases must be played in order, although some may be skipped. As detailed in some editions of the score, it is customary for one musician ("traditionally played by a beautiful girl," Riley notes) to play the note C (in octaves) in repeated eighth notes. This functions as a metronome and is referred to as "The Pulse".
In C has no set duration; performances can last as little as fifteen minutes or as long as several hours, although Riley indicates "performances normally average between 45 minutes and an hour and a half." The number of performers may also vary between any two performances. The original recording of the piece was created by 11 musicians (through overdubbing, several dozen instruments were utilized), while a performance in 2006 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall featured 124 musicians.
The piece begins on a C major chord (patterns one through seven) with a strong emphasis on the mediant E and the entrance of the note F which begins a series of slow progressions to other chords suggesting a few subtle and ambiguous changes of key, the last pattern being an alteration between Bb and G. Though the polyphonic interplay of the various patterns against each other and themselves at different rhythmic displacements is of primary interest, the piece may be considered heterophonic.
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Black Warrior Lures
paul w I am quite familiar minimalist music and composers. As I'm trying to use these methods in my own compositions for my fishing documentaries along with my training as a musician: two degrees in music performance where I performed a lot of minimal music over the years.
"Zimmer uses minimalist ideas but doesn't compose minimalist music." I agree with that. Definitely post-minimal at the very least, maybe even totalist. Ultimately these are semantics.
For an analogy at what point does playing devil's advocate become indistinguishable from the devil himself? At what point does using minimal ideas become indistinguishable from all the flavors and subcategories that have developed over the years: totalist, maximalist, post-minimalist, process music? There is the generic term minimalist. There are also specific terms like maximalist. Zimmer is a movie composer, not a poster boy for the betterment of western art music. In other words a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square. At the end of the day we're still talking about parallelograms. The distinctions become so "minimal" that who cares?
I speak of the general. You speak of the specific. I take it that you are a music historian? However, thank you for clarifying terms. That is important.
Again, thank you for your input. Have a nice rest of 2020. As such I am finished with this conversation. I have more music to compose. Thank you.
Harald
When I was a child, we had an old Massey-Ferguson tractor (maybe the same age as this song). I loved to spend hours on it with my father, while he was sowing, spraying crops or whatever, because the rhythmic sound of the motor, alongside with all the different noises, squeaks and vibrations would form a hypnotic orchestral song in my head, just like this one. Sometimes I asked my dad if he could hear the music too, but he'd just find it silly, to hear music in the noise. I kept enjoying it anyway. Terry Riley's In C carries me back there.
noisenik
john cage spoke of hearing music in the traffic noise of his nyc apartment....
Johnny Deutschemark
This is beautiful memory and connection to the sounds we hear here. You are a good soul.
Robert Ingham
I hear tunes in the machines in my carpentry workshop
TaichiStraightlife
@noisenik Then John Cage should immediately buy my NYC apt., take it off my hands (& ears)... I remember hearing this once when I was 18, and loving it. I must have been stoned.
Ethan Hill
Listening to subway cars pass by on elevated tracks sounded like a percussion section. Random street noises were improvisers.
This music is jazz. Glad the artist has been elected to the AMERICAN ACADEMY of ARTS and LETTERS
Marmalade000000
This piece is proof that there is music in all the everyday sounds we come across as long as we alive. We will always hear music in our every day lives. Music doesn't have to be played by musical instruments. We have the world around us to give us a vast array of music - whether it be by animals, inanimate objects or the people around us.
Jasper Valery
This is my favorite song. I was introduced to it in high school orchestra class when the piece was introduced to us as a prank. I was the only one who was into it. But* it was life-changing.
Mono No Aware
Did you get into Reich? He had a grand contribution to this piece, and MF18M has an indelible influence from In C.
Grum
I’ve only recently discovered Terry Riley’s music and sort of in reverse. In C played by orchestras, then smaller ensembles and now the original. Every interpretation has been different but equally joyous.