After looking towards the sound art pieces that I enjoy I started seeing the resemblance to what I consider minimalism. A lot of sound art can seem simple on the surface but the contextualization is what gives it great depth and at other times it’s just the idea behind it. When it comes to sound artwork I’ve thought a lot about where I set in this field, and I tend to find myself really latching onto listening and field recording. Ideas of being present and understanding our soundscapes. I’ve enjoyed more the philosophy of listening and the power of sound.
It’s got me thinking about what I want to do for my first draft portfolio piece, since I’m currently doing my dissertation draft, it’s influenced me towards what I’m actually into. I want to create something very minimal perhaps and have the research be the weight of the work. My project last year, Listening to the Thames, was very simple on the surface but for me, it was my intentions behind it that were beautiful. So I decided to read into minimalism and attempt to understand exactly what it means within work? I’m not sure if what I’m thinking actually coincides with the definition of minimalism.
I read a few pages/chapters of these two books just as an exploration of the topic.
Sion, P.ap, Gann, K. and Potter, K. (2016) The Ashgate Research Companion to minimalist and postminimalist music. London: Routledge.
Strickland, E. (2000) Minimalism: Origins. Indiana University Press.
Mainly The Ashgate Research Companion to minimalist and postminimalist music. This is what I found interesting, I found this one part that discussed how to define minimalistic music and it described that it was hard but often at least these types of characteristics were present in the pieces. But not all pieces had all the features present sometimes and mainly only one or two.
A few of these key terms, Harmonic stasis. Most minimalists enjoy only one chord or a few sets of notes. Key changes are not present and the same with the change of pitches.
Repetition, the continuous and slow progress within the pieces is key. In minimalistic music, there is rarely a piece that doesn’t progress and change slightly, as usually considered in the general consensus of what is minimalistic music. But in fact, it’s more the repetition and slow change within the pieces that give it this meditative state of listening.
Drones are a very obvious key piece of any minimalist piece as described here. And perhaps the most obvious, although the book makes an argument that there would be two sorts of minimalist music as some have drones predominantly and others don’t.
Gradual Process is the idea that each instrument will add its own splash of colour when needed. That complex polyrhythmic music doesn’t add anything extra sometimes. Each instrument comes in when needed and disappears when not. It’s there for a purpose and not just because.
A steady beat is another highly associated piece of minimalist music. Usually, the quaver note is used in a motoric fashion.
Static instrumentation is another, unlike more modern minimalistic music. Some older ensembles did the opposite of a gradual process and instead, all played together and continuously for extended periods of time.
All of these features are associated with certain works that we think of as classically minimalist, but there may be no works, or at least very few, that contains all of them.
Intuitively, though, one feels that all these techniques tended toward some similar state. First of all, the term: minimalism. Something seems minimal – or less than we expected. Less compared to what? To what we’re accustomed to hearing. We are used to hearing classical music, modernist music, jazz, pop, and when we hear minimalist music, we get less than we expect.
Sion, P.ap, Gann, K. and Potter, K. (2016) The Ashgate Research Companion to minimalist and postminimalist music. London: Routledge.
We all know that some of our happiest moments are when time seems to disappear. When listening to minimalist music, we begin, out of habit (unless minimalism is our accustomed repertoire), to listen for events that cue us in to what’s going on in the music, how long the piece is going to last, what scale its sections are arranged in and so forth. Minimalist music quite often denies us or delays these cues, irritating some listeners and giving others a freeing sensation that the passage of time, the articulated structure of the piece, need not be kept track of. Some of us feel happier.
Sion, P.ap, Gann, K. and Potter, K. (2016) The Ashgate Research Companion to minimalist and postminimalist music. London: Routledge.
I think these quotes really speak to me, perhaps even if it’s not quote-on-quote minimalism I agree with these ideas presented, I want to create a piece that gives me that feeling of extended time. That paying attention and listening isn’t key but letting go and allowing the sounds and the piece to affect you in a certain way.
Steve Reich is heavily discussed as one of the earliest artists in minimalism within this book and I want to do a bit of research on him.