Year 6
❤️ Cycle B ❤️
Genre: Western Classical Tradition
Style: 20th Century Modern Era
Composers:
Samuel Barber
Steve Reich & Minimalism
He wasn’t very bothered with the modern, experimental musical styles that his contemporaries were embracing in the mid 1900s. Instead his music sound a bit more like music from the Romantic Era. ‘Adagio for Strings’ (1936) is one of his most famous works.
He was born in Pennsylvania, USA. He had a privileged childhood – his father was a doctor and his mother a pianist.
At a very early age, Barber became profoundly interested in music, and it was apparent that he had great musical talent and ability. He began studying the piano at the age of six and at age seven composed his first work, ‘Sadness’, a 23 bar solo piano piece in C minor.
Steve Reich was born in 1936 in New York City to Jewish parents. When he was 1 year old, his parents divorced. He had piano lessons as a child but his family only played music from the Classical Era (Beethoven) and Romantic Era (Dvorak) and nothing from after 1900!
When he heard music from Baroque Era and modern music his mind was blown and he knew he wanted to study music further in University. This composer is a trail-blazer as he smashed musical boundaries mixing together his classical training with his love of African drumming, jazz and pop music, and helped to invent a whole new form of music: minimalism.
In the 1960s Reich experimented with sampling and looping tapes. Curious about many different types of music, in the 1970s Reich travelled to Seattle to study the Gamelan and to Ghana, to study West African drumming.
Played by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2016
Electronic Dance Music using a sample of 20th Century Classical music to great effect!
Imagine that each wave is a musical phrase. The waves or phrases are similar but never identical and gradually the stones and sand are shifted and the landscape changes. This is how it is with minimal music. The phrases repeat but subtly change over time, sometimes almost imperceptibly and gradually the music evolves and changes.
A performance of Steve Reich’s ‘Six Pianos’ live at the 1976 Holland Festival, featuring Steve Chambers, Nurit Tilles, Glen Velez, Timothy Ferchen, James Preiss and the composer himself on grand pianos.
This is a modern example of vocal samples and looping.
Mike Oldfield’s 1973 album ‘Tubular Bells’ is considered to have strong minimalist elements. Minimalist music is a style that often uses repetition and gradual processes.
❤️Further Learning❤️
Explore 20th Century Modern Era music further here. Listen to Sergei Prokofiev’s beautiful piece and then explore how it inspired 1970’s progressive rock musician, Greg Lake.
University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia 2021
Greg Lake performs his 1975 classic “I Believe in Father Christmas” filmed live at St. Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, in the City of London with Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson on flute, David Arch on keyboards, Florian Opahle on acoustic guitar and the church choir.
Greg Lake was a member of trailblazing UK-based rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. This was a Christmas hit in 1975.
Lesson Resources: