Transcript MINIMALISM

MINIMALISM
An Introduction
MINIMALISM IN ART
DiSCUSSION:
How do you feel about the different pieces of art?
What words would you use to describe the style of each of the different pictures?
Is this really art at all? Why/why not?
MINIMALISM IN MUSIC
LESSON OUTCOMES
By the end of the lesson you should be able to:
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Identify or describe the features of Minimalist music.
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Perform a piece of Minimalist music.
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Compose a rhythmic ostinato motif and extend by
using the phase shifting technique.
READING ON MINIMALISM IN MUSIC
Began in America in the 1960’s
 Three main composers are Terry Riley, Steve
Reich and Philip Glass
 Built on short melodic, rhythmic and harmonic
patterns called motifs.
 Draws on features from world music genres
including African and Indonesian Gamelan music
such as repetition, cyclic rhythms and
polyrhythm.
 Motifs are layered treated by moving them ‘out
of sync’ – this is known as Phase Shifting

CLAPPING MUSIC ANIMATION ( OR GO TO SITE)
CLAPPING MUSIC SCORE
PERFORMING CLAPPING MUSIC
Study 1st line of Score 1. Practice clapping the
rhythm together as a class.
 Divide into two teams. Team A plays Line 1 only.
Team B does the “phase shifting”.
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COMPOSE YOUR OWN CLAPPING MUSIC
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Begin by composing your Motif and record it in
the 1st rhythm grid
COMPOSE YOUR OWN CLAPPING MUSIC
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Once you have your motif, create a pattern by
displacing your motif by one beat at a time –
forwards or backwards.
MINIMALISM RECAP QUESTIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
One of the main features of minimalist music is
r_______________.
A short rhythmic, melodic or harmonic pattern
that is used many times as a basis for a
minimalist piece is called a m_____________.
Moving a motif so that it becomes slightly out of
time (or “out of sync”) and thus changing the
music ever so slightly is called p________
s________.
Some minimalist composers we have learned
about during this lesson are S_______________,
P_______________ and T_________________.
MINIMALISM RECAP ANSWERS
1.
2.
3.
4.
One of the main features of minimalist music is
(REPETITION)
A short rhythmic, melodic or harmonic pattern
that is used many times as a basis for a
minimalist piece is called a (MOTIF)
Moving a motif so that it becomes slightly out of
time (or “out of sync”) and thus changing the
music ever so slightly is called (PHASE SHIFT)
Some minimalist composers we have learned
about during this lesson are (STEVE REICH,
PHILIP GLASS and TERRY RILEY)
HOME WORK & EXTENSION TASKS
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Continue to work on Clapping music
compositions in grid format.
As an extension task, you could try to notate your
composition in staff notation with a 3/2 or 3/4
time signature.
Research and listen to other examples of
minimalist music on Youtube.com