Steve Reich: 3rd Movement (fast) from Electric Counterpoint GCSE Music Revision 2014 Area of Study 2: Steve Reich: 3rd Movement (fast) from Electric Counterpoint

Steve Reich: Context & Background Through the 20th Century composers aimed to push music in new & interesting directions Minimalism emerged after art forms such as expressionism (Schoenberg) Composers explored new ways of writing music down e.g. scores with little or not detail Instruments were in unconventional ways e.g. being hit, plucked, bowed or immersed in water!

Steve Reich: Elements of Minnimalism Drones – a ling, continuous note or constantly repeated note often low pitch Ostinato or loops – repeated cycles of musical ideas. The shortest are known as cells Phasing – two almost identical parts which go out of sync with each other gradually Metamorphosis – gradually changing from one musical idea to another, usually one note at a time Layering – adding new musical parts, usually one at a time Note addition - starting off with a very simple ostinato and gradually adding notes as the pattern repeats Note Subtraction – starting off with a complex ostinato and gradually removing notes Rhythmic Displacement – playing a musical phrase so that accents fall in unexpected places Augmentation – extending the durations of a rhythmic pattern Static Harmony – One long chord which changes only very gradually, if at all

Steve Reich: As a composer Born in New York in 1936 His music is rhythmically complex with much repetition Famous for the ‘phasing technique’ Music is highly demanding to perform Studied African drumming in 1970 which influenced compositions such as Drumming & Clapping Music

Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint Electric Counterpoint was written in 1987 The piece is the last in a series of 3 pieces for soloists playing to pre-recorded multi track tapes Commissioned for Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny The performance features 12 recorded guitar parts & two bass guitars as well as the live part The performance requires precise timing and a high level of accuracy The ‘backing track’ (recorded guitars) allows notes addition and other development techniques to be used that would not be possible with a standard tape loop

Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint Section A Timing Description A 1 0 – 42s One bar ostinato played by guitar 1 (pre recorded) followed by the live guitar part using 3 notes of ostinato one building gradually using addition technique Guitars 2, 3 and 4 enter played variations of the ostinato forming a “Four part guitar canon” When all the parts have entered the live guitar starts the resultant melody The piece is in 3/2 time with a cleat triple metre Hints of E Minor 2 43s – 1:05 Bass guitar is introduced Two bar ostinato is introduced gradually Two bass guitars are panned to the left and right speakers Live guitar continues the resultant melody 3 1:05 – 2:05 Live guitar introduces a new idea Guitars 5, 6 and 7 introduce new sequences The live guitar plays interweaving chords between the parts of guitars 5 - 7 4 2:06 – 2:16 The live guitar returns to the resultant melody

Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint Section B & Coda 5 2:16 – 2:31 A startling change of key to C minor signals the start of section B texture remains the same 6 2:32 – 2:46 The key shifts back to B minor In this section the metre changes to 12/8 The bass plays a new ostinato 7 2:47 – 3:01 The key returns to C minor The metre changes every 4 bars 8 3:02 – 3:32 Return to E minor Shifts in key and metre become more frequent Bass guitars start to fade out with guitars 5 - 7 Coda 9 3:32 – 4:24 The texture has now returned to the “four part guitar canon” Shifts in key continue until the pieces settles in E minor The piece ends with a crescendo to a final E Minor chord played by all remaining guitar parts