Sarah Abdeen
Minimalism (simplistic and uncomplicated) appeared within the Minimalist movement that appeared in plastic art and literature in the mid-twentieth century, and has had a strong influence in contemporary music ever since.Minimalism is arguably contemporary classical music.
The beginning of the transformation of classical music was towards the end of the Romantic era (1830-1910) when composers such as French Claude Debussy and Russian Igor Stravinsky began to advance the accepted musical boundaries, and the main focus was no longer on harmonious melody or beautiful sounds.
Some music composers abandoned the well-known music system, and some sought to create a new and innovative system, such as the Austrian composer Arnold Schöneberg, who adopted mathematical theories in composing music and that some even considered his music as a mental and complex music far from the public's concerns.
Minimalist music has undergone great changes and transformations, and as the twentieth century came to an end, a kind of explosion occurred in new sounds and ideas, especially with great technological development. Hence, Minimalist music became a starting point for the development of modern music. There are many possibilities for separating or merging sounds.
The emergence of Minimalist music
It started in New York with composer, musician and poet Louis Thomas Hardin, nicknamed Mondog. Mondog spent most of his life traveling through the streets of New York, composing music derived from the essence of the city with its lines, symmetry and buildings that resemble each other and away from decorations. That are repeated without complex melodic construction.
The most important characteristic of Mondogh music is that it adopts the music known in classical music, especially Baroque music, but very modern, and stratified music depends on several sounds that combine together in a musical Harmony while maintaining the independence of each sound and its features, so that two lines continue More in sync to create a new musical texture.
Blindness was instrumental in creating the music of Mondog, which relied on the creation of steady pulses at varying times, due to his sensual auditory sensation, and his stay on the streets of New York. He was inspired by the various sounds around him, such as car horns, pedestrians and their steps, as well as various echoes, sirens, and the importance of silence in the melody.
The return to classical Baroque ideas formed the reasons for the emergence of minimalism, and American musicians after Mondog began to redefine the foundations of classical music, because simplicity has been completely lost in the classical scene for years, and classical music has been strange and complex for most audiences.
In 1959, composer Dennis Johnson wrote one of the first Minimalist compositions entitled "November," a six-hour solo piano, composed of small, repetitive notes that expand slowly over the entire time span, with meditative features that combine with the musical structure to produce That miniature.
Main composers of Minimalist music
Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who studied music together at the same time and received a traditional musical education, began to rebel against the rules, producing melodies composed of several consecutive tones, without melodies that combine those tones, the essence of Minimalism, That group became the nucleus to start entrenching minimality as an independent art movement.
Terry Riley: Riley's compositions were inspired by contemporary jazz and classical Indian music, with their contemplative characteristics, where he traveled to India several times before settling in teaching classical Indian music.
La Monte Young: Young started as a saxophone player, then gave up playing to focus on musical composition, first working on the twelve-tone system, which was invented by Arnold Schöneberg, and then during his visit to the German city of Dramstadt discovered the unconventional music of the musician John Cage. Interest in theatrical musical elements based on dramatic images but without a theatrical purpose, through the integration of continuous tones influenced by the music of Indonesia in particular.
Steve Reich: Reich moved away from his music in complexity, and followed the way of different musical styles that overlap and start slowly and then reproduce later. Reich drew his inspiration from American jazz, as well as various genres of ancient ethnic music and African drum, which he knew closely while traveling to Ghana.
Philip Glass: As one of the most famous and influential composers of the twentieth century, he developed his music through soundtracks, opera, symphonies and various classical genres, but like most composers of Minimalism, he was heavily influenced by Indian jazz and classical music. His smooth flow and improvisation became his most popular music, especially after his collaboration with American poet Alan Ginsberg and director Martin Scorsese.