On the vinyl record released in 1970 or earlier only 1 musician played the violin. Mr. Reich took the tape and copied it several times. He mixed the tapes so that the audience hearing the piece meant there were 4 violinists playing.Its more mechanical on the record and hard to believe that its no computer music.
Nevertheless its hard to perform in that way the young musicians did in June 2008.
@roxyamused It's the same piece played by each instrument, just with offset tempo's which creates a round. Listen to Piano phase to get a feel for how it builds.
wow! you 4 did an awesome job. its no small task, tackling any of Steve Reich's compositions. I'm shocked the audience didn't explode when you finished...maybe they were unable to after being sent into a deep trance.
i was waiting that at any moment someone of them will make a mistake. i think it's so complicate to concentrate in such a situation when everyone is playing its own repeating, monotonic melody
Ah, further for not being distracted by anything you must be busy with yourself, for example doing the beat with a ball-pen or something other, you must be fully concentrated ! I am trying it on a party on saturday...I guess it will be awesome!
Guys, you know if you hear longer than 15 minutes to that without any distraction you gonna go of in a faint, my teacher showed it today to us, but he stopped after 10 min cuz of some symtoms and he didnt want us go into faint :D, Earlier he gave is CD to a DJ from his class he teached and he played it in a disco, all people on the dance floor were knocked out... if you can get a longer version of this for download just try it ! Your pulse will go high! *DISCLAMER* btw it's not unhealthy !
This version is beautiful. This made me think of trying to make the windshield wipers wipe in time to the music in the car... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
If they had not stopped in sync, it would have become just phrases that each of them plays continously. Is the fact that even though they have no unison lines per say, and they are pretty much independent, but they manage to end together hat really amazes me. It means that they are never actually lost in such a complicated peice. Bravo.
Nice performance that requires a lot of concentration and makes some interesting grooves. I wonder what would happen though, if all the performers listened carefully to each other's timbre and tried to match it. There is quite a difference that allows me to pick out what each violin is doing - especially in some of the less dense sections. While that is not necessarily bad, I am just curious what would happen if all of them had the same sound quality.
There are some wierd hidden harmonics and strange melodies beside the looping melody and the phasing through the whole piece! Its so awesomely wierd that sounds simply ingenious!
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this is idiotic. It's like someone wrote the beginning of a song, and rather than writing anything else just repeated it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over etc etc etc.
No that is a completely different piece. Steve Reich experimented a lot with phasing......it's not even the same melody, or instrument, or same amount of movements. The only similar aspect between the two is that it uses the phasing technique, just like his piano phase and clapping music
No no, they are the same piece, with some adjustments made for the guitar of course. It's akin to 'Vermont Counterpoint' and the newer version for Digital Marimba, 'Tokyo Counterpoint'. Same piece, slightly re-worked for the different instruments.
Whatever 'Epic Fail' you speak about, neither jsmurfy89 or I have 'committed' one. :)
N. Y. Rock N' Roll from the late 70s to early 80s combined w/ Minimalism influenced by Terry Riley, Reich, Philip Glass.. the genre now known as NO-Wave. Rock bands are still using Minimalism, Portishead's Machine Gun, The Angels of Light, Diamanda Galas, etc.
In the Piano Phasing Technique, the performers repeat a rapid 12-note melodic figure, in unison. One player keeps tempo, the other speeds up until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The 2nd player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the 2nd and 3rd cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. Violin Phase (seen here) is built on this same concept.
@Walexo45, The score is actually very simple. It has the one line written out with repeats and then there are instructions for one of the performers to slowly speed up until they are playing the 2nd note of the line at the same time the other performer is playing the first note. It is then written out as such with repeated and the same instructions are given to speed up, so on and so on, creating the phase.
This piece sounds excruciatingly difficult to play together. I'm wondering if they have their own metronomes going at different tempos to keep them playing 'in time'.
i am pretty ignorant in the field of new music. but could you say that reich, with the phasing technique is to rhythm what schoenberg is to harmony with his 12 tone music?
Absolutely not. The minimalist movement was a huge reaction strongly against twelve-tone. Reich was all about creating as much music with as little material as possible (if that makes sense).
Schoenberg explored the equality of every tone in his compositions. Just because Reich phases and creates unusual sounds doesn't make him related to twelve-tone music.
I don't think there's any reason why you can't use the 12-tone scale in minimalism, as long as it's written in a way which makes it minimalistic.
However, this is quite clearly not atonal, and by the sounds of it evolves around the chord of F# minor. I agree, minimalism and expressionism are two very different ends of the spectrum in modern classical music
Perhaps you don't realize that Reich was the one who wrote the 12-note Piano Phase.
The 'Minimalist' idea doesn't necessarily preclude more notes, but rather includes consonance, steady pulses, slow changes, & usually reiteration of musical phrases.
But, you have an interesting point of view, there.
Stunning piece of music. Wonderful performance. I love how 1 or 2 of the performers picks up and accentuates the hidden melodies that appear in the interplay between the other voices.
im no expert, but it sounded so very nice until , after the guy on the right starting sawing away on his violin, it ruined the whole thing! the resonating sound was captivating, especially with my eyese closed. that was so well done up to that point
continued: then the third violinist gradually increases pace until they are exactly one eight note ahead of the 2nd, and two eight notes ahead of the 1st. Then the fourth violinist comes in and plays melodies over that. This group is not exactly following the instructions in the score, as the guy on the right is not play part of the time in the middle, but the instructions encourage adapting and changing the arrangement.
This is what Reich means by phasing: The first violinist plays a pattern continuously in the same tempo. The second violinist begins playing the same pattern in time with the first, after an unspecified number of repetitions, the second violinist slowly begins to increase tempo, while the first violinist maintains tempo. After going through several reps of the patter, the second violinist will be exactly on eight note ahead of the first. Then a third violinist comes in playing the same pattern.
@emperorIng360 As far as I know, you begin to catch on to the musicality of the phasing, and it becomes a matter of being consistent in your own playing. The harder part as Reich has stated, is with more and more people playing, keeping everybody synchronized when changes occur. That's why you hear a glockenspiel before shifts in Music for 18 Musicians.
I guess you could slow one down a bit and then bring it up to the same melody wast the other just stays the same as well and I suppose it would be easier to slow down I am not sure
It must be extremely difficult to play such a rhythmic motif in a slightly different time to the guy standing next to you! Very well played! Brilliant!
@eoghdes18 It's actually done electronically. The two violinists on the right are playing to different motifs. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's still very impressive though!!!
Phasing is when you take 2 separate melodies, and play them next to each other, and they phase out into different melodies that loop and do all kinds of cool things. The more you add, then better the phasing!!! Listen to more of steve's stuff. Its amazing...
Phasing is a compositional technique. You start with two (or more) sources playing unison a melody.
Then, one source maintain tempo and the other starts to "phase", accelerating or decelerating the tempo. So, an "ilusion" is created - like you hearing another melodies.
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its undoubtedly a very challenging piece requiring the players to perform at different tempos to each other but mr Reich does have a tendency to rely too much on this I feel and overlook harmony, so it gets boring really quickly
Well, that is much the point of minimalism: making as much music as you can with as little as you can.
One of my favourite musicians, Phill Niblock, does something very similar...except with two long drones, very minutely shifting the pitch of one over time to get interesting patterns from the beats it causes.
I'd add to that, too: Minimalism is fundamentally the basis for several very interesting ideas. Phasing is one of them.
The only thing that annoys me is when people look at minimalism or atonality or other experimental forms, and proclaim them the sole "future" of music. Minimalism and atonality are extremes. Both have phenomenally interesting ideas, but are even more powerful when assimilated into the category of musical "possibilities" rather than "norms." I'm not sure if that was clear.
The way I've always seen it is that the best composers are those who can look at all the possibilities and use whichever compositional method/style suits their goals. Through a universal technical understanding, they can develop styles of their own. Even if they lean toward one style, they aren't just going to be completely assimilated by it, that way. Schoenberg's music is not always completely atonal. With minimalism, the compromise would be John Adams, I think.
shoenberg didn't think it was the future of music, he saw it as almost an alternative history. who did? im interested cos i have to do a presentation on it and isnt shoenberg the major player in starting atonalism?
Schoenberg invented the Twelve-Tone Series method of composition. This is where you use all 12 notes and place them in a permutation so as to not prioritise one note over another. Lots of composers dabbled in atonalism.
i tried something similar with my precussion teacher, with drums. its basically just a question of concentration. when you forget the world around you and the people who are playing with you, you can do it. but it has one major disadvantage for the musicians: you cant listen to the music, as soon as you start to listen to what the others are playing, you WILL make a mistake.
Reich's music is based on the idea of phasing - the same or slightly different music played opposite a constant melody, which slowly speeds up or slows down until the two melodies are out of sync in a way that creates new harmonic ideas. Look him up to get more understanding of "phasing". =)
RIP Steve Reich, you'll be missed :(
glottis5 1 month ago
il faut avoir tout un sens du rythme.
Bravo!!
bandedefous99 2 months ago
Is it me or does this sound like Section V of Reich's Music for 18 Musicians?
FreeTunes498 2 months ago
@FreeTunes498 Yes it does! Good ear!
mdkarasmusic 2 months ago
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?v=ZhgYCrtxqqg&feature=related i also make avent garde music
extremeeXrement1 3 months ago
SWEET
dolp9598 3 months ago
from what album?
eetherealflux 4 months ago
@eetherealflux STEVE REICH: LIVE / ELECTRIC MUSIC, Columbia MS-7265, stereo, "360 Sound" label.
On this LP, Steve Reich performs Violin Phase (with Paul Zukofsky, violin) & It's Gonna Rain.
Some days ago an LP was sold at ebay: US $17,52
TorTasKB 4 months ago
On the vinyl record released in 1970 or earlier only 1 musician played the violin. Mr. Reich took the tape and copied it several times. He mixed the tapes so that the audience hearing the piece meant there were 4 violinists playing.Its more mechanical on the record and hard to believe that its no computer music.
Nevertheless its hard to perform in that way the young musicians did in June 2008.
My heartly applause for that fine art!
TorTasKB 4 months ago
The best part about this piece is that if you get off tempo, nobody would ever know.
itsstephenyo 4 months ago 4
Well done, ladies and gentlemen.
JulianBaynes1 5 months ago
No to je maso. Dal jste si to někdo celý?
Lahodacek 5 months ago
omg
sylvieguillemfanx10 5 months ago
thank you Matthew Albert, Nick Naegele, Yei-in Jin, and Chi-Fan Tai, your performance is mesmeric and startling.
rohedron 5 months ago 4
i always wonder what the sheet music looks like. Cause i want phasing in my pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!
roxyamused 6 months ago
@roxyamused It's the same piece played by each instrument, just with offset tempo's which creates a round. Listen to Piano phase to get a feel for how it builds.
tmoore121 5 months ago
i fucking love this
KaunisRoheIine 7 months ago
the like bar looks like a blunt!
num2nums 7 months ago
Really really well done
terreseco 7 months ago
fallait être décidé pour exécuter ce monument
bandedefous99 8 months ago
wow, really well done . seriously hard to pull of a Reich piece
watagoodname 8 months ago
some of the players really start dragging as the song gets started :) tehe
spamodell 8 months ago
5:09 things gettin' craazy :)
vaev 8 months ago
L0:00P
phthirdman 8 months ago
Mental Music
fukitol1000mg 9 months ago
Sounds like a Fourier Series =)
element112358 9 months ago
unreal. so well-executed
AdamRodriguez3 9 months ago
unreal. so well-executed
AdamRodriguez3 9 months ago
wow! you 4 did an awesome job. its no small task, tackling any of Steve Reich's compositions. I'm shocked the audience didn't explode when you finished...maybe they were unable to after being sent into a deep trance.
WutWutWhaat 10 months ago
oh gosh.... that takes skillz
woodmaster413 10 months ago
i was waiting that at any moment someone of them will make a mistake. i think it's so complicate to concentrate in such a situation when everyone is playing its own repeating, monotonic melody
bigolodibilo00 10 months ago
Ah, further for not being distracted by anything you must be busy with yourself, for example doing the beat with a ball-pen or something other, you must be fully concentrated ! I am trying it on a party on saturday...I guess it will be awesome!
lickmy8alls 11 months ago
Guys, you know if you hear longer than 15 minutes to that without any distraction you gonna go of in a faint, my teacher showed it today to us, but he stopped after 10 min cuz of some symtoms and he didnt want us go into faint :D, Earlier he gave is CD to a DJ from his class he teached and he played it in a disco, all people on the dance floor were knocked out... if you can get a longer version of this for download just try it ! Your pulse will go high! *DISCLAMER* btw it's not unhealthy !
lickmy8alls 11 months ago
Just lying down and listening to this...it inspired so many philosophical and introspective thoughts...
bobodia1000 11 months ago
Excellent.
drumrnva 11 months ago
pureness of the sound......... i am so moved by this music
tabietaful 1 year ago
Hopufully the rain hasn't start to fall during this performance ;)
alcaloidedesplantes 1 year ago 3
This kinda reminds me of the turn signals between two cars... one point its synced, now its now.
JAMTBG 1 year ago 3
@JAMTBG thats exactly how i feel, they just slowly line up for just a second and then split up again
dutchguywillem 1 year ago
@JAMTBG i thought it was just me who noticed things like that
thatloser88 11 months ago
Outstanding! I've listened to many a String Quartet, but ...
waldo2358 1 year ago 2
That's fucking awesome!!!
=D
donangelus 1 year ago 2
Gotta love the minimalist movement
parkerdinhwilliams15 1 year ago 2
Super!!
petervandinther 1 year ago
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tomispek 1 year ago
This version is beautiful. This made me think of trying to make the windshield wipers wipe in time to the music in the car... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
jenisuki87 1 year ago
@courageinpoly1 I think the guy on the far right was 1st vln... at several moments I heard a dominant melody and it was being played by him
williamhtrice 1 year ago
Now,tell me,who do you think played first,second,third,and fourth violin?
courageinpoly1 1 year ago
Now tell me,who do you think played first,second,third and fourth violin?
courageinpoly1 1 year ago
this makes me feel stupid. in a good way. i love it!
nepalnt21 1 year ago
AWESOME.. I wish to see this live
vapreace 1 year ago
This is the soundtrack to biting into a crisp apple.
NavinJohnson90 1 year ago 2
I would love to see what the instructions looked like.
moredoughnuts01 1 year ago
if Jesus,Buddha,Mohamed, or whoever he/she may be came down to earth this would be the theme song
jm213213 1 year ago 22
@jm213213 LOL
Koich14 1 year ago 2
They make a school of thought, then replicate it to the infinite. Stop it!
Pectiniculus 1 year ago
... simply beautiful.
i got chills.
sorryoutofservice 1 year ago
technically brilliant, yet this is pure poetry, like autumn leaves falling
bolderiks 1 year ago 2
If they had not stopped in sync, it would have become just phrases that each of them plays continously. Is the fact that even though they have no unison lines per say, and they are pretty much independent, but they manage to end together hat really amazes me. It means that they are never actually lost in such a complicated peice. Bravo.
erick5bassism1 1 year ago 4
Nice performance that requires a lot of concentration and makes some interesting grooves. I wonder what would happen though, if all the performers listened carefully to each other's timbre and tried to match it. There is quite a difference that allows me to pick out what each violin is doing - especially in some of the less dense sections. While that is not necessarily bad, I am just curious what would happen if all of them had the same sound quality.
DerangedRanger1 1 year ago
This piece is just wonderful!
erickalk 1 year ago
There are some wierd hidden harmonics and strange melodies beside the looping melody and the phasing through the whole piece! Its so awesomely wierd that sounds simply ingenious!
robosimphonie 1 year ago
GCSE music exam tomorrow, hope Steve Reich comes up :)
14spag14 1 year ago
@14spag14 I just had mine today aswell! Did minimalism come up for you too? :D
Blacksulphur 1 year ago
@Blacksulphur
yes it did sorry on the late reply, was u on the edexcel exam bourd?
14spag14 1 year ago
@14spag14 No worries, yeah i was. Minimalism was my bitch ;)
Blacksulphur 1 year ago
that is pretty awesome.. but does anyone know if this is the original version OR just one violinist and tape is the original??
JVQ8Y 1 year ago
I like it. Is copy of te nature sounds. Similar to water sounds.
Me gusta. Imitación de la naturaleza. Es como escuchar los sonidos del agua en una cascada.
compositorraro 1 year ago
omg they killed my brain!! X(
rovarove 1 year ago
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this is idiotic. It's like someone wrote the beginning of a song, and rather than writing anything else just repeated it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over etc etc etc.
gofindyourownawesome 1 year ago
@gofindyourownawesome That´s minimalism ;)
dracainbloodly 1 year ago
@gofindyourownawesome And over and over and over and over...
Maybe you´re "Waiting for Godot" or something... If he arrives, let him know that I´m still expecting the $100 bag...
Roswellsounds 1 year ago
Très Magnifique!
ezekieloak 1 year ago
funny, i've opened GjCa23olLME&feature=fvw, and two piece of music works with each other, just they what they're doing in this video. :D
firelemon 1 year ago
As cool as this is to think about,
it kind of hurts your brain after a while.
KailTirasleen 1 year ago
@KailTirasleen more like hurts your ears.
gofindyourownawesome 1 year ago
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ugh, minimalism fail.
dorkus 1 year ago
@dorkus Someone thinks they know music. Cute.
XylussN 1 year ago 4
awsom. I dont know why did you do it stive, but luckly you did it.
21stcenturyromantic 1 year ago
They Timed this great! They are also really in tune!
musicalone56 1 year ago
thnks so much for this!
dukedome 1 year ago
This is amazing. It definitely takes a lot of skill, practice and listening to pull this off. And pull it off they did. Awesome!
LouiePlaysDrums 1 year ago
I just love Steve Reich! I get so much inspiration out of his music!
BrontoScorpioMusic 1 year ago
wasn't that for electric guitar?
Chidogerardo 1 year ago
No no, this is the original. 'Electric Guitar Phase' is sort of a tribute version to this. :)
JAY132 1 year ago
@JAY132
No that is a completely different piece. Steve Reich experimented a lot with phasing......it's not even the same melody, or instrument, or same amount of movements. The only similar aspect between the two is that it uses the phasing technique, just like his piano phase and clapping music
captman1010 1 year ago
Yeah JAY132 is right. 'Electric Guitar Phase' is a little different but more or less its the same piece just rewritten for guitar.
jsmurfy89 1 year ago
@jsmurfy89
Epic Fail. Completely different piece.
captman1010 1 year ago
@captman1010
No no, they are the same piece, with some adjustments made for the guitar of course. It's akin to 'Vermont Counterpoint' and the newer version for Digital Marimba, 'Tokyo Counterpoint'. Same piece, slightly re-worked for the different instruments.
Whatever 'Epic Fail' you speak about, neither jsmurfy89 or I have 'committed' one. :)
JAY132 1 year ago
@JAY132
Tell me then, how is it the same piece with a completely different melody?
captman1010 1 year ago
N. Y. Rock N' Roll from the late 70s to early 80s combined w/ Minimalism influenced by Terry Riley, Reich, Philip Glass.. the genre now known as NO-Wave. Rock bands are still using Minimalism, Portishead's Machine Gun, The Angels of Light, Diamanda Galas, etc.
revcow 2 years ago
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In the Piano Phasing Technique, the performers repeat a rapid 12-note melodic figure, in unison. One player keeps tempo, the other speeds up until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The 2nd player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the 2nd and 3rd cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. Violin Phase (seen here) is built on this same concept.
PsiPanther 2 years ago
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PsiPanther 2 years ago
:O
:o
:0
solecipollari 2 years ago
So I guess phasing can create some very interesting phRasing. snicker snicker.
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
This is unbelievable.......I just wouldn't like to see the whole score.......damn....
Walexo45 2 years ago
@Walexo45, The score is actually very simple. It has the one line written out with repeats and then there are instructions for one of the performers to slowly speed up until they are playing the 2nd note of the line at the same time the other performer is playing the first note. It is then written out as such with repeated and the same instructions are given to speed up, so on and so on, creating the phase.
jonathanholder1 2 years ago
That is friggin insane.
Even if they do have their own metronomes...
wow.
buell41 2 years ago
Reich is a genius. What he does in the minimalist style is just plain awesome.
Thoraxe619 2 years ago 47
Comment removed
xXNicholasSeanHCXx 2 years ago
yoyoyoyoy
IViolentiAmorosi 2 years ago
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Sorry, but this just sounds like shit.
Neuroelectronic 2 years ago
No, they sound like Human Arpeggiators. Sort of like a human calculator, but more interesting.
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
Maybe you just don't like minimalism? It's a pretty solid performance.
drakolan 2 years ago 5
Human arpeggiators!
pyromohanzed 2 years ago 2
This piece sounds excruciatingly difficult to play together. I'm wondering if they have their own metronomes going at different tempos to keep them playing 'in time'.
And yes, I'd agree with you b0ttomzone.
PianoMeister3 2 years ago
i am pretty ignorant in the field of new music. but could you say that reich, with the phasing technique is to rhythm what schoenberg is to harmony with his 12 tone music?
b0ttomzone 2 years ago
Absolutely not. The minimalist movement was a huge reaction strongly against twelve-tone. Reich was all about creating as much music with as little material as possible (if that makes sense).
Schoenberg explored the equality of every tone in his compositions. Just because Reich phases and creates unusual sounds doesn't make him related to twelve-tone music.
Hope this helped! :D
pakmanATL 2 years ago
I don't think there's any reason why you can't use the 12-tone scale in minimalism, as long as it's written in a way which makes it minimalistic.
However, this is quite clearly not atonal, and by the sounds of it evolves around the chord of F# minor. I agree, minimalism and expressionism are two very different ends of the spectrum in modern classical music
thedeadlyhamster 2 years ago
i suppose so, but I'm a minimalist and I would never dream of implementing process music into mine.
amistrymister 2 years ago
@pakmanATL
Perhaps you don't realize that Reich was the one who wrote the 12-note Piano Phase.
The 'Minimalist' idea doesn't necessarily preclude more notes, but rather includes consonance, steady pulses, slow changes, & usually reiteration of musical phrases.
But, you have an interesting point of view, there.
PsiPanther 2 years ago
simplesmente divinal
dnvre 2 years ago
Poor quality video but great audio reproduction! SML loves Steve Reich!
seeminglee 2 years ago
great
derAchte 2 years ago
Holy sh!t man!!!
How can they play all that thing all along Dx!!
without missing the tempo, the individual one I mean... the "phase" thing...
Oh Lord Dx!!
OsoASeks 2 years ago
Stunning piece of music. Wonderful performance. I love how 1 or 2 of the performers picks up and accentuates the hidden melodies that appear in the interplay between the other voices.
markzhepherd 2 years ago
To clarify, they dont accelerate the melodies, each performer plays it at a steady tempo; which is faster than the other performer's.
hflat1 2 years ago
bestimmt schwer sich auf sein tempo zu konzentrieren...
dividendrama 2 years ago
beautiful
ZendeghiBahal 2 years ago
I'd love to hear some saxophone phase music if there is any. If not I'll have to create it!
bobgreen623 2 years ago 2
L'origine dell'universo youtube:Stefano Ottomano
datemiretta 2 years ago
Bravo! Great performance!
antonkoudriavtsev 2 years ago
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im no expert, but it sounded so very nice until , after the guy on the right starting sawing away on his violin, it ruined the whole thing! the resonating sound was captivating, especially with my eyese closed. that was so well done up to that point
danothemano666 2 years ago
When exactly do you say he started sawing?
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
is that 6:40 you mean?
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
continued: then the third violinist gradually increases pace until they are exactly one eight note ahead of the 2nd, and two eight notes ahead of the 1st. Then the fourth violinist comes in and plays melodies over that. This group is not exactly following the instructions in the score, as the guy on the right is not play part of the time in the middle, but the instructions encourage adapting and changing the arrangement.
TokyoStreetReport 2 years ago 3
This is what Reich means by phasing: The first violinist plays a pattern continuously in the same tempo. The second violinist begins playing the same pattern in time with the first, after an unspecified number of repetitions, the second violinist slowly begins to increase tempo, while the first violinist maintains tempo. After going through several reps of the patter, the second violinist will be exactly on eight note ahead of the first. Then a third violinist comes in playing the same pattern.
TokyoStreetReport 2 years ago 4
That is how it's performed, but the actual way it's done is by two different tempos.
One person starts at say 130BPM, the next person at 133BPM. They start in unison, but gradually it fills out.
tehxGuardian 2 years ago
I still have no clue how a musician can train him or herself to play with such a slight variation, especially against the grain of another player.
emperorIng360 2 years ago 32
Maybe they have a metronome click through background noise reducing headphones.
matt3723 2 years ago
@emperorIng360 As far as I know, you begin to catch on to the musicality of the phasing, and it becomes a matter of being consistent in your own playing. The harder part as Reich has stated, is with more and more people playing, keeping everybody synchronized when changes occur. That's why you hear a glockenspiel before shifts in Music for 18 Musicians.
llamatube 1 year ago
@emperorIng360 Yeah, playing this must be hell.
Ylviste 1 year ago 15
@emperorIng360 I totally agree
TheRyval 10 months ago
@emperorIng360 a lot of disciplined practice!
fryBASS 9 months ago
I guess you could slow one down a bit and then bring it up to the same melody wast the other just stays the same as well and I suppose it would be easier to slow down I am not sure
Averilli1 2 years ago
anyway, this is great!
13aquarela 2 years ago
Who can explain me what phasing is?
13aquarela 2 years ago
It must be extremely difficult to play such a rhythmic motif in a slightly different time to the guy standing next to you! Very well played! Brilliant!
eoghdes18 2 years ago 43
@eoghdes18 It's actually done electronically. The two violinists on the right are playing to different motifs. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's still very impressive though!!!
TheSaxyBandGeek 1 year ago 2
The beauty of phasing....sigh. I love you Steve Reich!!!
starpower06 2 years ago
what is phasing?
13aquarela 2 years ago
Phasing is when you take 2 separate melodies, and play them next to each other, and they phase out into different melodies that loop and do all kinds of cool things. The more you add, then better the phasing!!! Listen to more of steve's stuff. Its amazing...
starpower06 2 years ago 6
Phasing is a compositional technique. You start with two (or more) sources playing unison a melody.
Then, one source maintain tempo and the other starts to "phase", accelerating or decelerating the tempo. So, an "ilusion" is created - like you hearing another melodies.
kenhimurabr 2 years ago 3
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it 's sound like some mad chickens trying to escape from their fate of being meal at kfc
helengidari 2 years ago
have you got the notes of this piece??Please help me in this case!!!!
nikolas8000 2 years ago
easy ! do# fa# la/mi sol# (4 croches) si/mi (noire pointée) do# fa# la/mi sol# si/mi (5 croches).
torsheuku 2 years ago
nikolas8000, the first violin that enters is also the only one to play the double stop on the E string i believe
physsion 2 years ago
thanks so much for uploading this beautiful piece!!
themusicman428 2 years ago 2
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wormholetravel75 2 years ago 2
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its undoubtedly a very challenging piece requiring the players to perform at different tempos to each other but mr Reich does have a tendency to rely too much on this I feel and overlook harmony, so it gets boring really quickly
bananaman15dead 2 years ago
Well, that is much the point of minimalism: making as much music as you can with as little as you can.
One of my favourite musicians, Phill Niblock, does something very similar...except with two long drones, very minutely shifting the pitch of one over time to get interesting patterns from the beats it causes.
SpawnofHastur 2 years ago 2
I'd add to that, too: Minimalism is fundamentally the basis for several very interesting ideas. Phasing is one of them.
The only thing that annoys me is when people look at minimalism or atonality or other experimental forms, and proclaim them the sole "future" of music. Minimalism and atonality are extremes. Both have phenomenally interesting ideas, but are even more powerful when assimilated into the category of musical "possibilities" rather than "norms." I'm not sure if that was clear.
madlutist 2 years ago 4
The way I see it is: the atonal folks thought their music was going to be the future of music some eighty years ago.
Now atonal music is a niche while tonal music isn't.
It's next to impossible to predict the future of music.
SpawnofHastur 2 years ago
The way I've always seen it is that the best composers are those who can look at all the possibilities and use whichever compositional method/style suits their goals. Through a universal technical understanding, they can develop styles of their own. Even if they lean toward one style, they aren't just going to be completely assimilated by it, that way. Schoenberg's music is not always completely atonal. With minimalism, the compromise would be John Adams, I think.
madlutist 2 years ago
shoenberg didn't think it was the future of music, he saw it as almost an alternative history. who did? im interested cos i have to do a presentation on it and isnt shoenberg the major player in starting atonalism?
harryspoonpotter 2 years ago
Schoenberg invented the Twelve-Tone Series method of composition. This is where you use all 12 notes and place them in a permutation so as to not prioritise one note over another. Lots of composers dabbled in atonalism.
hflat1 2 years ago 2
ARNOLD shoenberg ?
pyromohanzed 2 years ago
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boring music
w led zeppelin
Jimmy94spaces 2 years ago
This piece is fantastic! I like the second person from the right.
jakobbangsoe 2 years ago 5
Many eternities pass by while listening to this.
MeLovesMoosic 2 years ago 3
Thats some talent! Wow!
InfraNova 2 years ago 2
This is fuckin' rad! Nice work!
jknightglfr 2 years ago 2
Good performance, bravi!
RobertoFasciano 2 years ago 2
i tried something similar with my precussion teacher, with drums. its basically just a question of concentration. when you forget the world around you and the people who are playing with you, you can do it. but it has one major disadvantage for the musicians: you cant listen to the music, as soon as you start to listen to what the others are playing, you WILL make a mistake.
hzzzln 3 years ago 3
very true
madpop17 2 years ago
Love this guy!
CleverDjembe 3 years ago
;) expand brain
katamiaennoia 3 years ago
never heard or seen this live, I thought it was done with tapes - how on earth did they count it?
tobaccogiant23 3 years ago
VERY carefully...only way to do it
dubya13207 3 years ago
it is written :)
omkamra 3 years ago
Good sound quality on this recording! Bravo, folks!
PianoFan2012 3 years ago
Absolutely amazing. Heard this in class the other day and just had to hear it again =)
kirksejohnson 3 years ago
I absolutly love this. I wouldn't like to play it, though...
drunkskater27 3 years ago
nicely played.
albbster 3 years ago
hard thing to play, way to go
niravid 3 years ago
did you each set a metronome to a different setting? is this an arrangement?
mikrokosmik 3 years ago
Reich's music is based on the idea of phasing - the same or slightly different music played opposite a constant melody, which slowly speeds up or slows down until the two melodies are out of sync in a way that creates new harmonic ideas. Look him up to get more understanding of "phasing". =)
abstractelysium 3 years ago 3
i know how phasing works. i'm saying how did you CONTROL the speeding up or slowing down?
mikrokosmik 3 years ago
this is awesome
woodros 3 years ago