UNIVERSITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO

DEPARTMENT OF POS GRADUATION IN MUSIC

ISMAEL LINS PATRIOTA

MUSIC AS PROCESS IN THREE WORKS OF STEVE REICH:

COME OUT, MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS AND DIFFERENT TRAINS

Rio de Janeiro

2012
ABSTRACT

In the present dissertation we investigate the musical processes in three works of

Steve Reich (1936 -). In his essay Music as a gradual process (1968), Reich explains
the importance of musical processes to his compositions. Considering that he wrote this
article in a time which he was involved with the visual arts, we begin our work studying
the relationship between Reich and the cultural-artistic environment of the 1960s. To
accomplish that, we make use of the works of Jonathan Bernard (1993) and Robert Fink
(2005). Further, we look at several visions about musical processes in the twentieth
century depicted in the work of Quaranta (2003), some writings and compositions of
Reich and the article of Antoine Bonnet (1996), in which he offers an analysis that takes
in consideration local and global processes. Further, we consider the question of process
in three works of Steve Reich, basing our criterion on distinct phases of his career:
Come Out (1966), composed before his essay of 1968, Music for 18 Musicians (1976),
belonging to a post-minimalist phase, and Different Trains (1988), composed in the
final 1980s. Our analysis pointed to the importance of process in these three works, but
also to the decrease, throughout the time, of the gradual procedural aesthetic.

Keywords: Minimalism, Steve Reich, process.

INTRODUCTION

The Minimalism appeared in EUA, specifically in the visual arts of 1960s,

associated to artists such as Carl Andre, Dan Flavin and Sol Lewitt. These and other
artists from New York and Los Angeles reacted to the gestural spontaneity, chance and
improvisation, current values from the visual art schools in post-war period. Bernard
(1993, p. 87) define those schools as part of Abstract Expressionism,

The reigning style of the fifties [] characterized especially in

painting by a high degree of gestural spontaneity, which vividly
conveyed the presence of the artist in the works. This quality went by
various names, such as: "painterly abstraction," which signified the
explicit record of brushwork or other means of paint application as the
vehicle of creation; "action painting," which attempted to capture the
improvisational, work-it-out-as-you-go-along nature of the technique;
and "all-over art," which called attention to the painter's use of the
entire canvas all at once.

In American Action Painter (1959), Harold Rosenberg talks about a

revitalization in the plastic arts of the pos second war period, with what he calls new
heroes [] stimulated by new galleries, mass exhibitions, reproductions in popular
magazines, festivals, appropriations. According to E. Strickland (2003, p. 3), After
the next [II] war, Abstract Expressionism established not only the independence of New
York from Paris, but its predominance. In the North-American scenario, Minimalism
would come, in plastic arts, as a reaction to the Abstract school of New York, although
James Meyer (2010, p. 16) says that all the artists associated with Minimalism rejected
the idea that theirs was a coherent movement; there was never a manifesto, they pointed
out, only differing or opposing points of view. In fact, in music as much as in plastic
arts, there are many ramifications and different positions. In visual arts, for instance,
some artists were involved with Abstract Expressionism and with Minimalism, in a way
that its impossible to enlist the cannon of artists involved specifically with Minimalism.
To E. Strickland (2000, p. 8), some of these artists made works with extra-aesthetic
touches: Newmas rhetoric, Reinhardts temporality, Kellys chroma, Martins
personal touch, Rymans painterliness, Mardens intuitive process, Tuttles
fundamentally post-Minimalist sensibility. In this scenario, where the limits are fewer
defined, Meyer says that there was no coherent Minimalism, but different,
overlapping Minimalisms.
 One thing, although, is clear: the predomination Abstractionism in the American
art in the 1950s and the mercantilist success gained after-war by this art school
emphasized the visibility of some works that represented an opposite vision. For
example, the four Black Paintings of Frank Stella included in the seminal exhibition of
The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1959-60) (MEYER, 2010, p. 47), gained
reputation as a visceral reaction that they represented to Abstract Expressionism. Stella,
23 years old, was joining a group of artists united in rejection to emotional qualities and
romanticism of that aesthetic. Meyer (2010, p. 47) adds that in that paintings, their
large scale recalls the size of the Abstract Expressionists paintings, although their
monochromatic palette and symmetry deny the possibility of unexpected chromatic or
compositional relationships.
This reaction movement on plastic arts attracted American musicians that were
sharing certain displeasure, mainly regarding to the proposals of Serialism, dominant
aesthetic in the universities. Between the composers, Philip Glass (1937 - ), Steve Reich
(1936 - ), Terry Riley (1935 - ) and La Mont Young (1935 - ) chose for an experimental
aesthetic based on few materials, rhythm static and slow transformations and they also
were involved in events promoted by the visual arts. The listening would be questioned,
in a different approach to the musical narrative, conflicts and resolutions, what Kramer
calls the linearity of the common practice. These four composers also reject the idea
of a musical art based on chance methods or musical complexities. As said by Potter
(2001, vol. 9), Minimalism

Came to be widely seen as the major antidote to Modernism []

seeking, as the art critic Kenneth Baker put it, to clarify the terms in
which art takes a place in the world by eliminating metaphor, where
Abstract Expressionism (and much other modernist art) sought
complexity as a necessary passage to truth.

The sense of antidote here is a reaction as much as displeasure to what at that

time came to be considered as truthful and fundamental in art. The Minimalism came to
be a remedy to the sonar complexities and emotionless of Modernism. Lancia (2008, p.
49), considering the modernists of that time as vanguard, says that opposing radically
to the establishment, the Minimalism offers a solution characteristically vanguardist:
purification. The alternative to the excess of vanguard is also an excess: a hard drying.1
So, Minimalism became a common path to composers and artists unsatisfied
with the direction that art has taken in the 1950s. These artists rejected many of the
proposals and solutions of that time and looked for a kind of simplicity, what doesnt
mean an appropriation of former skills or a search for ancient values. Composers, for
example, would use the simple triads and melodies without any kind of hierarch. In
plastic arts, the geometrical forms more used would be the square, the circle and the
rectangle. Although, as Strickland says (2000, p. 2), some of the composers were
laughed offstage and assaulted onstage, pieces such as Einstein on the Beach (Philip
Glass, 1976), Music for 18 Musicians (Steve Reich, 1976), In C (Terry Riley, 1964) and
The Well Tuned Piano (La Mont Young, 1964, 1973-81) are some of the works that
influenced posterior composers, gained the critical attention and suggested to the
audience another musical perspective, in terms such as stasis and gradual modifications.
Some of its tools, like phasing and additive process are today used generally in
compositions and two minimal composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich were
awarded with the musical Pulitzer. Minimalism has been seen as an important aesthetic,
in such a way that Strickland (2000, p. 1) says The death of Minimalism is announced
periodically, which may be the surest testimonial to its staying power. Through this
interesting phrase we can have an idea of the debates that surrounds this movement,
taken in the twentieth century as one of the most controversial, justly because it was
against the mainstream (CERVO, 2005, p. 44). To add an example, only in the 80s
analysis and reference works appeared in the academy.
Steve Reich appeared in Minimalism as a composer that uses uniform pulse,
motive repetitions and phasing. Influenced by African music, he was, from the four
cited composers, the one that gave more percussive emphasis to his works. To Keith
Potter (2004, p. 154) this obsession come since Reich had fourteen years old, when he
begin studying percussion with Roland Korloff. Besides, his interest to the rhythm led
him to the French composer Protin, whose use of strict structures such as cantus
firmus, isorhythm and, specially, canon and augmentation have remained an influence
(POTTER, 2004, p. 154). We do not find in him the linearity, so expensive to the

1
Opondo-se radicalmente ao stablishment, o minimalismo oferece uma soluo caracteristicamente
vanguardista: a purificao. A alternativa aos excessos da vanguarda se d igualmente pelo excesso: um
enxugamento rigoroso.
classical and romantic music, or the complexities of pos tonal music. Repetitive
structures, French. African and American influences made him an important composer
in twentieth century.
One important work that gained our attention by the time of my graduation was
Music for 18 Musicians. In the words of Keith Potter (2004, p. 296), Such increased
preoccupation with texture and timbre [...] led inevitably to a further decrease in
concern for the old minimalist virtues of filling the structure and audibility of
process. But, in an analysis2 of the sections of the piece, we perceived that musical
processes are still important to the composer. Since the essay Music as a gradual
process (1968), Reich talks about the importance of musical processes to his works. One
phrase that kept our attention was I do not mean the process of compositions, but
rather pieces of work that are, literally, processes. So, what Reich says about processes
in his article and our analysis of Music for 18 Musicians led us to want a more profound
study about this subject, that is, the process in his works.
As Reich was involved with plastic arts in the beginning of his career that
certainly contribute to his aesthetic decisions, we provided in chapter one a brief vision
of the artistic-cultural context in EUA, particularly the years of 1950-60, time that saw
the emergence of Minimalism. The principal reference is the work of Jonathan Bernard,
The Minimalistic aesthetic in Plastic Arts and in Music (1993), in which the author
revise several points of convergence between the plastic arts and music. We study three
of them: reaction to Abstract Expressionism, emphasis upon surface and the shift in
emphasis from composition to arrangement. We tried to trace relationships between the
compositional choices of Reich and what had been proposed by the visual artists. These
three points shows that Reich was not only involved aesthetically with the artists, but
also chooses his owns decisions and ways to make art. Further, we broach some
contextual points of Robert Finks book Repeating Ourselves (2005), that discuss
Minimalism and American cultural practice.
In second chapter we first discuss two characteristics in the career of Reich: the
use of magnetic tape and transposition of the phasing process to live performance. This
study enhances some points, opinions and decisions of the composer. Next, saw what
Antoine Bonnet presents about procedural analysis in Theorie du process (1996).
Basically his discussion about process has a central point that relates local and global

2
Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, 2010. Under supervision of Prof. Rodrigo Cichelli.
processes, that is, between specific processes and their contributions to the general
process of a musical work. That is, the importance and implications in the utilization of
several local processes to discursive aspects, such as musical organization, structure and
form.
How the relationship between these processes occurs and how they contribute to
a more general process is what we study in chapter three. We choose three pieces, from
different composing moments and with different compositional techniques, approaching
a temporal range of 22 years. Come Out (1966), for magnetic tape, was made two years
before Reichs essay Music as a gradual process (1968). Music for 18 Musicians (1976)
is a landmark in the history of Minimalism. According to Potter, it belongs to a pos
minimalistic phase due the great harmonic interest. The third piece, Different Trains
(1988) was composed to four quartets, one live and three recorded. Reich until recently
still explores this kind of composition in which live performers plays with pre-recorded
materials. These three works approaches his first compositions and a more mature
phase.
Another question discussed in chapter three is about Reichs compositional
career. In an interview to Michael Nyman (REICH, 2004, p.93), Reich says that In
fact, Ive changed musically quite a bit, making reference to the period that he wrote
Music as a gradual process. So, we also discuss in chapter three how he changes in
terms of his first aesthetic decisions.
CHAPTER 1 CONTEXT

1.1 Steve Reich and the plastic Arts

Descendent from Germans Jewish, Steve Reich (1936 -) joined the Julliard
School of Music, studying with American pianist and composer Vincent Persichetti
(1915-1987). At the 60s Reich was involved with the theater group Francisco Mime
Troupe Theater, where he played piano. In one presentation of the group he met Terry
Riley (1935 -), which friendship led him to participate in the premiere of In C (Riley,
1964). Potter says that this piece was important to Reich because (POTTER, 2004, p,
164) it pointed the way towards a more organized and consistent kind of pattern-
making with highly reductive means. In fact, Its Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out
(1966) were composed just after that premiere.
At this time Reich also participated in several events of plastic arts. For example,
the premiere of Violin Phase (1967) was at the School of Visual Arts, in 1967
(POTTER, 2004, p. 171), under direction of the painter Robert Rauschenberg (1925-
2008). The importance of these experiences with other artists led Potter (2004, p. 171)
to declare that Reich found he had more in common with those working in sculpture or
painting, theater or film, than with most musicians. But what would be these
familiarities? How can we make a relation between the composer and the plastic arts?
To answer these questions we discuss in the sequence of this chapter some of the
aesthetic choices made by Reich at that time, using the paper of Jonathan Bernard, The
Minimalist aesthetic in The Plastic Arts and in Music, which presents some
characteristics of minimalism shared by music and visual arts field. We will focus our
questions in three points discussed by Bernard: the reaction to Abstract Expressionism,
emphasis upon surface and the shift in emphasis from composition to arrangement.

1.1.1 Reaction to Abstract Expressionism

The Abstract Expressionism was characterized especially in painting by a

high degree of gestural spontaneity, which vividly conveyed the presence of the artist in
the works, as told by Bernard (1993, p. 87). One representative of this current was the
famous artist Jackson Pollock (1912 1956), that painted with the canvas on the floor,
the technique called drip painting. He rounded the canvas, dripping the ink as he
wished, with a result that showed disconnected, diffused lines, although he denied the
existence of chance in his works, according to Emmering (2003, p. 68). Levine (1971,
p.24) highlights that the expressionism of Pollock would lose oneself in the rhythms
[] he uses line not to create form, but to obviate any experience of form and hence an
individualized entity. This focus in gestural and accident, says Bernard (1993, p. 91),

Bears a good deal of resemblance to the work of John Cage, Morton

Feldman, and Earle Brown from the early fifties onward. All three of
these composers incorporated chance-based methods into their music,
either as a matter of compositional process, or a vehicle for
performance, or both.

In this though, the work of Cage would led someone to get lost on the sounds,
through the use of formal disconnected sounds, breaking the linear experience, in the
sense that the reduction of musical context to the presentation of isolated sound
phenomena [] liquidates musical sound, which possesses significance only through its
contextual placement (BOEHMER, PEPPER, 1997, p. 69). Isolating each sound, Cage
clearly is breaking out with the pos-Webern followers, which still sustained the
continuity of the tonal coherence tradition (TARSO, 2005, p. 68). Although Cage
broke out with this tradition, is important to say that Minimalist composers didnt find
in Cage the best way to reaction. The idea of using chance as part of composition
wasnt agreeable to Reich and others.
Reich, in his second interview to Nyman, in 1976, says that Music as a gradual
process was written in intention to separate himself from chance and improvisation.
What I wanted was a blend of controlled individual choice and impersonality, he says
(REICH, 2004, p. 92). Further, in the same interview, he declares,

Certainly theres no place for chance beyond the traditional place for
it. Namely, after the rehearsals, one can never know exactly how a
live performance will go. The idea of composing through tossing
coins, or oracles, or other chance forms I would reject now, as I did in
1967 But there is a great difference between chance and choice, and
what I was trying to do in my earlier pieces was, to some extent,
eliminate personal choices as a composer.
Figure 1 Jackson Pollock painting (BERNARD, 1993, p. 90).
The refusal of using coins, oracles or other chance forms would led Reich to
another ways of making music, and his conceptions would approach another artists, as
well see further. Bernard still highlights that the chance was not completely eliminated
by the artists of Minimalism. Because the material itself has been drastically
simplified, and because the formal constraints to its subjected are considerable, the
result remains channeled within a relative narrow range of possibilities (BERNARD,
1993, p. 96). Bernard calls this restrict use of chance by Minimalists as constrained
chance. As example, he mentions In C (Riley, 1964), in which not only the number of
performers and the instruments are left open by the composer, but also the exact time
that each performer can stay in one of the 53 patterns of the piece. Another example is
The Well Tined Piano (La Monte Young, 1964-73). The piece can last three to four
hours or even more, according to the wish of the performer.
We can imagine if the choices in some works of Reich can be included in
Bernards category. In Piano Phase (1976), a melodic pattern is played first in unison
and seconds later it is phased by one performer. The choice of the time that last each
phase depends exclusively on one of the two performers and, because of that, each one
presentation of the piece will be unique. If we consider that, basically, Piano Phase
consists in the shift of phases, we are tempted to include it on Bernards constrained
chance, because the whole process of the piece can be altered, timely, by the performer.
1.1.2 Emphasis upon surface
In sculpture and painting, the emphasis upon surface took shape as objects and
canvas made by the industry. Frank Stella (1936 -) would say I tried to keep the
painting as good as it was in the can (BERNARD, 1993, p. 97) and Robert Morris
(1931 -) considered it fundamental to break the tedious ring of artiness
circumscribing each new phase of art since Renaissance (BERNARD, p. 53). Stella
and Morris clearly were closing to a more objective character, in the sense that the
observer looks at the work of art and take his owns conclusions without the aid of
external references. As Stella would say, what you see is what you see. In sculpture,
this look for cleanliness was observed in the use of industrials materials. The artists
used stainless steel, plastic, journal paper etc. The objective was to remove personal
references in the works, leading the observer to look at the works as it was
manufactured. Even the name of these works didnt carried personal, subjective or
artistic references. This objective look takes our attention because it does reference to a
work of art as an object that dont need or refers to anything out of it. Reich (2004, p.
93) also says:

Youre doing something thats working itself out and yet because
youve chosen the material and the process its also expressive of
 yourself and you neednt meddle with it any further for it to express
your personality.

The search and interest in the organization of the musical material led Reich to
impersonal or superficial works, as Bernard points out, yet he talks about express your
personality. In this excerpt above, Reich is explaining what would be his impersonal
approach: something that develops itself, although the choice of the material is personal.
To Bernard, superficiality can be perceived through the extensive use of repetition.
When the repetition is combined with the projection of a constant, uniform pulse []
[The work] seems calculated to evoke a sense of flatness, to deny that there is anything
but surface to engage listeners attention (BERNARD, 1993, p. 99). In this view, we
can look at the first works of Reich in the same way, when he uses what he calls a
pure process, i.e. the music being composed only and totally by one process. Come
Out and Its Gonna Rain were composed by what he calls phasing, that consists,
basically, of a shift of phase between two voices in unison.
Looking at his compositions after the first works, we can say that they lost that
emphasis in a pure process to gain in harmony and instrumental qualities. Although,
he still uses repetition and a constant pulse. Potter (2004, p. 242), for instance, uses the
term maquinations referring to the rhythmic complexities of the last parts o Music for
18 Musicians (1976), piece considered by him an example of the pos Minimalistic
phase of Reich. This work is a good example here, because being a more mature work,
it could be considered superficial, to use the term of Bernard. The uniform pulse and
the repetition, to our view3, are important, but we cant summarize the harmony, rhythm
and the counterpoint to a superficial work. It would be nave. Reich uses the stasis and
the uniform pulse to highlight other aspects of the music, as well see in chapter 3. The
industrial, maquinery interest is only a level and cannot range all the aspects of the
piece. The interest of Reich for percussion and the valorization of percussive aspects
and ensembles in his works that can be noted in mature works since Drumming (1971)
can afford the use of the term maquinations, by Potter, but it has to be used cautiously.
When we read what Reich says in 1968 (REICH, 2004, p. 32) I dont mean the process
of composition, but pieces of music that are, literally, processes, we have to avoid
reduce or simplify these process to a mere rhythmic aspect.

3
View chapter 3.
 1.1.3 The shift in emphasis from composition to arrangement

The third characteristic pointed by Bernard was discussed in plastic arts, where
the artists shift the emphasis from composition to arrangement or from the parts to the
whole. He explains (BERNARD, 1993, p. 99):

Arrangement is taken here to imply "a preconceived notion of the

whole," as opposed to composition, which "usu-ally means the
adjustment of the parts, that is, their size, shape, color, or placement,
to arrive at the finished work, whose exact nature is not known
beforehand.

So, the interest was to reduce the number of parts that forms the work, searching
for uniformity and discursive clearness. From this premise, several artists developed the
called simple forms, as Bernard says, what would be simple and regular or irregular
polyhedrons, in which the viewer need not move around to grasp the whole
(BERNARD, 1993, p. 101). For example, the forms are captured instantly by the
spectator in Equivalents I-VIII (Carl Andre, 1966): the same number of bricks (120) is
placed to form each of eight larger blocks, all two bricks high but varying in their other
two dimensions (Ibid, p. 101). That is, one sees and immediately believes that the
pattern within ones [his] mind corresponds to the existential fact of the object
(BERNARD, 1993, p. 101). A musical example is, for Bernard, I am sitting in a room
(Alvin Lucier, 1969), in which the voice of Lucier is recorded and pre-recorded, and so
on, until the listener cannot distinguish, semantically, the text. To Bernard (1993, p.
101),

Even the listener who has never seen the score will soon realize
having heard the text through a few times that the compositional
decisions were all made before the beginning of the work that in fact
they preceded the moment at which the composition could be said,
even conceptually, to have begun.
 1.1.4 Conceptual Art

The example of Lucier is interesting because the interest is not in the process of
creating something, but in the results. From this point of view, more focused in the
results and not on composition, an idea of pre-composition would be carry out by Sol
Lewitt (1928-2007), an American sculptor that would baptize his form of composition
of conceptual art. In 1969, he would say:

I will refer to the kind of art in which I am involved as conceptual art.

In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of
the work [] it means that all of the planning and decisions are made
beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair [] the ideas
need not to be complex [] no matter what form it may finally have it
must begin with an idea. Its the process of conception and realization
with which the artist is concerned [] once its out of his hand the
artist has no control over the way a viewer will perceive the work
Different people will understand the same thing in a different way.

The idea of a conception coming before the realization of the work of art, simple
or not, resembles the article of Reich, Music as a gradual process. We can imagine if,
in conceiving his compositions as process, Reich is not thinking first of the concept.
Michael Nyman perceived the similarity between what Lewitt says, All the plans and
decisions are made beforehand, to what Reich says, Once the process is set up it runs
by itself (REICH, 2004, p. 92). Responding to Nyman, Reich admits that he looked for
impersonality in the beginning of his career, but by other side, doesnt agree that all
decisions are taken beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. In his
compositions, Form can precede the content and the content can precede the form
(Ibid, p. 92). What we can suppose is that his aesthetic preoccupations are not the
concept itself, or the process as before the work, but the process justly as the basis of his
compositions. He complements:

Also, Im not a conceptual artist [...] in my music, the musical

material has usually become clear before the form. In Its Gonna Rain,
the material, the original loop, preceded the phasing idea [] for me,
sound has been uppermost in my mind, and even in Its Gonna Rain
the question of how long the execution of the phasing would be []
 that decision was crucial. So the execution is never perfunctory []
so I would completely disagree with what Sol says [] as far as my
own music is concerned.

These considerations of Reich can lead us to some conclusions. First of all, when
he says that he is not a conceptual artist, he means that his proposal is not follow a
single aesthetic, or follow the compositional instructions of Lewitt. In the same
interview with Nyman, he declares that his interest is not in genuine minimalism music.
Clearly, Reich doesnt brand his output as something specific. Second, thinking the
sound as a superior quality, even the processes are subjected to the sonar results. His
interest is not the processes per si, but the way they will be used. Thus, his process
would be subjected to his will.
This is important also as we think about the paint or sculpture, because the
canvas or the sculpture is fixed in time. The music, differently, moves through time.
While the painting shows some process in a fixed canvas, music can change some
process as time passes, as we can perceive in Reich. We can say that in Lewitts case,
once the concept is conceived, the work is done, immovable. In Reichs, once the
process is conceived, it is put in movement, implying not in static, but variability.
At least, as we see his positions and considerations, we perceive that the
composer was not only reacting to Serialism or following an aesthetic close to the
plastic arts. Reich was trying to achieve his sunset place as a composer. The fact that he
disagrees with Lewitt in relation of his music is an affirmation of compositional liberty,
that, although, has some things in common with other artists, is also unique.
1.2 Minimalism and social revolution
The particularities of each artist in Minimalism lead us to see this movement as a
junction of different points of views, including the social aspect in which theyre
included. This issue is perceived by different authors. Cervo, for example, cites the art
explosions and the rejection by the youth to the traditional values as important factors in
the decade of 60s. To him, Minimalism is a child of this important time, in which
traditional values were not taken as definitive. Strickland, by another perspective, also
perceived the parallel between Minimalism and the social revolution that was occurring
in USA:

It is not coincidental that artists working in stripped-down,

regularized, often serial forms were living in an environment in which
architectural analogues of those forms were proliferating at an
 unprecedented rate. The American landscape had been transformed
by construction booms both in urban commercial and residential
towers in the International Style and suburban houses in the pre-
fabricated box patterns of the post-war Levittows.

The transformation of the Americans scenery, as put by Strickland, affected the

Minimalism, which, in his view, appeared not only as a reaction, but as a critic to what
was being perceived in society. The Levittowns, in New York (see fig. 1), Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, were built to veterans of the second war and their families, and, in
certain sense, remind us some aspects of the minimalism, which was contextualizing
that time.

Figure 2 Levittown, NY. William Thomas, 1950.

Robert Fink also perceived relationships between Minimalism and American
society. In his book Repeating Ourselves (2005) he examines the movement as part of
cultural practice, i.e., Minimalism as a cultural product of the American society that
sees the repetition as a fundamental feature to its existence. Considering teleology, TV,
sexuality and merchandizing in his first chapter of his book, Fink traces important
relations between the advent of Minimalism and others cultural phenomena. For
example, the desire to consume, cause by the high degrees of merchandising on the
television (invented in the 20s) in the year of 1965, the exact moment that the first
repetitive music emerged in the hands of experimental composers like Terry Riley and
Steve Reich (FINK, 2005, p. 141). He also shows the paradoxical idea that of criticizes
a minimalistic society using Minimalism music, as showed in the film Koyaanisqatsi
(Godfrey Reggio, 1982). The music is from Phillip Glass, which uses highly repetitive
music to show how society has lost contact with nature. To Fink, the climax of the film
is a mother holding two children, the three immobile, in front of a TV (Ibid, 2005, p.
162). One conclusion is that (2005, p. 166),

Listening to pulsed minimal music, hearing every repetition, is like

having the experience not of any consumer, but of all the consumer at
once. You are the mass market, and you feel the entire pressure of the
mass medias power to construct desire in other words, in a
consumer society, the irresistible power to construct subjectivity itself
directly on your consciousness. The impossible attempt to represent
that pressure gives this music its teleology, its content and ultimately
its shock and awe.

As we can perceive, the Minimalism referred not only to industrial forms, but to
a cultural revolution that also took form in dance music, merchandizing and sexuality.
The constructions of buildings, the consume, the products created in large scales to
attend demands more and more crescent, the constant day habits or even the nights,
with its dance music, showed that Minimalism was a reflex of a dependence-repetition
society. In arts, the questionings proposed suggested that we cant view art as an
outside world, far from our everyday life. Contrarily, it talks directly to us, putting in
discussion our lives, without subjectivisms or mediations, as clear and audible as we can
see and hear daily.
CHAPTER 2 PROCESS

Between the several forms of thinking of musical processes in twentieth century,

Reich was a composer that considers this matter as an important factor to his
compositions. He wrote Music as a gradual process in 1968, thinking about what he
would like to do and how he would apply it in his compositions. Its not irrelevant that
the beginning of the article says I do not mean the process of composition, but pieces
of music that are, literally, processes (REICH, 2004, p. 34). The article was written in
New Mexico and is a part of his book Writings on Music, where he talks about his
compositions, aesthetics etc. Until 1968, he had already composed Come Out, Piano
Phase and Violin Phase, and he justifies the article saying that he was trying to clarify
for myself what I was doing (Ibid, p. 34). That is, he was writing about the pieces
composed until then. Thus, its necessary an approach to these compositions as a first
attempt a better understand of his writings.
A first look about these pieces reveals two compositional preoccupations. The
first is the use of magnetic tape, used in Its Gonna Rain, Come Out and Melodica (the
first from 1965, and the others from 1966). These three pieces are quite similar, and
Reich refers to the second as a refinement of the first (Ibid, p. 22) and the third as a
consequence of the second, because Melodica has the same rhythmic structure as
Come Out (Ibid, p. 22).
Its Gonna Rain and Come Out are the best known compositions of this phase.
These pieces explore only one process, known as phasing, discovered by accident (Ibid,
p. 20). Reich talks about the moment he discovered it: When I heard that, I realized it
was more interesting than any one particular relationship, because it was the process (of
gradually passing through. all the canonic relationships) marking an entire piece, and
not just a moment in time (Ibid, p. 21). In this process, the phrase Its Gonna Rain is
phased and becomes its gonna/Its Gonna Rain/rain (Ibid, p. 21). Reich manipulates
the voice and the result is that theres no interruption between the phases. In fact, Come
Out has no interruption at all, but Its Gonna Rain presents one interruption between the
first and second parts.
This gradually passing through all the canonic relationships that Reich talks
about in Its Gonna Rain may be a definition of process, but as the piece was done in
the first years of his career, this led us to question to what point this is applied to
another pieces, what we will study in chapter three. In any case, Its Gonna Rain, Come
Out, My name is, Piano Phase and Violin Phase explores this phasing relationships and
allow us to make a dialog between what was being done in electronic music. In this
context, Reich talks about his disappointment to that music, which (REICH, 2004, p.
20)

Usually presented sounds that could not easily be recognized, when

what seemed interesting to me was that a tape recorder recorded real
sounds [] keep the original emotional power the speech has while
intensifying its melody and meaning through repetition and rhythm

Reich was using technologies, thus, to intensify the expressive characteristics of

the voice, and not to get away from the emotional power of it, what occurs in electronic
music because of the distortion of the vocal source. The method used by Reich
approaches the listener to the music and not by chance the text use in Its Gonna Rain
refers to the biblical episode of the flood, where the human race is destroyed except
Noes family by the water. The intensification of the voice in such appears to raise a
symbolic power in the piece, as the transformations of the voice in the tape dissolves the
semantic recognizing of the musical phrase. Reich talks about it (2004, p. 21):

A human being is personified by his or her voice. If you record me,

my cadences, the way I speak are just as much as any photography of
me. When other people listen to that they feel a persona present. When
that persona begins to spread and multiply and come apart, as it does
in Its Gonna Rain, theres a very strong identification of a human
being going through this uncommon magic.

In fact, the voice has become one important musical source to Reichs output,
and he continuously uses the power that emerges from it, as we will see in chapter 3.
The permanent transformation that Reich does in his first compositions made him
declare that (Ibid, p. 33) I began thinking about what I had done musically, primarily
about the phase pieces. I began to see them as process as opposed to compositions.
That is, in these first pieces, the process is the music. It is in this sense that he declares
(Ibid, p. 92) In Its Gonna Rain theres a pure process.
A second characteristic of Reichs career raises from the necessity of experiment
the phase process through the live instruments. He tells us that, after Come Out, the
sensation was like being stuck to a laboratory. He doubted if two performers could
achieve a similar result, rhythmically, to the initial pieces. The escape would come in
1966, with the help of his friend Arthur Murphy in Piano Phase. Reich found out that
he could not only make the phasing, but also that would be a major freedom on
performance, that is, each performance would be unique because the existence of certain
degree of chance.
Reich would play Piano Phase in 1967, with Murphy, and further, he expanded
and refined this technique in Violin Phase, that used three recorded violins with one live
performance. So, this expansive characteristic refers to a major kind of patterns that get
in relation with each other, which provide more patterns possibilities. As Reich says
(REICH, 2004, p. 26), The many melodic patterns resulting from the combination of
two or more identical instruments playing the same repeated pattern one or more beats
out of phase with each other would demand a major attention, in the listening and in
the performance. So, Violin Phase is an important piece in Reichs career, and this
expansion that he talks about is increased in the measure that he adds more instruments
and different timbres, offering to the listening more procedural possibilities.
Music as a gradual process: perception, control and impersonality.
Reich wrote Music as a gradual process one year after Violin Phase, so, in the
moment that he was using the phasing process with major liberty and maturity. We can
discuss his essay from three points of view. These are, clearly in the text, commented by
Reich in the form of narrow sentences and can help us to understand his opinion of
process in a more specific way.
The first aspect that can be noted is the concern of hearing the process: I am
interested in perceptible processes, he says (Ibid, p. 34). Here we can make a dialog
with Cage, that, as we saw in chapter one, hide his processes, depriving the listener of
perceiving it. Cage used coins, oracles and other forms of chance at the moment of the
piece, so a certain degree of surprise was actually on stage. Reich, in taking about
perception, wants to observe a process that, occurs, as he says, gradually, that is, that
can be perceived, as on listening Its Gonna Rain or Come Out. If, by this side, Reich
keep distance of Cages propose, by other side, he gets close to the occidental tradition,
that always give importance to the active act of hearing. Rosen, for example, speaking
about the classical sonata, explains that (1998, p. 69) An articulate movement to the
dominant (or its substitute) is all that is required harmonically of a sonata exposition.
Not only it, but in development, the listener expects an interaction between the materials
of exposition. There is a dialog between the piece of music and the listener, who
follows, hears, the musical discourse presented to him in the form os themes, variations,
contrasts, etc. The composer also expects that the listener perceive what is characteristic
of the form and what is also new.
Reich, in certain way, takes in account this tradition between the composer and
the listener, establishing the importance of hearing the process. Maybe, for this cause,
Schwarz (1980-81, p. 374) says that

Composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and others,
are the antithesis of a personality like Milton Babbitt, who wrote that
the composer would do himself and his music an immediate and
eventual service [] with its very real possibility of complete
elimination of the public and social aspects of composition.

Curiously, Reich was a composer which works many times takes in account
social questions. Two of the three works chosen for our analysis fits it: Come Out and
Different trains. Its not by chance that Reich moves away from the chance process of
Cage, as much as from the Serialism of Babbitt. These were proposed by a group of
composers that searched a temporal distortion through the serialization (Babbitt) or
dissolution of musical parameters. Proposing an active participation of the listener,
Reich gives importance to the dialog, in these terms (2004, p. 34):

Performing and listening to a gradual musical process resembles:

pulling back a swing releasing it, and observing it gradually come to
rest; turning over an hour glass and watching the sand slowly run
through to the bottom; placing your feet in the sand by the oceans
edge and watching, feeling, and listening to the waves gradually bury
them.

As Quaranta says (2002, p. 73-74), The listener must understand what occurs in
the interior of the piece. Its important to remember the first pieces of Reich, which
explores the same process, from the beginning to the end. Thus, speaking of gradual
process and its perception, Reich is considering that the listener will hear the piece until
the end, that is, until the end of the process.
Kramer include Violin Phase and Come Out in his category of vertical music,
that is, a music that does not lead to a conclusion or changes toward some direction, as
we saw in chapter 1. Kramer bases his categories on the listeners expectation, and his
conclusion (1988, p. 388) is that this music can scarcely be analyzed, in the usual sense
of the term [] traditional analysis has little to say about vertical music. In fact, has
little or nothing to say about this kind of music because these pieces are not based on a
traditional form. Trying to use the traditional analysis would generate a disinterest,
because its an inadequate implement to understand this kind of music. As we can see,
Reich wants to hear the process though the sounding music. Considering this desire of
the composer, another degree of interest rises, and the music presents itself with
different and recurrent elements. The question of directionality loses space to
variability, which is more important to Reich. So, we have to start from this
characteristic if we want to approach with a coherent analytical judgment concerning
Reichs musical works. One term that helps us to understand this is organic. We can
see it applied in the commentary of Rosen about George Fosters description (Views of
Lower Rhine, 1790):

What is significant, above all, is that neither prehistoric time nor the
present moment is described as a static picture, but as continuously
changing actions. Both are understood by Foster as process [] the
initial triumphs of the new mode of description were chiefly the
mountains seen as organic, living creatures.

We can also use the term linear, referring to a process that is always changing. In
this sense, we can apply this term to the process in many works of Reich, chiefly his
first works. The term is used here in the sense of audibility. The process is subjected to
a directional variability that demands to the listener a cautious hearing. This variability
changes to a more complexity or may back to the initial simplicity, but always is
something directional. Its not imply that the music is variable, but that the process are
driven through constant phases, that is, the relationships between the material changes
according certain principles. Gradual, variability and organic are words that do not
imply in static, as the commentary of Rosen seen previously, but certain linearity,
that, although is not the same of the common practice, is developed from the initial
events, in an intensification between the materials.
About musical control, Reich understand his participation as limited (REICH,
2004, p. 34): Although I have the pleasure of discovering musical processes and
composing the musical material to run through it, once the process is set up it runs by
itself. What Reich calls kind of complete control in his essay implies choosing the
materials, the process and the results, accept without changes. About it, Reich says,
writing about Its Gonna Rain (REICH, 2004, p. 21):
 A pigeon took off near the microphone, and it sounds like a beating
drum. So, youve got a kind of drum beat [] and the Brother
Walters words all of this going against itself at a constantly varying
time rate. As you listen to the results, you seem to hear all kinds of
words and sounds that you heard before.

The sound of the pigeon, accidentally recorded by Reich is explored in the piece
and helps to dissolve the phrase of Brother Walter. So, the procedural consequences in
the piece were accepted by Reich. This, in certain way, brings a new look about the
linearity which we talked about previously. In the case of Its Gonna Rain, all the sounds
involved in the beginning of the recording are developed by the phasing process. There
is no way to manipulate a certain moment of the tape without affect the whole. Any
alteration, as we can observe in hearing the piece, affects the process, and thats why
Reich talks about accepting the results.
Worthy noted is what occurs in Piano Phase. In this piece, theres a major
control about the process, because the changes dont affect the whole, as in Its Gonna
Rain. Not only this, but Reich uses the phasing process differently, guiding the process
to return to the initial part of the piece, at least in the first part. The return to a familiar
part is something important to traditional music. Thus, the purpose here is not to destroy
the semantic phrase, as occurs in Its Gonna Rain or Come Out, but to preserve it.
The control can also be observed in the audition. An important characteristic
offered by Reich in his pieces is the economy of sound materials, what offers simple
process, although it can become complex. He says: Listening to an extremely gradual
musical process opens my ears to it, but it always extends farther than I can hear, and
that makes it interesting to listen to that musical process again. So, we can observe the
precaution of the composer in not boring the listener with a piece of music that does
not worthy listening again. This interesting quality that Reich searches reveals itself
in the process, in the measure that the economy of materials does not imply simplicity
of hearing. So, although Reich uses few elements, these are disposed in recurrent and
complexities ways that raises interest on the listener. And this would lead someone to
listen again.
Talking about impersonality, Reich says (REICH, 2004, p. 36), While
performing and listening to gradual processes, one can participate in a particular
liberating and impersonal kind of ritual. Focusing in on the musical process makes
possible that shift of attention away from he and she and you and me outward it. In
chapter one, we noted that the artists from Minimalism searched to escape from the
emotional and subjective, what, as we can see, is aesthetically shared by the composer.
In moving away from he or she towards it, Reich is moving away from what is
personal towards the process. It is interesting to observe, for example, the question of
performance in his works. They demand a focus on the rhythm, what is challenging,
demanding a sustained attention. When Reich says that improvisation and process are
concepts mutually exclusive, he is also talking about the decision of exclude personal
and subjective question in performance.
Van den Thorn (BOHLMAN, 1993, p. 416-417) uses the term musical object
to refer to the impersonal quality of the musical discourse: The Mind, loosing itself in
contemplation, becomes immersed in the musical object, becomes one with the object.
And the experience would seem to define a bonding that transcends separation, that
defies the subject-object, inner-outer polarities. Surely, Thorn is talking about what is
imply in every listening experience with some degree of attention, but we can say that it
is more intense as we talk about some works of Reich, due to some characteristic of his
music. For example, when commenting about Its Gonna Rain, Reich says (2004, p. 21)
that each person organizes the fragments is his own manner, because the several
patterns that occurs at the same time. According to him, My early pieces do that
[brings this personal side within it] in an extreme form, but paradoxically they do so
through a very rigid process, and its precisely the impersonality of that process that
invites this very engaged psychological reaction. Its interesting what he says, because
each listener has a personal interaction with the musical object. For us, he is just saying
that this personal side does not exclude the impersonal quality involved between the
listener and the music.
Curiously, and perhaps intentionally, Reich does not talk about repetition in
Music as a gradual process. Although he notes the influence of this aspect to Its
Gonna Rain, there is no reference in the article to it. Looking at his pieces, before and
after his article, we can note that repetition was not emphasized neither reduced in his
music, that is, there is not a clue about change to some position in relation to this
quality. We can imply that Reich never intended to propose a repetitive music, but just
use this characteristic to highlight others characteristics more important. But, in another
side, there is no doubt that repetition is something important to Reich and even today he
keeps on using it. But it is not important just because it is. We can see that through the
repetition, he could keep away from the isolated sounds of Cage and the polyphony of
Babbit. Thats through the repetition that he could promote a music that is a gradual
process, be on magnetic tape or using live performer or even live and record performers
together. Is through the repetition that the listener is invited to hear a process that is
continuous and gradual, invited to participate on a ritual on which the process is
impersonally observed.
Theory of process by Antoine Bonnet
From these characteristics of the process in Reichs view, we can focus and
discuss more properly about a method of analysis on Reichs music. The term process
can be applied to a many forms and academic disciplines. Bonnet, in his article, Thorie
du processus (1966), considers this plural aspect of the term, and explains that his
intention is not a catalog of the term, but to consider it under the prism of composition.
As he says (1995, p. 55):

La notion de processus est susceptible de concerner la totalit du

phnomne musical : selon lintrt de lutilisateur, elle peut
impliquer les stratgies compositionnelles ou perceptives, la partition
ou lcoute, voire le geste de linterprte ou limaginaire du
compositeur.

Bonnet avoids using the term in broad sense. Is necessary to make divisions,
specify functions, and approach the procedural question in the specific range of the
composer. So, we can make the first question here: in what sense Reich uses the term
process? Would be in a compositional strategy, in the sense of the score, or in the
imaginary? As we have seen, the composer specifies the use of the process as something
that can be perceived, and thus, as a compositional strategy, heard by the listener. Its
important to note that, in the beginning of Reichs career, he talks about Its Gonna
Rain as being a representative of a process creating the entire piece, and not only a
moment in time. So the process in the beginning of his career on the moment where
Music as a gradual process was written comprises the totality of the musical work, or,
at least, goes far from the limits of a tool in disposition of the composer, as Lancia
writes (2008, p. 107). In this sense, as Reich uses live performers in the second moment
of his career, more aspects enters on stage as counterpoint, harmony and different
pulses at the same time and we can doubt if the process comprises every aspect of the
work.
 As the process can comprises musical distinct phenomena, we can ask if a real
sonar evolution would be different from a creation behavior, using the term as
written by Bonnet. The first impression that comes to light is that, these categories,
taken as different by Bonnet, are the same for Reich. If we look at Come Out, for
instance, the work evolves in a progressive way, in the sense of the process. This
process, evolving, reveals itself to the listener as something that constantly changes the
beats, at each phase of the process. As says Schwarz (1980, p. 377-8), Provides an
urgency, an accessibility, and a unifying force that always continues unabated through a
composition. Although the transformations and these new phases, the using of the
same materials brings something unitary to the composition, at least in the first work of
Reich. This aspect is important here to Bonnet, who says (1996, p. 55):

lre du triomphe exclusif de linstant doit maintenant se clore car La

notion dvolution discursive tant dlaisse par une gnration de
compositeurs essentiellement procupe par lexploration du nouvel
espace sonore est dsormais le passage oblig du renouvellement
stylistique des ouvres.

Bonnet notes that the preoccupation in exploring new sound spaces doesnt have
to neglect the discursive evolution. This new sound space was explored using the
recording technologies. Kramer, in chapter 3 of The Time of Music (1988, p. 66)
observe this question from two sides: first, the available sound materials and, second,
the manipulation of these materials. The first artifact that allowed the composer in this
new field of composition would be the magnetic tape. The music never would be the
same: new ways of composing, including the experiments of Reich in Its Gonna Rain
and Come Out, new ways of listening, and even performance would be included in the
theaters and auditions. The point here is that some composers, fascinated by the new
possibilities, forget the importance of the musical discourse, the perceptible syntax, as
Bonnet names it.
In Reich, the recording technologies always have been present in his works, and
in some he uses even images, as in The Cave (1993). To ask if Reich neglect the
musical discourse would not be fair if we not study his music first, but we can suppose
by his article, that his process, the consideration of pieces that are, literally, processes,
surely implies that his pieces have some kind of discourse. Reich, of course, is not
interested in diminish the aesthetic experience to a mere sound repetition. As a
composer that wrote about his music, we can expect more about what he had done and
think about process, as we have seeing until now. In this sense, the preoccupation in the
audibility of the process certainly leads the listener to a contact with a discourse
constructed not by themes, but processes.
Not only Reich, but many composers would try to develop an aesthetic that
would dissolve the traditional notion of musical discourse. Bonnet says that (1996, p.
63) the Notion de thme, em tant quobjet dment dlimit et rpertori, nexiste plus:
lavnement du thmatisme virtuel rend plus que jamais incertaine et floue la ligne de
dmarquation entre objet et matriau. Grisey (1987, p. 268-9) would declare that

From now on its impossible to think of sounds as defined objects

which are mutually interchangeable [] since sound is transitory []
object and process are analogous. The sound object is only a process
which has been contracted, the process nothing more than a dilated
sound object.

That is, is difficult delimit precisely both object and process, as the sound is
something manipulated. The work of Reich through exploring sound in transitory
contexts implies that the process have influence also on time, perception and sound
configurations. Even the notion of form has a new significance here, as in some pieces
the process continues from the beginning to the end. The form would be the result in
how the composer manipulates the processes. In Music for 18 Musicians, differently, its
several sections demark several processes, as well see in chapter 3.
From this question of articulation, Bonnet asks Comment um processus peut-il
se dployer dans le temps partir dune dialectique dobjets? For a better
comprehension of a musical process, the proposal of Bonnet is verify how the musical
objects can move by themselves, that is, how they can be objectivated. The process
would be diferent in several groups of objects. Bonnet proposes to separate these groups
in local and global processes. That is, a global process would give the general order
direction, defining the sections, sequences, phases, and the local processes would be
more than simply applications of the global one. As he says (BONNET, 1996, p. 76),

Une processus local est une construction original, autonome mme,

dont le processus global constitue se lon veut une sorte de cahier des
charges. En dautres termes, il ny a processus local que pour autant
quil a invention locale et l de manire trs prcise : un processus
local se confond quasiment avec sa ralisation technique , que pour
 autant quil y a proposition nouvelle, la fois solidaire de et en
excs radical sur le processus global.

That is, a global process would be the sum of the local processes in a piece,
although its not a question of mathematics. In large scale, an analysis would part not
from the global process, but from the local, from the inferior levels of sound
organization, that, in its objectivation, defines the general line, process, of the piece.
This view in relation to the musical process seems to be a viable form of
approaching to Reichs pieces. The inter-relationship of local and global processes,
local and global materials, seems to be a effective method of observation. The question
of a procedural development, levels of musical organization in regards to an analysis
that considers first the sub-levels as the beginning of organization seems to fit, if we
consider and if were right in establish the process, as a fundamental factor in the works
we choose to expand our study.
As we can observe generally the pieces, in the case of Different Trains, there are
four quartets, each of them interacting with the others to create a unique configuration
that permeates the entire piece. In Come Out, the double of channels shows that the final
section creates only one final process that disintegrates what we first hear clearly in the
beginning of the piece. Finally, Music for 18 Musicians leads with several counterpoints
and sections that offer some levels of hearing, which we can suppose that these are the
local processes. As Bonnet says,

Um processus propose donc pluiseurs regimes dcoute: des plus

lmentaires, qui se satisfont de la reconnaissance des axes
principaux, aux plus complexes, qui mettent en relation une
slection des trajectoires de perception possibles et souvent
contradictoires qui interfrent au gr des situations

The question of how these different levels of hearing contribute to our better
understanding of the piece as a whole is what we pretend to study in chapter three.
 CHAPTER 3 ANALYSIS
In this chapter, we pretend to make an analysis of three works, in a way that we
can discuss how Reich applyes his process, as we seen in chapter 2. The point here is a
procedural analysis, considering local processes as gerative to a global process. We will
begin from a general look, also considering what has being comented by analysts such
as Keith Potter (2004), Gopinath (1996) and Cumming (1997). Through the dialog with
these authors, we will abrange our question and make our conclusion, seeking to
relation the analysis with the article Music as a gradual process.

3.1 COME OUT

3.1.1 The work
Come Out4 is for magnetic tape and has about 12 minuts. Theres no score, as
primary source, available. Fortunately, Sumanth Gopinath has done a transcription of
the piece in his article The Problem of Political in Steve Reichs Come Out (2009). Until
now, this is the only transcription ever done for the piece and has the copyright from
Hendon Music. The article will be used for a first approach to the work.
The social question involved in the piece is important to the development of the
piece. Reich The musical material is the phrase spoken by Daniel Hamm, who in the
1960s was known as one member of the group Harlem Six. Gopinath (2009, p. 124-5)
explains that in April of 1964, police officers were positioned in Harlem to reprimand
any riot. When a group of teenagers promoted a tumult because of their presence, the
six youngers were involved and taken to the police station where, with others, were
strongly beaten. One day after the incident, a Jewish was murdered and the group was
considered suspect. Taken once more to the police station, the six young niggers,
including Hamm, were pressed to confess, physically, what Hamm eventually admitted.
Gopinath adds that (2009, p. 125) The media quickly turned against the youths,
assuming that they were guilty and that their crimes included a racially motivated anti-
white murder. Although they were condemned, years later the case was considered an
example of the ineffectiveness of New York judgment system, as it were proved that the
evidences against the group were planted.
The racial context of the 1960s (still a problem today) is important to enlarge
our comprehension of the piece, because, firstly, the material is taken from the

4
In capital letters, the term Come Out refers to the name of the piece. In small letters, refers to the
musical material.
testimony of Daniel Hamm, a member of the group. Second, it will permit some
conclusions about the musical process. Reich had access by a friend to the testimony of
Hamm. In it, Hamm speaks that although he was hurt, he wasnt bleeding. So, to get to
the hospital, he opened a bruise in himself. The composer tells that The phrase Come
out to show them caught my ear. The complete phrase used is: I had, like, open the
bruise up and let some of the blood come out to show them [the policemen].
Gopinath presents his transcription using time to separate the bars. In our
analysis, we will also use this form as a:b, where a represents the minutes and b the
seconds.
3.1.2 PROCESS
This phrase is repeated three times in the beginning of the piece. Gopinath
(2009, p. 129) says that The threefold repetition of the excerpt inflects its documentary
quality in an ominous, ritualistic manner. That is, the phrase spoken by Hamm brings
with itself a documentary, historic force that is important to the piece. Reich chooses
this declaration for the beginning of the piece, using the voice of the men who suffer the
aggression. In certain way, it transfers part of the emotional charge of the episode, the
racial context and even the not-human treatment, painfully taken by Hamm, to the ambit
of music. The threefold repetition confirms this position. The final phrase of the
declaration of Hamm is the main material of the piece, which we can consider the
threefold repetition as an introduction of the piece (example 1). Reich, thus, is not only
showing the material, but clarifying the context of the music, before beginning the
phase process, which is the core of the piece.

Examplo 1. Gopinath, op. cit. p. 129. Steve Reich, Come Out, Introduction.
We can highlight in example one the measure 7/8. To Gopinath (2009, p. 129), it
generates a strange groove of sorts strange in part due to the odd meter. This is
important, because the measure marked by 7/8 is the one used by Reich as the material
to suffer the phasing process.
Finished the introduction, come out to show them is repeated in unison in two
channels. After some time, they enter out of phase, that is, one channel begins the phase
a little faster than the other. The listener can perceive the phrase of Hamm with echoes.
This process goes on till certain point, where the two channels are double to 4. Reich
keep on the phasing process until, at the end, the listener cannot perceive clearly the
phrase, as the piece works with 8 channels.
8 is also the number of parts of the piece as divided by Gopinath. We observe in
example 2 that the parts represent several moments of the phasing process, initiating
with two channels. First in unison, and second separated by a quaver. The example
shows clearly the meticulous and gradual character of the process, and also that one
phase last, more or less, one and half minutes.

Example 2. Gopinath, p. 130. Come Out, phasing process until point 2:59.
As we see in example 2, a separation starts between come out and to show them,
what is very anatomic because there is a pause between them (example 1). As seen in
chapter 2, Reich highlights through repetition the material and the process. Here, also
the active participation of the listener 5 . This intensifies the relationship between the
listener and the process. Schwarz says (1993, p. 46) that The repetition of come out
sounds like a direct address to the listener, an imperative. As this separation becomes
clear, we can perceive that the 7/8 beat intensifies the beginning of the phrase, come
out. That is, come out becomes, sonorously, more important than to show them.
This quality worth is sustained through the rest of the piece, as something imperative,
to use the word of Schwarz. We can highlight the point 1:50 (example 2), when this
repetition changes the perception of the compass, now perceived as 2/4, although

5
Its worthy to say that come out brings the idea of show up, appear.
Gopinath still writes the measures as 7/8. In fact, this transcription takes in account only
the differences in time between the phases.
The example 3 shows us what we saw until now: after the introduction of 20
seconds, two channels start the unison part until the point 1:50, where theres a first
separation between them. Gopinath comments that after the point 2:59, the effect caused
by the two waves sounds out of sync Creates a strange, claustrophobic listening space
(GOPINATH, 1996, p. 131). This is important, because the idea of a claustrophobic
space in a piece highly repetitive and that brings with it all the violence and racial
context of the episode involved, as we can see, is an example of what Reich says about
a human being, a persona (REICH, 2004, p. 21), that spreads, and multiply, and
comes apart. This ideal becomes highly relevant as the process goes on.

Example 3. Gopinath, p. 132. Steve Reich, Come Out, four voices phasing.
The third example shows the exact moment chosen by Reich to duplicate the
channels, the point 2:59, according to Gopinath. Come and them is at the first beat.
Duplicating the channels at this point intensifies the duality between come out/to show
them and, at the same time, it sets up two chief materials of the piece, come and show.
Although this perception is clear before 2:59, the duplication of the channels makes it
more preeminent. At this point, theres a reverberation that, to any who listen with head
speakers, oscillates between the left and right side. After this occurs the duplication.
The idea of a persona is important because we can see more than a simple
phasing occurring here, at the example 3. The transcription can help us to see this level
of the process, but, in term of sound, there is one more process that could resume what
Reich is doing with the four channels. We can call it dissolution. Our point is that the
phasing process is only one level that is occurring on the piece, because Reich is not
worried about blending the four channels simultaneously in phasing, but uses them to
create de dissolution of the phrase. This compromising about the clearness of the phrase
of Hamm is being increased as the channels are double, and consequently, this second
process of dissolution is more intense at the example 3.
In the process of phasing, is important to perceive that there are syllables more
important than others. Sh of show and com of come are highlighted due to rhythm given
by the composer. Not only by this, but come is important, as we said, because it occurs
in the beginning of the measure, and sh is clearly important as we can perceive in
preeminence in the repetitions. From this separation in syllables the phrase is dissolved,
not from the complete phrase. We can resume this process like this: Hamms declaration
come out/to show them turns in com/out/sh/thm etc. The drama is cut more and more in
the piece and the listener has many options to follow as there are more small pieces of
the phrase.
The process of dissolution is important to the final. Whatever the motive that is
followed by the listener in the piece, its suffocated by the dense level of rhythm and
sound that is established progressively in the piece. Only the rhythm survives to the
chaos of the final. But in that chaos we can perceive how interesting is the rhythm
created by the process. The final rhythm is the result of the progression in curve as we
can see in example 4. We put the principal syllables, sh/come of the piece as they
reverberate in time. The result is a curve.
 distinction: Com'ut/to show'em...................................................................................1
1'00

comama x T'Sh[ou]Sh[ou]...................................................................................................2
2'00''

sound effect: robotic voice[comahama x shoushou'm]

3'00''

Comaaaa x tShshsh[ououou]
4'00''

comamama x sh[ow]sh[ow]sh[ow]'em...............................................................................3
4'30''

Comahamahama x Sh[ou]sh[ou]sh[ou]
5'30''
6'30'' - Comacoma x Sh[ou]sh[ou]sh[ou]............................................................................2
6'30'' 7'00'' - Sh[shshou]shou

ma x sh with hard distincion................................................................................................1

8'00''

sound change: complete dissolution[mmmm x shshshsh] rhythm continuous

8'30''

fade out
12''50

Resume 1. Progression of motives [ma][sh] in Come Out. Present author.

From the point 4:30, in example 3, theres a back in the number of syllables, first
with 2 motives (6:30) and further, one (8:00), followed by complete dissolution. This
process is important because attests several opinions that we discussed in chapter 2. The
active participation of the listener in a gradual process, a progressive intensification and
the use of expressivity through the voice of a human being and the several motives
which the listener can hear and follow. Even linearity, in certain sense, can be
distinguished here and in example 3, through a constant and progressive dissolution that
occurs to the phrase of Hamm.
The final, as a result of the process above, is surprising. At the point at 8:38
(example 4), Gopinath show us several levels of musical perceptions. We can note that
the use of the main materials, ma/sh contributed to this perception of rhythm, with the
persistence of a measure in 2/4. Without a meticulous work, this rhythm coherence
would not be possible: the two motives are fixed in distinct beats. So, Reich not used
the motives randomly, but preserved them.
Examplo 4. Gopinath, p. 133. Steve Reich, Come Out, perceptible layers in the final section (8:38).
Ending the analysis, we can say that the phasing is a local process. Through the
inferior levels of this process, that is, the work with the motives ma/hs, we can perceive
a global process of dissolution. Although its not possible to follow all the details in the
phasing process, its clear the global process of dissolution of what was heard in the
beginning of the piece.
Another characteristic is that the audibility of the process of dissolution offers to
the listener the linear curve between the beginning and the final of the piece. Below
(sequence 1), A, B, CG is equivalent to the several moments of example 5, in relation
to the number of sh/ma motives:

A[ma / sh]B[mama / shsh]C[maaaa / shshshsh]D[mamama / shshsh]

E[mahamahama / shshsh]F[mama / sh[shsh]sh]G[ma / sh].

Sequence 1. Come Out. Present authorship.

Though s not strict, we can perceive a curve, with A equivalent to G, B to F, and

C to E or D. This process is only with the principal motives. So, the perception that calls
our attention in the piece is not only the dissolution, but how it is conducted. There is
three points that we can conclude about the processes of the piece:
a) The return of A in G (ma/sh) does not imply in the return to the
beginning of the piece. When we talked about a back, its not the return of A, but only
the return of one motive (ma and sh). Also, in the final (G), the motives lack their
semantic character, what is not true in A.
b) The mutant rhythm of the motives offers several perceptions through the
piece. The change of 1:45 to a measure close to 2/4 does not imply that more beats can
be sensed by the listener, because of the reverberations of ma/sh. So, we can say that
there are different rhythm sensations through the entire piece.
c) One point emphasized in our analysis is the importance of motives to the
process. This surely approaches Reich to the occidental tradition, where the motives and
their variations, including inversion, augmentation, etc. have always being present,
although the work with them is more limited here. Reich, in certain sense, extends this
notion using the voice as musical material.
3.2 MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS
3.2.1 The work

Music for 18 Musicians (Ed. Boosey and Hawks, 2010) was written in 1976,
eight years after Music as a gradual process and ten years after Come Out. The piece
develops a major harmonic palette than the past works. The composer said that (REICH,
2004, p. 87) there is more harmonic movement in Music for 18 Musicians than in any
other complete work of mine to this date. Besides, this piece is considered a landmark
of Minimalism by many theorists. Potter (2004, p. 231) adds that the piece is an apex of
1965-1976s compositions, and, Although its a summation of a decades efforts, this
composition also introduces several innovations. For Schwarz (1981-2, p. 249-50), the
piece has sub-structures, but they Disappear as the listener becomes dazzled by the
surface beauty of the work, a sparkling mlange of shifting timbres and textures, a
masterpiece of sheer aural magnificence. Reich, on score, proposes an arrangement of
the instruments on stage, certainly sighting a more use of this beauty quality.
Reich divided the piece in many sections, based on a circle of 11 pulsing
chords, presented on the beginning and in the final. The initial section, which presents
the chords, is called in the score by pulse, and after its finished, the instruments6 starts
a more or less five minutes section of the first chord, maintained by two marimbas and
two pianos, while A small piece is constructed on it (REICH, 2004, p. 89). This is
repeated for each chord, and each one will have its own piece constructed. In respect of
the form, Reich says that they are, basically in arch form (ABCDCBA) or in a musical
process form. And about the structure, Reich says (2004, p. 89),

Very much as a single note in a cantus firmus or chant melody of a

twelfth-century organum by Perotin might be stretched out for several
minutes as the harmonic Center for a section of the organum. The
opening 11-chord cycle of Music for 18 Musicians is a kind of pulsing
cantus for the entire piece.

6
On instrumentation: violin, cello, two clarinets doubling bass clarinets, four womens voice, four pianos,
three marimbas, two xylophones, and metallophone (Vibraphone with motor). All instruments are
acoustical (REICH, 2004, p. 87).
 This work will further our analysis in respect of the form, presented firstly in the
10 Colquio de pesquisa, UFRJ/RJ, Brazil, 2010. Also, some points of Potter in Four
Musical Minimalists (2004) will be presented here.

3.2.2 PROCESS

The eleven chords used by Reich are shown in example 5. The chords are
distributed in the instruments as the example shows. The interest of the composer in
chords in this second piece is important. He says that (REICH, 2004, p. 87) they are a
he-harmony, inversion or a relative, major or minor of the previously used in the score.
So, we expect to hear a harmony that is simple, but not hierarchic. As we see the
example 5, we find out that the chords are simple triads add by 9s, 6s etc., and that
they are in the scale of A major. There are some doublings: vocal 1 and 2 doubles,
generally, the marimbas and vocals 3 and 4, the chords (violin and cello).

Example 5. Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians, chords of introduction (Schwarz, 1981-2, p. 247).
Fink (2005, p. 52) highlights the following progression, considering only the
pulse chords of marimbas and pianos, from section I to VI: D (I-II), E (III-IV), E (V7))
and F#m (VI) as something commonly found in the common practice: IV (D) V
(C#m) I (F#m). So, to him (FINK, 2005, p. 52), Reich has flouted the rules of his
minimalistic process in order to indulge in the most traditional kind of teleology tonic-
dominant polarity that Western music has to offer. As to Potter (2004, p. 235),
considering the introduction, says that the chords may have several interpretations, as

7
In the introduction of the piece, the chords appear as shown in the example 6, but in the fifth section of
the piece, the chord presented is not the same of the introduction. The harmony in that section is on E,
with the key signature in E also. Its an exception here. In the others sections, the chords shown at the
introduction is the same of their respective section. The consideration of Fink is, of course, based on the
sections, not the introduction.
one in F#m and A, but that Reich challenges such conclusions. As our intention here
is not take part in one or another perspective, we will first study what happens in the
sections, seeing the tools used to give movement to that harmonic sequence. One last
consideration here is in relation to section III. Its is divided in two parts, IIIA - IIIB,
and explores the same chord.
We observe in the 11 sections of the piece the use of seven cells rhythmic-
melodic, as we can call them, played on pianos. They are permanent, audible and
unchangeable through all respective section, except some rare occasions. These cells
that have a rhythm quality are double by one or more marimbas. They open/close the
sections and vary harmonically from section to section, which have their respective
chord. In terms of Rhythm, the majority of the chords follows Claping Music (Reich,
1972), as shown in example 6.

Example 6. Rhythm theme of Clapping Music (REICH, 2004, p. 68).

The seven rhythmic-melodic cells are:

Cell 1. Music for 18 Musicians, Section I.

Cell 2. Music for 18 Musicians, Section IIIB.

Cell of Violin Phase (3). Music for 18 Musicians. Section V.

Cell 4. Music for 18 Musicians. Section V.

Cell 5. Music for 18 Musicians. Section V.

Cell 6 (Voice) and 7 (piano). Music for 18 Musicians. Section IX.

The cells 6 and 7 dont opens or close the ninth section. They are the only
exception, as well see further.
Now, knowing the cells, we can observe the instrumentation. The example 7
shows the beginning of the second section, with the cell 1 on pianos 1 and 4. Theyre
based on intervals of fourths and fifths. The example also shows the respective chord of
the section in pianos 1 and 2 (the marimba plays the superior part of the chord).
In terms of rhythm, the cells are not only in the pianos. In example 7 the
marimba plays the same rhythm of the piano, but differently in terms of melody and
harmony, and with higher jumps on melody between the quavers. Its important to note
that this relation between the melody of marimba 3 and the pianos is always happening,
with this same configuration: different notes with the same rhythm, except rare
occasions. We can call the pattern of the marimba in example 7 as a variation of cell 1.
Another highlight in example 7 is the voice. Cervo (2005, p. 39) calls it group
additive process: pauses are changed by notes, quaver pos quaver, by the clarinets and
voices. In the present work we will call it of Construction, to emphasize the character
constructive of the pattern, not only additive. This construction made by quavers its not
a general rule. In section V, for example, Reich anticipates the pattern in the clarinets
and voices.
Example 7. Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians (2000, p. 29), beginning of section II.
As we can say, what brings unity to these patterns is the rhythm, not the melody
or harmony, as not only the process of construction and the pattern of marimba 3
emphasize the rhythm pattern of the piano. If we would classify these patterns according
to the melody or harmony, basically all the patterns occurring would be different.
Classifying through the rhythm help us in analysis, because it brings to this field the
importance character of unity, as we can restrict them to 7, as we saw.
Reich varies the process of construction by, in some sections by making this
process appear in the pianos. Something interesting occurs in section V, where this
process is done with the pattern derived from Violin Phase (cell 3), as noted by Potter,
and this process is done twice in the pianos.
Its important to note that the differentiation between the sections goes beyond
the cells. In example 8, beginning of section IIIB, we observe the cell 2 on piano 2 and
the marimba 3 played by three performers. The process of construction is done only on
piano, without the clarinets. Its a good example of changes that occurs through the
piece, if we compare with example 7.
Exemplo 8. Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (2009, p. 66). Seo IIIB.
Another element is emphasized by Reich after the cell is showed on piano at the
beginning of sections. The cell is showed in clarinets and further, they lengthen it to 4
measures, normally. After this process is done, starts an inversion of this process, the
cells getting back to their normal length of one measure. This form of presentation,
lengthen and return is called by Reich as arch form.
So, two general processes occur in the sections: arch form and construction. Its
interesting to our discussion to look at the arch form, because it offers to the listener the
return to something known. This characteristic of return, recurrence, is richly explored
not only in the section, but also between the sections, offering a plan of listening that
has certain unity. Reich uses the same elements, varying them, but conserving the
rhythm or harmonic structure to give unity to this piece that has a little more than 50
minutes. These elements that Reich uses to do that is described as follows.
The (REICH, 2004, p. 87) Rhythm of the human breath is the recurrent
technique in the clarinets and voices (sometimes in the chords), where there is a pulse
with the same note with a crescendo and diminuendo, played rapidly during three
measures. Normally, in the arch form, this technique appears at the middle of the
section, just before the return, offering an apex sensation to the listener. We will call
this technique of R (example 9). This element occurs in all the sections (though in some
sections it appears at different moments), including the introduction and restatement of
the chords.

Example 9. Rhythm of human breath (R). Music for 18 Musicians, section IIIA.
The lengthen of harmony on the chords also enhances the sensation of apex in
the arch form, appearing near or at the same time of R. We will call it LC. This element
also appears sometimes after the complete cell on clarinets, and appears on sections I,
IIIA, IIIB, VI and VIII. The example 10 shows part of the element.

Example 10. Harmonic lengthen on chords (LC). Music for 18 Musicians, section I, p. 19.
The construction of cells, a current process through the entire piece, is called
here C. The example 3 shows this process on piano 4, which constructs the cell 3. This
element is present in all the sections, except section X.

Example 11. Construction of cells (C). Music for 18 Musicians, section V, p. 101.
As there is no regency for the piece, the vibraphone gives the cue for the
entrance/final of sections. To not make confuse with cells, we will use V to this
element, which is present in all the sections except IV, IX and XI. Example 12 shows
the cue for section VII.

Example 12. Cue for section VII (V). Music for 18 Musicians, section VI, p. 146.
The lengthen of cells is a common process in clarinets and voices. We will use L
to this element, which is present in sections I, IIIA, IV, VI, VII and XI. The example 13
shows the cell lengthen to four measures. We highlighted in the example the previous
cell, with 2 measures.

Example 13. Lengthen of cell (L). Music for 18 Musicians, section VII, p. 155.
The beginning of sections presents, clearly, a cell in the piano and marimbas.
We use B to a new entrance. This element is present in all the sections, except the tenth.
Example 14 shows the cell of section IV.

Example 14. Rhythm-melodic cell (B). Music for 18 Musicians, section IV, p. 81.
In arch form, the deconstruction of cell leads to the end of the section. Well call
this process by DE. The example 15 shows the last cell of this process in the clarinets.
Soon after, the vibraphone gives the cue to the entrance of section II. Its present in
sections I, IIIA, IIIB, VI, VII.

Example 16. Deconstruction of cell (DE). Music for 18 Musicians, section I, p. 28.
So, Reich construct the sections of the piece with these elements, that indicates
the beginning of a section (B) or its ending (V), the construction of a cell (C), its
lengthening (L) and deconstruction (DE) (leading to the end of section), or even the
apex of sections (R and LC). Together with these processes, the pulsing chords give
unity and indicate the specific section of the piece. So, its with the recurrence of small
elements, that Reich constructs the piece. we can resume the sequence of these elements
as:
INTRODUCTION R
SI* B1C(L)(LC)R(DE)V
SII B1C(CR/CR)V
SIIIA* B1C(L)(LC)R(DE)V
SIIIB* B2C(LC)R(DE)V
SIV B1C(L)R
SV B3CCF4(R e F5)V
SVI* B5C(L)(LC)R(DE)V
SVII* B1C(L)R(DE)V
SVIII B5CR(L)V
SIX B3CB6R(CB7)
SX RV
SXI B1CR...
RESTATEMENT R

Sequence 2. Local processes in Music for 18 Musicians. Present authorship.

The sections with asterisk are the ones that have the arch form. Considering the
section X as a transition (it is very short and has only two elements), we have half of
sections in arch form. The final of section XI is linked directly with the restatement.
Besides these characteristics, there are some occult details that we can find out that
make clear the variation as something important. Reich is not only dividing the piece
with strict elements. For instance, in the second section, theres a dislocation of seven
quarters in the construction of the cell 2. In section III, as we can see above, the
difference between A and B is the lengthening of the cell. In section IX, the
construction is not done with the cell that initiates the section. Sections V and X enters
without the cue of the vibraphone and in section X, the element used is, besides R, the
cue for the eleventh section. R occurs in several moments of the sections, in the
beginning or in the finals and we also highlight the change, instrumentally, in section
IX, when some elements ceases.
Particularly important is the first section, where all the processes are used, as an
indication of what the listener can hear. This happens again in IIIA and VI, middle of
the piece, but in the sixth section the cell 5 is used. We also highlight R in section IX,
which continues through the construction of cell 7, the tenth section and finishing only
in the cue of the eleventh section.
After this analysis we can, in part, disagree with Keith Potter when he says
(POTTER, 2004, p. 246),

Such increased preoccupation with the texture and timbre with what
the composer calls beautiful music as well as with harmony and
 tonality led inevitably to a further decrease in concern for the old
minimalist virtues of filling the structure and audibility of process.

Not only the process, but audibility is also a concern of Reich in this piece. Sure
not in the same way of his first pieces, but here involving expectations and resolutions.
The composer plays with these two features so known in the academic life. Some
beginning of sections are masked, as in sections V and X. Elements that indicates peaks
of harmony and beauty are used for some transitions, as section X. Besides, the fact that
each section brings something different with the same elements only reinforces the idea
of a procedural discourse that is, above all, varied. The harmonic force is used in a low
and clear rhythm, in a game of timbre without complications. This would lead Gregory
Sandow to say (COHN, 1992, p. 147) that,

I can't agree with most of the critical remarks about [Reich][] He is

a Western composer, working squarely within the tradition of Western
classical music. After the repetition, the polyrhythms, and the slowly
changing, percussive texture becomes familiar, it's possible to hear
that Reich's harmony, instrumentation, meter, and structural precision
are entirely Western. He develops motifs, plans patterns of tension and
release, and builds momentum toward small climaxes within each
piece as any classical symphonist might. He can even create suspense.

One last remark is valid here to understand the tension/release that Sandow
speaks. Basically, in arch form, we have three moments: the beginning of the section
with a clear presentation of the cell, without any tensions, and the instruments serving
only as accompaniment; a second moment, which we can call climax, with the
respirations of clarinets and the sync rhythm of the chords; and a third moment, with the
return of the cell heard clearly and the instruments only as accompaniment. This occurs
in the first section of the piece, and generates a defined perception of beginnings and
finals to the listener. Reich as our analysis shows, garble this sense of location though
the piece, in a way that the section X, for example, pass undetected, unless the listener
have the score on hands.
Our conclusion points out to a global process that we can call harmonic
sectioning. Into this process, he works with the follow strategies:
1. The local process of cells leads the beginning of sections, offering the sensation
of something new through the piece.
 2. The process of construction and deconstruction offers the sensation of
tension/release, giving the notion of development and return to the sections.
3. The rhythm of human breath and harmonic lengthen of chords conditions the
climax process, giving the sensation of peak, completeness.
4. The cue of the vibraphone generates a sensation of crossing point between the
sections and the pulsing chords gives unity between them.

The recurrence of diverse processes in a different harmonic context is Best

understood in terms of resemblance between members of a family. Certain
characteristics will be shared, but other will be unique(REICH, 2004, p. 89). So, the
diverse elements, processes and sections only reinforce that, variability and the organic
feature became important to this work. Thus, contrary to Fink, as we saw in the
beginning of this analysis, Reich didnt flouted his minimalistic rules, but used them in
a original way, and together with kwon concepts of traditional music, created a
interesting sight about climaxes, tensions, releases and finals. He did it proposing a
repetitive look of the elements in a familiar context.
3.3 DIFFERENT TRAINS
3.3.1 The work

Different Trains (Boosey and Hawks, 1998) was composed in 1988, 20 years
after Music as a gradual process. The use of voice is important in the piece, like in
Come Out, but as Puca says (1997, p. 537),

In the works Reich composed after his studies of Hebrew cantillation,

the preservation of the semantic meaning of the words becomes for
him a central concern [] aspects of spoken language, such as
intonation, timber, melodic cadences, and metric accentuation become
the defining elements of musical structure.

So, differently of Come Out, where Reich dissolves the voice of Hamm, here he
preserves the vocal qualities and, as we will see further, the voice also is an important
element to the piece. In the introduction of the score, Reich emphasizes that The voice
must be heard clearly. One text that will expand our analysis will be The horrors of
Identification: Reichs Different Trains (Cumming, 1997). Conducting an analysis that
explores the musical semiotics, Cumming studies relevant aspects in the piece, such as
the repetitive patterns and the narrative.
The piece is, in part, autobiographic. Reich tells that (REICH, 2004, p. 151)
when he was 1 year old, his parents get divorced. As his custody was split, he travelled
by train frequently between New York and Los Angeles. From his experience, he
conceived the piece. As he says, if he was in Europe at that time, he would travel in
very different trains.
As concerning the text, Reich uses the testimony of Rachella, Paul, and Rachel,
people that lived in Europe that time and participated in the holocaust. Reich also use
the voice of Lawrence Davies, the doormen of the Pullmans train, his governor
Virginia, that conducted him on his travels, besides several sounds of American and
European trains from the decades of 1930-40. From this material, Reich wrote three
movements, that is: America, before the war, Europe, during the war, and after the
war. The fragments of the testimonies are used sequentially, according to example 17.
Example 17. Steve Reich, Different Trains, vocal transcription (REICH, 2004, pp. 152-4).
The piece is for three quartets, one live and the others pre-recorded. The fourth
quartet appears only in one specific part, as well see. The testimonies are also recorded
(in CDs) and manipulated by a sound technician, who manipulates the recorded
materials, as Reich shows in the score. The piece has three uninterrupted movements
and it starts with quartet 3, together with violin 2-28. Quartet 1, the live one, starts a few
measures later.
In general, each fragment of the text has a specific melody and is used in its own
section, resembling what we saw in Music for 18 Musicians, with specific cells used in
its own sections. The first section here is from Chicago to New York, the second, one of
the fastest trains, and so on. The example 17 shows that the second part has 23 sections,
curiously the sum of the sections 1 and 3, although these divisions are not strict, that is,
some texts are considered, in the piece, together, as well see. Its important to note that
the testimonies are presented spoken, not sung, as Reich recorded, although they are
used with a rhythm. As we have different people, different timbres will be heard.
Each fragment will enter accompanied by some instrument, often the viola or
cello from quartet I or II. As each fragment has a specific time, each section will differ
in it too, providing to the listener a strong differentiation between the sections. As each
melodic fragment, the voice, has its own melody, different keys will be used to adequate
the instrumentation to the voice, though sometimes two sequential section may have the
same key signature. The entrance of the sections is not announced. Only with the
different time, or key signature, or melody (voice or instrument) we know that a new
section has begun.
These differentiations are significant to the present study. Come Out and Music
for 18 Musicians present a fixed time (although Come Out subvert our sense of tempo),
with processes that develops in a constant flux. Not here. As time is demarked by the
melodic fragment, we will look at the section and the elements used.

3.2.2 PROCESS
Movement 1 America before the war

The first movement initiates with an introduction, only with instruments,

presenting a pattern that lasts until the end of the second movement. Cumming (1997, p.
130) says that this pattern Are supposed to represent the motion of the train. Not only
the title of the work, but the additional cues of railroad crossing warning bells and the
train siren itself alert the listener to this signification. Example 18 shows measures 12-
17, part of the introduction, with two elements highlighted.

8
We will use this model to refer to a specific instrument. Violin 2-2 means that it is the second violin
from the quartet II.
Example 18. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Measures 12-17 from introduction.
The two highlighted elements last for the entire movement, but the quartet 3,
responsible for the melodic pattern, changes in instrumentation specifically in measure
295 (end of sixth section), allowing us to divide the movement in two parts. The first,
from including sections 1-6 (without introduction) and the second, with quartet 4,
sections 7-11.
Backing to the introduction, we can perceive that its role is involving the listener
in the specific context of the piece. This happens because the constant pattern, the
melodic pattern and the train sound, which uses the specific historic sound of the trains
from that time, involves the listener, according to Cumming (1997, p. 130), in an
involuntary motion, a compulsive participation in something beyond his or her control.
This declaration is important, considering not only the introduction, but the entire
movement, by the fact that these two elements are constant, as this strange sensation of
compulsivity lasts. Even in the second part, where we find the first important change
in the piece, presents these elements, although with some modifications.
Finished the introduction, the first section explores the melodic phrase from
Chicago to New York. Using a faster rhythm, with the quarter note in 108, the section
presents alternate bars between 2/4 and 3/8. The explanation is in the phrase from
Chicago, which fits in 2/4; to New York in 3/8, as we can observe in example 19. The
voice as rhythmic basis to the sections is usual in the piece, but the alternate bars is only
used here. That is, this phrase appears several times in the entire piece, and as its
repeated, the same rhythm configuration returns. The example 19 is also a good sample
of the instrumentation in the first part of movement 1. We observe the quartet 3 and the
violin 2-2 playing the melodic pattern with the notes of the introduction, but in the key
of Db. The cello 3, that played G-C, now plays Ab-Db.
The example 19 also shows the addition of two accompaniments in quartet 1.
This is also a recurrent feature in the first movement. These additions suggest that Reich
is emphasizing the involvement of the listener in the environment of the piece, as they
play the same pattern and notes of the others instruments. Summing, he notes are C-Db-
F-Ab-Bb. We can observe that these additions, as showed in example 19, complete the
instrumentation of quartet 1. This occurs only here and in the sixth section. In sections
2-5, the viola and violin II are used as train sound.

Example 19. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Beginning of section 1 (mov. 1), p. 5.
We have seen one exclusive element of section 1 alternate bars and three
recurrent elements, melodic pattern, train sound and accompaniment addition. A fourth
recurrent element is observed in the beginning of the sections, which is the anticipation
of the vocal fragment. Its importance is in the offering to the listener the sensation of a
new section. Two elements reinforce it: the tempo and key signature that, in this first
part, changes at each section.
Another element is the major occurrence of vocal material in the end of
sections. It keeps a contrast with the beginning of the posterior section that presents less
voice material. The voice material also helps to demark the sections in another way. In
the second part of the first movement, for example, when the voices changes the
subject, talking about the year that the war begins, its a clear division, and Reich also
changes the instrumentation.
The last section of the first part presents the same configuration of the first
section, with alternated bars, the addition of accompaniment, the same accompaniment
of quartet 3 and the quarter note in 108. In the beginning of second part, the first
measure presents the phrase of Mr. Davis, without the element of vocal anticipation.
The example 20 and 21 shows some differences that occur with the entrance of
quartet 4.

Example 20. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Quartets 3 and 4, section 7 (mov. 1), p. 29.
Besides the quartets now dont enter in the same time, the configuration remains
the same with the violin 1-3 completing the quartet 4 and the violin 1-4 completing the
quartet 3. But as we can perceive, the quartet 4 enter one time after the quartet 3, what
cause a sensation of acceleration to our ear. Its interesting because the text now is not
about the fastest trains in USA, but about the year of the second war. In example 21, we
can perceive that the quartets 1 and 2 present a different configuration.

Example 21. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Quartets 1 and 2, section 7 (mov. 1), p. 31.
Theres a game of imitation between the violins. This game continues with some
sporadic changes, as in compass 312, where the quartets 3 and 4 are transposed one
third upward, except the viola. When we come to in 1940, there are no temporal
changes that preannounce it. In fact, this intensifies this sensation of continuity that is
explored in this part. Although the more voice material in the end of sections still
remains, there are fewer changes in time and key signature. Sections 8 and 9, for
example, present the same time (126) and key, E. Section 10 also presents the quarter in
126.
This continuity is present in this years sections (in 1939, 1940, and 1941).
When we arrive at the last section, the configuration goes back to the three quartets,
with the same instrumentation of the first part, and also the sounds of the trains. We can
also highlight the time in this second part, which is decreasing, 130, 126, 99, as the first
sections of the first part. The fastest time in the second part offers a dramatic character
to this remembrance. Example 22 shows the beginning of the last section of movement
1.
Example 22. Steve Reich, Diferrent Trains. Beginning of section 11 (mov. 1), p. 54.
We can observe, thus, that the first movement is marked by a contrast between
two sections. The first, explores basically the same elements and Reich highlights the
text through the repetition. The second part presents a change in instrumentation, what
seem to prepare the second movement, remembering the year in which the Germany
invaded Hungary, according the text in example 19. Reich prepares the second
movement not only with the text, but also with a static pace, fewer changes and an
imitative instrumentation.

Movement 2
First part
The second movement can also be divided in two parts, according the same
criteria of the division of the first movement, the accompaniment of quartet 3. There are
23 sections and the division is in the section 15.
The text now speaks about the second war. In this more dramatic context, a
significant change is in the train sound, element that refers to the train travels. Its
change to another motive, which contain an apprehensive character, and that increase
and decrease in dynamic. It appears only one time in each section until section 13, end
of first part and, differently of the sound train its not double by some instrument. We
will call it second train sound.
 The instrumentation is denser, with the three quartets playing the melodic
pattern, now with quavers. The time is suddenly slowed by this change, what increase
the character of apprehension. With the time slowed, the junction of these dramatic
characteristics helps to transport the listener to another area, no more in EUA, but in
Europe, when the trains carried the Jews and their last baggages.
Some characteristics of the first movement are absent here, such as
accompaniment addition, accompaniment intensification, more vocal occurrence in the
final of section and the vocal anticipation. In sections, only the time and key signature
remain changing. The example 23 presents some of the changes of this first part of
movement 2.

Example 23. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Beginning of movement 2, p. 57.

We observe in example 23 the unison between quartets 1 and 3 and the second
train sound, that is heard at that point of increasing in dynamics of the violins. But most
striking is what occurs to the melodic pattern. Its change to thirds in this section, and in
the second section, we observe the use of seconds. Its relevant because until here, the
instruments played fourths and fifths. In the first movement, seconds and thirds
appeared only in the instruments that double the voices, which speak richly in these
intervals. Thus, we can say that theres a major approaching between the
instrumentation and the voices in this movement. This enriches the dramatic factor and
the proper harmony and melody, presenting something new.
Each section brings the quarter note in different times, and Reich use it to
increase the dynamic. For example, the section 11 brings the text you must go away,
with the quarter note in 100. Soon after, the section 12 presents the text and she said
Quick, go!, with the quarter note in 102, and once more, the section 13 accelerates the
quarter note to 158 with the text and he said Dont breath.

Second part

The second part goes back to the rhythm configuration of the first movement and
also the elements that were absent returns, as the first sound train and the semiquavers.
But in relation to the train sound, theres a significant change. From this point to the end
of the piece, the train sound will appear as chords, and in this second movement
generally together with the second train sound. In the first movement, thirds are used in
this element, but from now on, complete chords will appear. Not only this, but the
function of the element will change, as we will see further. In example 24, the chord
used is F#dim. Reich will use mainly major chords. Besides the going back to the
instrumentation of the first movement, the quartets maintain seconds in violin 1-3 and
thirds in violin 2-3, viola 3 and violin 2-2.
The sensation with the change from quarter notes to semiquavers is, of course,
an increase of tension.. As we perceived, since the section 11 Reich creates tension
through the increase the velocity through section 11-13. This tension is, so, emphasized
by the presence of seconds and thirds, helping to remark the affliction and anxiety
describe by the voice.
It is worth to note that theres no alteration in the pitches used, unless in the
instrument that accompanies the voices, rich in melodic nuances that cant be fixed in a
closed scale. This second movement will bring some sections that will offer variety
through the alterations in pitches. Example 23 describes some of the alteration in
section 14. As we can note, the voice enters without announcement in instrumentation.
Example 24. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Beginning of section 14 (mov. 2), p. 74.
The next example shows the measures 232-236, beginning of section 17, where
violin 1-2 plays G# and the violin 2-3 plays G. These alterations create minor seconds
between different instruments. It occurs in section 16, 17 and 19: and then we went
through these strange sound names, polish names; they were loaded with people. We
observe that these sections are preceded by lower ones. That is, the alteration occurs in
faster (to the listener) section, what increases the tension an emotive charge of the text.
Its worth noting that the minor seconds is used only in these sections.
The section 20, where we hear they shaved us, the voice presents a minor
second, but its not used in instrumentation. In fact, the melody offers enough degree of
lamentation, and Reich ponders, wisely, the use of this interval, avoiding exaggerating
the lamentation.
The second movement is finished with suspended notes and sound of sirens,
hoots etc. They compose an only chord, with the notes C, Bb, A, G, F and D. Together,
there are several sounds that seems to depict the text flames going up the sky; it was
smoking. The movement finishes with a diminuendo, followed by a two measures rest.
Example 25. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 17, measures 232-6 (mov. 2), p. 79.
The rest at the final of the dramatic second movement seems to speak by itself.
Theres much symbolism involved in diminishing the sonority forward by a long pause.
To Cumming,

All that is left is the abject voice, obsessed with the images of flames,
and the sounds of hoots and sirens, slow and strangely empty without
the motion of the train. This retreat into silence is one of the most
disturbing points in the piece.

Before seeing the third movement, we can resume the main features of this
movement:
1. First and second train sounds play together, with the first train sound function as
chords;
2. Melodic pattern with seconds and thirds
3. Sections 16,17 and 19 presenting alteration notes, creating the interval of minor
second;
4. The final with suspended notes function as accompaniment.
 Movement 3 After the war

The third movement is organized in 11 sections that continue to present different

time and key signature. Three of these sections, 7, 8 and 9, keep on the same key
signature, that is, F. We can say that there is an introduction of 27 measures, because
theres no voice at the beginning. The instruments play in this introduction the melodic
fragment that will be heard at measure 28, in a completely different way of what they
were playing since the beginning of the work. Example 26 shows measures 33-7,
section 1.

Example 26. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 1, measures. 33-7 (mov. 3), p. 95.
Two features show up to our eyes as we look at the example 26:
1. The melodic pattern, which first played fifths and fourths, and further thirds and
seconds, now is transformed in the proper voice fragment. We observe at the
example the motivic work with the fragment. The last part of it, with the word
over, is played isolated by the cello 2-2;
2. The last part of the motive is reverberated by the imitative texture, which is
presented until the end of the piece. Its important and allows us to use the term
transformation to the instrumentation, because what began separated in the
beginning of the piece is now completely closed.
Example 27 shows in measures 131-135 the voice fragment being accompanied
by several instruments from the three quartets. Until here, the accompaniment was, at
the most, of one instrument. This third section shows several accompaniments to the
same voice, what increases the dynamic sensation and movement that is implicit in
going to America.
 Besides, the example 27 also shows the chords in measure 135, which refers to
the sound train, an element that has appeared, or as we can say now, transformed to
chords in the second movement. The sound train was showed in thirds, fourths and
fifths in the first movement and part of the second. From the second part of the second
movement, it was transformed to triads chords with adds of ninths, sixths, fourths, etc.
There is no resolution in the manner of common practice. Here, in the example, the
chord is B add4 and 9. Further this chord is resolved with B add4.
In sections 5, 6 and 7, Reich explores only semiquavers. The accompaniment
seems to get away from the text, remembering the first movement. The velocity also
reminders it and get faster: 136, 138, 194. The text speaks about how fast are the
American trains: to New York; from New York to Los Angeles, one of the fastest trains.

Example 27. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 3, measures 103-5 (mov. 3), p. 105.
In section 7 (one of the largest sections of the piece), Reich decides to reminder
us the second movement, with quavers and the instrumentation with fourths and fifths.
The accompaniment of violin 1-2 follows the accompaniment, as in the first and second
movements. The first sound train is also present in the section. Example 18 shows the
beginning of the section.
Example 28. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 7, measures 283-8 (mov. 3), p. 119.
The section 8 is particularly dramatic because what is heard is but today theyre
all gone. Reich emphasizes the tritone, minor sixths and fifths and gets back to the
imitative polyphony. The intervals and the texture enlarge the dramatic force of the text
and the piece. Example 29 shows the last measures from the section.
We marked in the example some rhythm recurrences that bring unity to this
section. The D in the cello gives harmony unity and Reich also uses motives, divided by
rests, referring to the voice fragment. As we can note, until now, this third movement is
the most rich in variety and resources, besides the new configurations of some section.
This is extremely important to the process as we saw in chapter 2, because adds
dynamic richness.
Example 29. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 8, measures 515-21, (mov. 3), p. 138.
At least, the section 9 seems to be the beginning of the end of the piece. Theres
a story being told: there was one girl, who had a beautiful voice, and they loved to listen
to the singing, the Germans. And when she stopped singing, they said more, more.
And they applauded.
The section 9 is related to section 8 by the key signature, F. Seems to be a little
detail, but its an important factor. Looking to the voice fragment, we observe that from
section 8, the repetitions are drastically reduced. These reductions also reinforce the
character of finalization, as they were always present until now. The instrumental
imitation also links section 9 to section 8. As we saw, section 7 remember us the
instrumentation of the second movement, but with quavers in an accelerated rhythm,
remembering the velocity of American trains. We can conclude that the rough passage
to section 8 is, actually, a division to the end of the piece, although the history begins in
section 9. Its confirmed by the end of vocal repetitions and the frequent rests in
instrumentation and the return to the imitative character.
Example 30 shows the beginning of section 9, measures 522-7. By the rectangles
we can perceive that the imitation continues between the quartets and within the
quartets. The motives are separated by rests, what reinforces this finishing character.
Example 30. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 9 (mov. 3), p. 139.
In the last section, its worth noting that the last parts of the motives produce a
cadence effect, due to the reverberation, as like they are finishing in a rest point.
Although talking about cadences is dangerous in Reichs case, Id like to enumerate
some reasons that can resume my point here:
1. The melodies finish descending. Although the jumps, the final always brings an
end character due to this descending melody;
2. The presence of rests offers a sensation of lack of movement;
3. Also, the space between the voice fragments, because they attract the listeners
attention to the instrumentation, or to the first and second reasons enumerated
above.
The descending motives finishes Different Trains, as we perceive and marked in
example 31, reminding the disturbing history of the girl who sang in the concentration
field. And they applauded is the final text. The piece seems to evaporate through the
vapors of the trains, like the proper history.
Example 31. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Section 11 (mov. 3), p. 145.
Although Music for 18 Musicians and Different Trains shows recurrent
elements, here, two elements suffers evident transformations and Reich modifies some
sections to present new materials, mainly in the third movement. The text here is also a
different and crucial factor, which permits the composer to demark the sections and
manipulate the musical material in a free and bolder ways.
Its clear that the global process being conducted here is the gradual interaction
text-music. This process is conducted by the local, inferior processes that evolve the
same idea, which is the transformation of materials. These transformations are
gradual, to use the term of Reich, being done by parts. The resume of the local
processes is showed in sequence 3, according to the following description:
1. The melodic pattern, which as emphasized by Cumming, remembers the
movement of trains, is transformed here through the three movements. First, he
keeps a distance from the text, emphasizing fifths and fourths in the first
movement. In second movement it is shown slower, in quavers, with intervals of
thirds and seconds, and even minor seconds in some sections, getting closer to
 the melodic phrases of the text. In the third movement, this approaching is total
and the text is the basis of the instrumentation.
2. The sound train is also transformed through the piece. In the first movement it
appears emphasizing the qualities of American trains, with intervals of thirds,
fourths and fifths. In second movement, it appears together with the second
sound train, but this time emphasizing chords adds by ninths, sixths, fourths, etc.
The transformation of this element remains in the third movement, continuing
the harmonic basis to the instrumentation and the text.

Different Trains Melodic Pattern (MP) Sound Train

1. before the war

First part (section 1 to 6) 5J and 4J, quartet 3 In thirds (quartets 1 and 2)
Second part (sections 7 to Game between quartets 1 Emphasizes 4J and 5J.
11) and 4
2.During the war
First part (sections 1 to Thirds in MP Second sound train (recorded sound)
14)
Rhythmic change
Second part (Sections 15 Back to first PM, First and second sound train
to 23) including seconds and simultaneously
thirds
Transformation to complete chords

3. After the war Transformation complete

to the text pattern
Sequence 3. Steve Reich, Different Trains. Transformation of the melodic pattern and the sound
train. Authorship of present author.
Conclusions

The process of transformation in Different Trains can help us to establish some

relations. One link is with Come Out, which also has a transformed material. Both
pieces has a text, but with completely different processes. In Come Out Reich dissolves
the phrase, the persona, while in Different Trains Reich emphasizes the text, and so,
emphasizes the figure of the human being. In Come Out the process is with the voice,
and in Different Trains is in function of the voice.
Another relation is the dramatic force of the context. Both pieces present real
persons and real questions of our time, represented by real voices, testimonies. The
real context is the conception in which the process happens, to use the term of Reich,
and this have different conclusions. In one, the voice is dissolved, and we think about
the violence that can kill the fundamental right that is to exist. The other, the testimonies
make us think about the violence than can never exist again. In both, besides these
differences and approximations, both approximate the music with the listener, not only
with the real questions, but with the music, which brings a proper process to each one..
We can make relations between Different Trains and Music for 18 Musicians.
The recurrent elements of these pieces have different purposes. In Music for 18
Musicians, the local processes are subordinate to the sections. Each section has its own
process. In Different Trains the local processes are developed through the sections, and
so, the sections are subordinated and conceived through them. One important element
on both is the tension that some moments have. In Different Trains, the tension is
created in function of the text, and in Music for 18 musicians its also true, that is,
tension is in both pieces subordinated to the process, not to the form of the piece, as
both pieces has different forms. Although its not a requirement to the listener
knowledge of musical analysis, our purpose was also to demonstrate how Reich uses the
elements in disposition to create dynamics.
In relation to the article, Music as a gradual process, its clear that Reich in
some points evolve, in the sense that he gets away from some points and maintains
others. In relation to perception, its was clear in the three pieces the preoccupation of
the composer in gradually change the elements. Maybe one important question in
relation to Different Train would be about the audibility of musical process. Both in
Come Out and Music for 18 Musicians we can answer positively, but Different Trains
have a new form of process that takes in account the text. To our view, its difficult to
perceive the final stage of the process of the melodic pattern, in which it takes the form
of the voice pattern. Only with the score the total comprehension of the process was
possible. In fact, as the three pieces has showed, Reich has add, through his career, more
elements, and Different Trains has proved his concern about more musical complexities,
although the process still exists. In other works, the listener can perceive some
interactions between the text and music, but he cant perceive everything. In this point,
Reich also gets away from the article. As we saw in Bonnets article, Different Trains
would be a case of a process in terms of score, not in the listeners.
At least, the mutant rhythm of the last piece does not allow the listener to
participate in a kind of ritual process, as Reich describes in Music as a gradual process.
The tempo is not a determinant factor to the process in Different Trains, and so, we
have a real change if we consider the first stage of Minimalism, in which the tempo is
always a static element. We can say that the rigid and machinist process of the first
pieces gave place to a more subtle, and so, complex, kind of process. These new phase
maintain some points, but also pointed to new way of composing. Commenting
Different Trains, Reich says that (REICH, 2004, p. 152) it Presents both a
documentary and a musical reality, and begins a new musical direction. It is a direction
that I expect will lead to a new kind of documentary music video theater in the not-too-
distant future. As in fact happen, works like The Cave (1993) and Three Tales (1988-
2002) uses images and sound, in this new kind of music-documentary.
Concluding, these pieces contemplated here showed that processes are constant
in Reich. That, through time, Reich has move to a more free way of conducting the
process, and so the gradual is neglect in favor of musical liberty, giving more to the
listener that expects only a rigid and static Minimalism.
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