Skip to main content

Philip Glass – Part 10 of Music in Twelve Parts

 

Considered one of the most significant and influential albums of the minimalist style in American avant-garde music, “Music in Twelve Parts” by Philip Glass includes a piece called “Part 10”, which can lead to a listening experience that requires a good bit of energy to keep oneself focused on the work itself. As an example of minimalist music, it has a consistent rhythm and melody throughout the seventeen minutes of length. Bearing in mind that the melody consists of various instruments being played simultaneously, it is quite fascinating that Glass kept it into that monotone flow.

The recurring patterns of different instruments got me exhausted the whole time as if I was listening to a piece of music on my computer and, at some part, my computer bugged, looping only one second of that piece. I felt annoyed and amazed simultaneously because I cannot deny that “Part 10” by Philip Glass is a minimalistic piece; on the other hand, I would assume something minimalistic to lead to a plain and straightforward experience. Therefore, it evoked feelings of uneasiness and confusion in me.

In short, my confusion with the seventeen minutes of experiencing this piece demonstrates that it is, for me, an unconventional work of art playing with my nerves. I, on the other hand, consider myself successful in even completing it without any interruptions or stoppages. Various musical elements contributing to a monotone melody bring a difficult path to come up with; however, Philip Glass created a whole album expressing his approach to the avant-garde music of his era, which made him one of the most influential figures of the American avant-garde music.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pierre Schaeffer - Étude pathétique

  Pierre Schaefer begins the piece with sounds produced by drums and similar percussion instruments. One hears the sound of an object spinning and then coming to a stop. I assume it is a circular object, like a cymbal or hi-hat of a drum kit, that spins until it comes to a stop. Sounds of a locomotive follow, continuing with a mixture of drums and spinning objects as well as voices. There are slight parallels here with another piece by Schaeffer, "etude aux chemins de fer," in which he has the musical piece consist of sounds of trains and locomotives. I also recognize an accordion and a violin playing rapidly, accompanied by human sounds that are not really decipherable. By combining all these background sounds and using human voices, Schaeffer creates an exciting atmosphere while listening to the piece, and the listener's auditory senses are constantly challenged to decipher all the details of the sounds. At times one could be reminded of a scene from a scary movie, at l...
Post a Comment
Read more