Re: [microsound] minimalists:math

["Stasisfield.com" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

--
--
> ( 02.07.24 05:28 -0500 ) Stasisfield.com:
> >   Yes, there is a great degree of math involved, but there is just as
> >   much artistic decision making going on as well
>
> You seem to be implying that in music
> math != artistic decision making
>
> I don't think that is true. Can you conceptualize someone who makes music
> using mathematics [an immensely broad qualifier] for creative reasons
> [again immensely broad]?
>
> How would this not be an artistic decision?
>
> --
\js


I have to apologize...I didn't exactly re-read my message before I
sent it. I didn't mean to imply that the use of mathematics in music
was NOT an artistic decision. What I should have said was: "yes,
there is a great deal of math involved, but there is just as much
*intuition* going on as well."

 From my viewpoint, the difference between early Reich and 18 + after
Reich is that, starting with 18, he began making choices within each
composition that relied more on personal taste than merely allowing
notes and measures to play out a pre-conceived formula.

I find nothing "wrong" with either method--I enjoy both types of
Reich's music, and sometimes use mathematical principles in my own
work--I was merely trying to place 18 more in its true context as a)
NOT a purely minimalist work and b) a work not solely reliant upon
mathematical formulae for its content.

As nathan said earlier, listening to 18 can be a purely emotional
experience, and Reich himself has said from that point on he no
longer cared if the listener could hear the process involved, he just
wanted to make music that people might consider beautiful (a
paraphrase on my part to be sure).


john
http://www.stasisfield.com