Systems music
Encyclopedia
Systems music is a term which has been used to describe the work of composers who concern themselves primarily with sound continuums which evolve gradually, often over very long periods of time (Sutherland 1994, 172). Historically, the American minimalists
Steve Reich
, La Monte Young
and Philip Glass
are considered the principal proponents of this compositional approach. Works by this group of composers are often characterized by features such as stasis
or repetitiveness.
A number of English experimental composers have also developed systems based music particularly Michael Parsons, Howard Skempton
, John White
, and Michael Nyman
(Sutherland 1994, 183). This form of systems music is more commonly referred to as "minimalism".
In the realm of computer music, "systems music" refers to fractal
-based, computer-assisted composition, and in particular iterated function system
s music, in which a function "is applied repeatedly, each time taking as argument its value at the previous application" (Gogins 1991, 40).
A form of systems is the 'found system', preferred by Christopher Hobbs
, in his work Aran (1971), in which a knitting pattern for an Aran sweater, with its different stitches, determines the pitches chosen and the instruments to play them, and in his recent series of pieces called Sudoku Music (2005-6), using 'super' or 'mega' sudoku puzzles having a hexadecimal (16 x 16) grid.
The Hobbs-White Duo performed what could be called 'classic' or strict systems, particularly in their percussion music, in which various permutations of durations or of instruments were observed rigorously. Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton also performed as a systemic percussion duo. Parsons' systems for piano often focused on alternations and permutations of distinct intervals. The piano duo of Dave Smith
and John Lewis
also worked in some systems in the 1970s, Lewis in terms of reggae and other popular music influences. Smith has used permutations in his titles, often of funny anagrams, but he has occasionally used systemic processes.
Michael Nyman also worked with repetitive systems. In his earliest work he often used structures either borrowed from or influenced by West Coast and other minimalism only with a particularly English sensibility in his choice of musical material. Waltz in F, for instance, uses a structure akin to Terry Riley
's In C, but the musical material is that of almost-clichéd waltz figurations. It was Nyman's work as a critic as well as his status as one of the best-known British experimental composers that the term 'systems' became used in the 1980s as a generic term for all minimalism. Since then it has erroneously been considered to be an archaic term for minimalism, even though systemic composition is still ongoing in Britain.
In the 1980s, much of the numerical systems work was applied in early computer music (as in White's series of electronic symphonies) or for early electronic and MIDI keyboards (Hobbs' Back Seat Album has one movement in which the completion of a permutation is celebrated by a rising electronic figuration). Although most British experimentalists use other types of generation - mostly eclectic, through-composed, often tonal work using surprising juxtapositions of references and of modulation - many use larger-form systems occasionally, if they no longer use the strict note-to-note systems. Hobbs' Fifty in Two-Thousand (2000) is typical, in that large blocks of distinct melodic sections with varying instrumentation are arranged and repeated according to a permutational structure.
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
and Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
are considered the principal proponents of this compositional approach. Works by this group of composers are often characterized by features such as stasis
Stasis
The term stasis may refer to* A state of stability, in which all forces are equal and opposing, therefore they cancel out each other....
or repetitiveness.
A number of English experimental composers have also developed systems based music particularly Michael Parsons, Howard Skempton
Howard Skempton
Howard Skempton is a British composer and accordionist. Since the late 1960s, when he helped organize the Scratch Orchestra, he has been associated with the English school of experimental music...
, John White
John White (composer)
John White is an English composer and musical performer.-Life:White trained and taught at the London Royal College of Music...
, and Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
(Sutherland 1994, 183). This form of systems music is more commonly referred to as "minimalism".
In the realm of computer music, "systems music" refers to fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
-based, computer-assisted composition, and in particular iterated function system
Iterated function system
In mathematics, iterated function systems or IFSs are a method of constructing fractals; the resulting constructions are always self-similar....
s music, in which a function "is applied repeatedly, each time taking as argument its value at the previous application" (Gogins 1991, 40).
Britain
In Britain 'machine processes', developed by John White evidenced a systems approach. Machine processes typically had a repetitive structure generated by random processes (dart boards, random number tables, chess moves). A typical 'Machine piece' of this genre is White's Drinking and Hooting Machine (1968), in which each player performs by blowing over the top of a bottle of 'a favoured drink', then altering the tone of the bottle by taking sips, swigs, or gulps from the drink (or leaving it alone) from a table of numbers obtained through random processes.A form of systems is the 'found system', preferred by Christopher Hobbs
Christopher Hobbs
Christopher Hobbs is an English experimental composer, best known as a pioneer of British Systems music.-Life and career:...
, in his work Aran (1971), in which a knitting pattern for an Aran sweater, with its different stitches, determines the pitches chosen and the instruments to play them, and in his recent series of pieces called Sudoku Music (2005-6), using 'super' or 'mega' sudoku puzzles having a hexadecimal (16 x 16) grid.
The Hobbs-White Duo performed what could be called 'classic' or strict systems, particularly in their percussion music, in which various permutations of durations or of instruments were observed rigorously. Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton also performed as a systemic percussion duo. Parsons' systems for piano often focused on alternations and permutations of distinct intervals. The piano duo of Dave Smith
Dave Smith
-In sports:*Dave Smith , Scottish football goalkeeper*Dave Smith , Scottish football fullback for clubs including Burnley, managed several clubs in the 1970s/1980s...
and John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
also worked in some systems in the 1970s, Lewis in terms of reggae and other popular music influences. Smith has used permutations in his titles, often of funny anagrams, but he has occasionally used systemic processes.
Michael Nyman also worked with repetitive systems. In his earliest work he often used structures either borrowed from or influenced by West Coast and other minimalism only with a particularly English sensibility in his choice of musical material. Waltz in F, for instance, uses a structure akin to Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
's In C, but the musical material is that of almost-clichéd waltz figurations. It was Nyman's work as a critic as well as his status as one of the best-known British experimental composers that the term 'systems' became used in the 1980s as a generic term for all minimalism. Since then it has erroneously been considered to be an archaic term for minimalism, even though systemic composition is still ongoing in Britain.
In the 1980s, much of the numerical systems work was applied in early computer music (as in White's series of electronic symphonies) or for early electronic and MIDI keyboards (Hobbs' Back Seat Album has one movement in which the completion of a permutation is celebrated by a rising electronic figuration). Although most British experimentalists use other types of generation - mostly eclectic, through-composed, often tonal work using surprising juxtapositions of references and of modulation - many use larger-form systems occasionally, if they no longer use the strict note-to-note systems. Hobbs' Fifty in Two-Thousand (2000) is typical, in that large blocks of distinct melodic sections with varying instrumentation are arranged and repeated according to a permutational structure.