Sound Art

I listened to the live concert by Steve Reich at UC Berkeley University Museum that was recorded on November 7, 1970. First of all, I think that the performance piece was amazing. I thought I would get bored with the repetitive music, but then I realized that rather than being monotonous, all of these pieces are extraordinarily dynamic. During Four Organs, you begin to anticipate the next steps in the rhythm by focusing in on the different layers of music being played. At first each rhythm seems separate and you can tell that there are four distinct instruments being played in the piece, but by the end they all meld together under the rhythmic beat of the maraca. Without even one of these layers, the entire piece would be vastly different. The My Name Is piece was very interesting because by looping simple sound clips, all meaning is taken away from the actual words used. After awhile you stop hearing individual words, and you just begin to hear the patterns in voice tonality used in each clip. When two "my name is" clips are superimposed onto each other, the effect is somewhat disorienting but has the same result as looping in that meaning is taken away from the individual names, and the focus is placed on how the sounds mesh together. I liked the Piano Phase piece because it was constantly changing. Two pianos begin playing in synchronization, and slowly one piano begins playing out of time. The result is that new melodies are constantly being produced, patterns of sound that are present for just a moment before being reabsorbed into a new rhythm. The final piece was Phase Patterns. This composition, along with the rest of them, seems to lull you into a trance with its repetitive yet ever-changing rhythms. Overall, I really enjoyed the live performance of Steve Reich. If I had only listened to the first five minutes of the work, I probably would have scoffed at it and wouldn't have considered it art. However, after listening to an hour of his work I can honestly say that I think the way he manipulates rhythm is truly artistic.