The History of Minimalism: Classical Music of the 21st Century Part 1

Minimalism: “a form of art music that employs limited or minimal musical materials” (thanks Wikipedia). But what does that mean exactly? And why does it matter?

I’ll tell you why it matters.

Minimalism as a musical style emerged in the middle of the 20th century, and its influence has since permeated contemporary music. Many famous composers today use minimalism in their own compositions. In fact, you could say minimalism is the classical music of the 21st century!

In order to understand why this fairly new musical style is such a big deal, let’s look at the history of minimalism (this post, part 1), some important minimalist composers (part 2), and how it has shaped the development of modern music (part 3).

History of Minimalism

The Beginning of the Unconventional

First let’s go back to the mid-1900s, where the musical chaos began. Towards the end of the Romantic Era (1830-1910), composers like Debussy (1862-1918) and Stravinsky (1882-1971) began pushing the boundaries of music. Melody was no longer the main focus of a piece. Beautiful sounds didn’t matter anymore. There was a surge towards the unconventional, and as a result, the music got stranger and crazier.

Then composers like Schoenberg (1874-1951) completely ditched the known and accepted musical system (he used math to write his music with no regard to “pretty” or “beautiful”), while others strove to find something new and original as the rules for music were chucked out the window.

The Emergence of Minimalism

Moondog’s Music

Enter Louis Thomas Hardin (1916-1999), a.k.a. Moondog. A blind and mostly self-taught composer/musician/theoretician/poet, Moondog spent much of his life as a street musician and poet in New York City. His music is defined by its Native American, contemporary jazz, classical, and ambient characteristics.

Perhaps one of the most defining – and most important – characteristics of Moondog’s music is that it is highly contrapuntal in a very modern way. Not only did Moondog incorporate Baroque-style counterpoint in his music, but he developed it over steady pulses using “snaketime” (where the piece has “a slithery rhythm, in [time signatures] that are not ordinary”).

Fun fact: he was extremely passionate about Germany – the birthplace of counterpoint – and he moved there after his stint in NYC.

Return to Simplicity

It was this return to Baroque/Classical ideas that led to minimalism. American composers began redefining the foundations of classical music (i.e. counterpoint developed over ambient drones of sound) in terms of simplicity – because that simplicity had been missing from the music scene for several years (remember Schoenberg and his mathematical music? Yeah, too complex and strange for many people).

Moondog greatly influenced 20th-century minimalist American composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich, who headed the musical minimalist movement. We will discuss them in part 2 of this series.

Characteristics of Minimalist Music

The basic characteristics of minimalism are rooted in building blocks of pitch, harmony, and rhythm. A minimalist piece will take one or more of these building blocks, develop it into a small musical cell, and repeat it several times. Often this musical cell will go through small, gradual changes (a new note or rhythm is introduced), and the purpose is to create a specific atmosphere.

Dennis Johnson’s November

In 1959, composer Dennis Johnson (1938) wrote one of the first minimalist compositions: November for solo piano. This 6-hour work is made up of small, repetitive (yet expanding) musical cells that are slowly built on over time. This particular piece greatly inspired La Monte Young, one of the founders of the minimalist movement (we’ll talk more about him in part 2 as well).

As you listen to November, notice the slow-yet-changing rhythms, the constant-yet-additive pitches, and the meditative quality that results from these two building blocks. This is minimalism.

Click here for an interview with (the actually pretty elusive) Johnson about his composing.

Minimalism has changed and evolved over the years. In part 2, we will discuss some important minimalist composers, and part 3 will talk about how minimalism has shaped modern music.