Les répétitifs, la machine et l’instrument

Abstract

« Repetitive Music, the machine and the instrument ». The poetics of American repetitive composers Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass are based on a specific use of musical instruments. First we can notice the use of indigent instrumental means and rudimentary instruments like the electric organ. Second we point out the use of amplification in timbre composition and the percussive use of keyboard instruments (particularly in Steve Reich’s work). Finally, a structural “transfer” from tape music to traditional musical composition determines the choices and uses of musical instruments, trough tape looping, accumulation effects and a play on timbre indiscernibility that brings attention to the most subtle details emerging from repetition, so that the three composers’ aesthetic choices imply a specific relation to musical instruments.

Keywords

• amplification
• Glass Philip
• repetitive music
• Reich Steve
• tape looping
• tape music