Last Friday marked the 60th anniversary of Terry Riley’s groundbreaking minimalist musical composition, “In C,” which premiered in November, 1964 at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Among those who played in that original performance of In C were Jewish pioneering composer of electronic music, Morton Sobotnik, Jon Gibson, a founding member of renowned Jewish composer Philip Glass’s eponymous ensemble, and noted Jewish composer Steve Reich, who himself was a master of minimalism.
What made the piece so revolutionary was its minimalist structure, which instead of scoring a full performance from beginning to end, relied heavily on listening and collaboration between the musicians. The piece is made up of 53 short musical phrases that can be played in any order, for any number of repetitions, in any tempo, and by any number or combination of instruments. The result is a pulsing wave of sound, constantly shifting and yet achieving a unified harmonic and tonal landscape through the collective actions of the musicians.
Another original performer was Pauline Oliveros, who is best known for coining and popularizing the concept of “Deep Listening” which, according to Oliveros was, “designed to inspire both trained and untrained performers to practice the art of listening and responding to environmental conditions in solo and ensemble situations.”
While listening last week to a story about In C’s anniversary on NPR, I thought about this (very Jewish!) message of minimalist music: We all have a part to play. We should embrace the uniqueness of each of our roles, and feel empowered to express ourselves in ways only we can. Yet, the real beauty comes when our individual voices unite in community. Not through conformity, but through deep listening. When I allow my individual performance to be shaped by the collective voice of those around me, then, and only then, in the words of Judy Chicago, “all that has divided us will merge…and all will be rich and free and varied/And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many…and then everywhere will be called Eden once again.”
May it be so because we make it so.
In solidarity and song,
Cantor Eric
In C is considered a landmark piece that helped launch the minimalist movement. It has been recorded by many musicians and inspired other minimalist composers, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams. The Library of Congress selected the 1968 LP recording of In C for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry.
