Minimalist....
Hi,
Just thought I'd say that players from Huddersfield University band will know about the feelings of playing a truely minimalist piece when they played the music of a former lady lecturer and composer in the university itself, Margaret Lucy Wilkins.
I played it many years ago, and at that point did not fully appreciate the piece since I saw it purely as a performer and not as what I hope I am now, a more rounded musician. It was tedious to play, one note and one or two rhythmic changes here and there didn't particularly strike me as being a great piece of music. I seem to think that a high majority of banders out there would not like playing this music because it doesn't give them enough "blow satisfaction". Taking the example of Prague, I believe that most didn't like the piece because there was not enough "blow satisfaction" or big rich sounding lines or the fact that some parts had a load of rests (luckily these players don't play in an orchestral brass section!).
When I heard the piece the second time however, not as a participant this time, I found the piece to be particularly effective and in the acoustic of the concert hall in which it was performed was perfect. I join you in enjoying the music of Phillip Glass, my last CD in fact being The Essential Phillip Glass and the excerpts from, the previously mentioned Akhnaten (Hymn to the Sun) and Einstein on the Beach (Bed) are really good. Although at the end of the day it can become a bit much if you hear too much of it, especially if you have to rehearse it.
We played a piece by Tim Schouster (apology for the spelling!) called Echoes which was essentially minimalist on the music but the difference in timbre was created by delay on elecronic equipment going around 8 speakers around the room. The players hated the piece in the bandroom, but after the performance on stage a few had changed their minds and quite liked it.
As for composing a piece along the lines of minimalism, I don't think banding is ready for it. If they can't accept Prague and a piece like Maunsell Forts then anything even more extreme will be played once and then left in the library for 10 years, if not longer. Composers choose to be minimalist because they like the uncomplicated nature of the music and can demonstrate simple rhythms in isolated parts as complicated rhythms when all the musicians are playing.
It's interesting that when you go to a club and have a few drinks we listen to minimalist music all the time....i.e the minimal rhythm in dance music, beats remain constant and aim to whip dancers into a trance of some kind. The idea of constant rhythm, if you can state that it is a part of minimalism has been taken by western DJ's and western composers from the music of lesser known cultures in Asia, Africa and South America where Trance music is either a major part of their religious ceremonies or a belief on their part that constantly repeating rhythms with little or no change for a day and a half would cure the illnesses of certain people within their tribes.
I find minimalism very good, but only in acceptable doses or it kind of makes me feel tired, and that's just listening to it.
Hope there'll be loads of comments on this topic, I'd be interested to see what players have to say.