78-452: La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer , musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music . He is best known for his exploration of sustained tones , beginning with his 1958 composition Trio for Strings . His compositions have called into question
156-532: A singer in a choir , as a player in a youth orchestra , or as a performer on a solo instrument (e.g., piano , pipe organ , or violin ). Teens aspiring to be composers can continue their postsecondary studies in a variety of formal training settings, including colleges, conservatories, and universities. Conservatories , which are the standard musical training system in countries such as France and Canada, provide lessons and amateur orchestral and choral singing experience for composition students. Universities offer
234-467: A breeze, to avant-garde music from the 20th century that uses graphic notation , to text compositions such as Aus den Sieben Tagen , to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music , and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage , Morton Feldman , and Witold Lutosławski . The nature and means of individual variation of
312-514: A central work of musical minimalism . Young composed the Trio as a recent college graduate in Los Angeles, imagining it as an impractically lengthy piece. He ultimately reduced it to an hour for the first public presentation of his work. The piece is indebted to Arnold Schoenberg 's 12-tone technique and the late works of Anton Webern , but was also influenced by Young's fascination with
390-426: A composition professor , ensemble experience, and graduate courses in music history and music theory, along with one or two concerts featuring the composition student's pieces. A master's degree in music (referred to as an M.Mus. or M.M.) is often a required minimum credential for people who wish to teach composition at a university or conservatory. A composer with an M.Mus. could be an adjunct professor or instructor at
468-412: A culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composer's written intention came to be highly valued (see, for example, Urtext edition ). This musical culture is almost certainly related to the high esteem (bordering on veneration) in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The historically informed performance movement has revived to some extent the possibility of
546-432: A given place is referred to as performance practice , whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer. Although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre , where the songs may be written by one person,
624-620: A group of long held pitches to be improvised upon. For The Four Dreams of China Young began to plan Dream House , a light and sound installation conceived as a dream chord "work that would be played continuously and ultimately exist as a 'living organism with a life and tradition of its own, ' " where musicians would live and create music twenty-four hours a day. He formed the music collective Theatre of Eternal Music to realize Dream House and other pieces. The group initially included calligrapher and light artist Marian Zazeela (who married Young in 1963), Angus MacLise , and Billy Name . In 1964
702-519: A long time." In 1962, based on his dream chord , Young wrote The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer . One of The Four Dreams of China , the piece is based on four pitches, which he later gave as the frequency ratios : 36-35-32-24 (G, C, +C#, D), and limits as to which may be combined with any other. Most of his pieces after this point are based on select pitches, played continuously, and
780-418: A major influence. Composer A composer is a person who writes music . The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music , or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. The term is descended from Latin , compōnō ; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in a musical context given by
858-720: A master of [them]... If used wisely—the correct tool for the correct job—they can play an important role... It allows you to go within yourself and focus on certain frequency relationships and memory relationships in a very, very interesting way. Young's use of long tones and exceptionally high volume has been extremely influential within Young's group of associates: Tony Conrad , Jon Hassell , Rhys Chatham , Michael Harrison , Henry Flynt , Ben Neill , Charles Curtis , and Catherine Christer Hennix . It has also been notably influential on John Cale 's contribution to The Velvet Underground 's sound; Cale has been quoted as saying "LaMonte [Young]
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#1732793124215936-443: A number of unusual actions: some of them un-performable, and constituted an early form of poetic conceptual and post-conceptual art . Most examine a certain presupposition about the nature of music and art by carrying absurd Dada -like concepts to an extreme. One, Composition 1960 #10 to Bob Morris instructs: "draw a straight line and follow it" (a directive which Young has said has guided his life and work since). Another instructs
1014-441: A performer of Western popular music creates a "cover" of an earlier song, there is little expectation of exact rendition of the original; nor is exact faithfulness necessarily highly valued (with the possible exception of "note-for-note" transcriptions of famous guitar solos ). In Western art music, the composer typically orchestrates their compositions, but in musical theatre and pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do
1092-464: A program, designed by George Maciunas , folded into paper airplanes and launched during the evening into the audience. Young and Zazeela's first continuous electronic sound environment was created in their loft on Church Street , New York City, in September 1966 with sine wave generators and light sources designed to produce a continuous installation of floating sculptures and color sources, and
1170-473: A range of composition programs, including bachelor's degrees, Master of Music degrees, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. As well, there are a variety of other training programs such as classical summer camps and festivals, which give students the opportunity to get coaching from composers. Bachelor's degrees in composition (referred to as B.Mus. or B.M) are four-year programs that include individual composition lessons, amateur orchestra/choral experience, and
1248-453: A sequence of courses in music history, music theory, and liberal arts courses (e.g., English literature), which give the student a more well-rounded education. Usually, composition students must complete significant pieces or songs before graduating. Not all composers hold a B.Mus. in composition; composers may also hold a B.Mus. in music performance or music theory. Master of Music degrees (M.mus.) in composition consists of private lessons with
1326-711: A series of slides entitled Ornamental Lightyears Tracery . This Dream House environment was maintained almost continuously from September 1966 to January 1970, being turned off only to listen to "other music" and to study the contrast between extended periods in it and periods of silence. Young and Zazeela worked, sang and lived in it and studied the effects on themselves and visitors. Performances were often extreme in length, conceived by Young as having no beginning and no end, existing before and after any particular performance. In their daily lives, too, Young and Zazeela practiced an artificial sleep–wake cycle—with "days" longer than twenty-four hours. As of 1970, Young's interests in
1404-467: A tendency to cluster in specific cities throughout history. Based on over 12,000 prominent composers listed in Grove Music Online and using word count measurement techniques, the most important cities for classical music can be quantitatively identified. Paris has been the main hub for western classical music in all periods. It was ranked fifth in the 15th and 16th centuries but first in
1482-459: A turn toward the conceptual , using principles of indeterminacy in his compositions and incorporating non-traditional sounds, noises, and actions. Young moved to Downtown New York City in 1960. In the Spring of 1961 he developed an artistic relationship with Fluxus founder George Maciunas at the electronic music course of Richard Maxfield at The New School . Maciunas would go on to design
1560-686: A university, but it would be difficult in the 2010s to obtain a tenure track professor position with this degree. To become a tenure track professor, many universities require a doctoral degree . In composition, the key doctoral degree is the Doctor of Musical Arts , rather than the PhD ; the PhD is awarded in music, but typically for subjects such as musicology and music theory . Doctor of Musical Arts (referred to as D.M.A., DMA, D.Mus.A. or A.Mus.D) degrees in composition provide an opportunity for advanced study at
1638-635: A variety of ways. In much popular music, the composer writes a composition , and it is then transmitted via oral tradition . Conversely, in some Western classical traditions music may be composed aurally—i.e. "in the mind of the musician"—and subsequently written and passed through written documents . In the development of European classical music , the function of composing music initially did not have much greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive enormous attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In
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#17327931242151716-492: A very difficult time breaking through and getting the credit they deserve." During the Medieval eras, most of the art music was created for liturgical (religious) purposes and due to the views about the roles of women that were held by religious leaders, few women composed this type of music, with the nun Hildegard von Bingen being among the exceptions. Most university textbooks on the history of music discuss almost exclusively
1794-479: Is a cornerstone of everything I've done since." Andy Warhol attended the 1962 première of the static composition by La Monte Young called Trio for Strings . Uwe Husslein cites film-maker Jonas Mekas , who accompanied Warhol to the Trio premiere, claiming that Warhol's static films were directly inspired by the performance. In 1963 Young had joined Warhol's musical group The Druds , a short-lived avant-garde noise music band, but, finding it ridiculous, quit after
1872-405: Is one of his main influences; prior to 1956, he planned to devote his career to it. At first, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh influenced his alto saxophone playing style, and later John Coltrane shaped Young's use of the sopranino saxophone . Jazz was, together with Indian music , an important influence on the use of improvisation in his works post-1962. Young discovered Indian music in 1957 on
1950-404: Is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style or phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and
2028-539: The Dream House sound and light environment. In 1964, he began work on his unfinished improvisatory composition The Well-Tuned Piano , iterations of which he has performed throughout subsequent decades. Beginning in 1970, he and Zazeela studied under Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath . In 2002, Young and Zazeela formed the Just Alap Raga Ensemble with their disciple Jung Hee Choi . Young
2106-493: The Oxford English Dictionary is from Thomas Morley 's 1597 A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music , where he says "Some wil [ sic ] be good descanters [...] and yet wil be but bad composers". "Composer" is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who work in
2184-604: The Baroque music era, many composers were employed by aristocrats or as church employees. During the Classical period , composers began to organize more public concerts for profit, which helped composers to be less dependent on aristocratic or church jobs. This trend continued in the Romantic music era in the 19th century. In the 20th century, composers began to seek employment as professors in universities and conservatories. In
2262-506: The Just Alap Raga Ensemble . This ensemble, performing Indian classical music of the Kirana gharana , merges the traditions of Western and Hindustani classical music, with Young applying his own compositional approach to traditional raga performance, form, and technique. Young's first musical influence came in early childhood in Bern. He relates that "the very first sound that I recall hearing
2340-471: The New School for Social Research . His compositions during this period were influenced by Anton Webern , Gregorian chant , Indian classical music , Japanese Gagaku , and Indonesian gamelan music. A number of Young's early works use the twelve-tone technique , which he studied under Leonard Stein at Los Angeles City College. (Stein had served as an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg when Schoenberg,
2418-531: The Renaissance music era, composers typically worked for aristocratic employers. While aristocrats typically required composers to produce a significant amount of religious music, such as Masses , composers also penned many non-religious songs on the topic of courtly love : the respectful, reverential love of a great woman from afar. Courtly love songs were very popular during the Renaissance era. During
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2496-689: The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he received a BA in 1958. In the jazz milieu of Los Angeles, Young played with notable musicians including Ornette Coleman , Don Cherry , Billy Higgins , and Eric Dolphy . He undertook additional studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1958 to 1960. In 1959 he attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music under Karlheinz Stockhausen , and in 1960 relocated to New York in order to study electronic music with Richard Maxfield at
2574-597: The alap of Indian classical music , "certain static aspects of serialism , as in the Webern slow movement of the Symphony Opus 21", and Japanese gagaku "which has sustained tones in it in the instruments such as the Sho". The four pitches he later named the " Dream chord ", on which he based many of his mature works, came from his early age appreciation of the continuous sound made by the telephone poles in Bern. Jazz
2652-456: The music of Asia and his wish to find precedents for the intervals he was using in his minimalist work led him to Indian spiritualist and musician Shyam Batnager who introduced Young to the recordings of pandit Pran Nath , whose name means Lord of the life-breath in Sanskrit . Impressed, Young would go on to meet and study and perform with Pran Nath for the rest of Pran Nath's life through
2730-400: The orchestration of the accompaniment parts and writing of the overture is done by an orchestrator, and the words may be written by a third person. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st centuries, computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples of this range from wind chimes jingling in
2808-427: The 17th to 20th centuries inclusive. London was the second most meaningful city: eighth in the 15th century, seventh in the 16th, fifth in the 17th, second in the 18th and 19th centuries, and fourth in the 20th century. Rome topped the rankings in the 15th century, dropped to second in the 16th and 17th centuries, eighth in the 18th century, ninth in the 19th century but back at sixth in the 20th century. Berlin appears in
2886-574: The 1970s, Young and Zazeela have realized a long series of semi-permanent Dream House installations, which combine Young's just-intoned sine waves in elaborate, symmetrical configurations with Zazeela's quasi-calligraphic light sculptures. In July 1970 a model short-term Dream House was displayed to the public at the gallery Friedrich & Dahlem in Munich, Germany. Later, model Dream House environments were presented in various locations in Europe and
2964-422: The 20th century, composers also earned money from the sales of their works, such as sheet music publications of their songs or pieces or as sound recordings of their works. In 1993, American musicologist Marcia Citron asked, "Why is music composed by women so marginal to the standard 'classical' repertoire?" Citron "examines the practices and attitudes that have led to the exclusion of women composers from
3042-686: The United States. In 1974, the two released Dream House 78' 17" . From January through April 19, 2009, Dream House was installed in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of The Third Mind exhibition. A Dream House installation exists today at the MELA Foundation on 275 Church Street, New York, above the couple's loft, and is open to the public. In 2002, Young, with Zazeela and senior disciple Jung Hee Choi , founded
3120-466: The Western world, before the Romantic period of the 19th century, composition almost always went side by side with a combination of either singing, instructing and theorizing . Even in a conventional Western piece of instrumental music, in which all of the melodies , chords , and basslines are written out in musical notation, the performer has a degree of latitude to add artistic interpretation to
3198-668: The band Spacemen 3 is influenced by La Monte Young's concept of Dream Music , evidenced by their inclusion of his notes on the jacket. In 2018, Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3, along with Etienne Jaumet of Zombie Zombie and Indian dhrupad singer Céline Wadier, released Infinite Music: A Tribute to La Monte Young . According to Seth Colter Walls, writing in The Guardian , while Young has released very little recorded material, with much of it currently out of print, he has had an "outsized influence on other artists." Drone rock musician Dylan Carlson has described Young's work as being
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3276-473: The book An Anthology of Chance Operations , an artist's book publication from the early 1960s, featuring experimental neodada art and music composition that used John Cage –inspired indeterminacy . It was edited by Young and DIY co-published in 1963 by Young and Jackson Mac Low . A few months earlier, in December 1960, Young had curated and organized a series of concert-performances by members of
3354-659: The campus of UCLA . He cites Ali Akbar Khan ( sarod ) and Chatur Lal ( tabla ) as particularly significant. The discovery of the tanpura , which he learned to play with Pandit Pran Nath , was a decisive influence in his interest in long-sustained sounds. Young also acknowledges the influence of Japanese music , especially Gagaku , and Pygmy music . Young discovered classical music relatively late in life, thanks to his teachers at university. He cites Béla Bartók , Igor Stravinsky , Pérotin , Léonin , Claude Debussy and Organum musical style as important influences. The serialism of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern had
3432-478: The contemplation of pure sound." The composition precipitated Young's 1960s improvising ensemble the Theatre of Eternal Music and his development of Dream House environments with Marian Zazeela . Artist Andy Warhol attended an early performance of the piece along with film-maker Jonas Mekas , who claimed that Warhol's static films were directly inspired by the performance. Composer Terry Riley credited
3510-528: The definition of composition is broad enough for the creation of popular and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces and to include spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drummers . During the Middle Ages, most composers worked for the Catholic church and composed music for religious services such as plainchant melodies. During
3588-572: The ensemble comprised Young and Zazeela, John Cale and Tony Conrad (a former Harvard mathematics major), and sometimes Terry Riley (voices). Since 1966 the group has seen many permutations and has included Garrett List , Jon Hassell , Alex Dea , and many others, including members of Young's 60s groups. On September 25, 1965, the Fluxus FluxOrchestra was conducted by Young at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City, with
3666-416: The greatest impact. Young was also keen to pursue his musical endeavors with the help of psychedelics. Cannabis , LSD and peyote played an important part in Young's life from mid-1950s onwards, when he was introduced to them by Terry Jennings and Billy Higgins . He said that "everybody [he] knew and worked with was very much into drugs as a creative tool as well as a consciousness-expanding tool". This
3744-503: The guidance of faculty composition professors. Some schools require DMA composition students to present concerts of their works, which are typically performed by singers or musicians from the school. The completion of advanced coursework and a minimum B average are other typical requirements of a D.M.A program. During a D.M.A. program, a composition student may get experience teaching undergraduate music students. Some composers did not complete composition programs, but focused their studies on
3822-552: The highest artistic and pedagogical level, requiring usually an additional 54+ credit hours beyond a master's degree (which is about 30+ credits beyond a bachelor's degree). For this reason, admission is highly selective. Students must submit examples of their compositions. If available, some schools will also accept video or audio recordings of performances of the student's pieces. Examinations in music history, music theory, ear training/dictation, and an entrance examination are required. Students must prepare significant compositions under
3900-405: The increased use by composers of more detailed scoring in the form of dynamics, articulation et cetera; composers became uniformly more explicit in how they wished their music to be interpreted, although how strictly and minutely these are dictated varies from one composer to another. Because of this trend of composers becoming increasingly specific and detailed in their instructions to the performer,
3978-468: The inventor of the twelve-tone method, taught at UCLA.) Young also studied composition with Robert Stevenson at UCLA and with Seymore Shifrin at UC Berkeley. In 1958, he developed the Trio for Strings , originally scored for violin, viola, and cello, and which presaged his later work. The Trio for Strings has been described as an "origin point for minimalism." When Young visited Darmstadt in 1959, he encountered
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#17327931242154056-494: The long tones of Japanese gagaku and Indian raga . It was Young's final serialist composition. A set of four notes which recurs in the piece became known as the " Dream Chord " and would be explored further in Young's subsequent works. For decades, Young did not release any recordings of the Trio or publish the score, making it difficult to hear aside from bootlegs circulated privately. Since 1986, he has worked with cellist Charles Curtis to develop alternate versions of
4134-400: The mid-20th century was Nadia Boulanger . Philips states that "[d]uring the 20th century the women who were composing/playing gained far less attention than their male counterparts." Women today are being taken more seriously in the realm of concert music, though the statistics of recognition, prizes, employment, and overall opportunities are still biased toward men. Famous composers have
4212-513: The music and writings of John Cage . There he also met Cage's collaborator, pianist David Tudor , who subsequently would première some of Young's works. At Tudor's suggestion, Young engaged in a correspondence with Cage. Within a few months, Young was presenting some of Cage's music on the West Coast. In turn, Cage and Tudor included some of Young's works in performances throughout the U.S. and Europe. Influenced by Cage, Young at this time took
4290-400: The music are varied, depending on the musical culture in the country and the time period it was written. For instance, music composed in the Baroque era , particularly in slow tempos, often was written in bare outline, with the expectation that the performer would add improvised ornaments to the melody line during a performance. Such freedom generally diminished in later eras, correlating with
4368-527: The nascent Fluxus movement at the top floor loft of Yoko Ono at 112 Chambers Street involving visual artists, musicians, dancers and composers — mixing music, visual art and performance together. It was attended by John Cage , Peggy Guggenheim , Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp , among others art world luminaries. During this period, Young created short, haiku -like, conceptual art but dreamlike scores-texts that have become associated with Fluxus . For example, Young's Compositions 1960 includes
4446-467: The nature and definition of music , most prominently in the text scores of his Compositions 1960 . While few of his recordings remain in print, his work has inspired prominent musicians across various genres, including avant-garde, rock , and ambient music. Young played jazz saxophone and studied composition in California during the 1950s, and subsequently moved to New York in 1960, where he
4524-435: The orchestration. In some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and, instead, compose the song in their mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by the examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but
4602-553: The partial support of the Dia Art Foundation . Fellow students of Pran Nath, included Zazeela, Terry Riley , Rhys Chatham , Jon Hassell , Simone Forti , Shabda Kahn , Jon Gibson , Michael Harrison , Yoshi Wada , Don Cherry , Henry Flynt , Lee Konitz , Charlemagne Palestine and Catherine Christer Hennix . Young considers The Well-Tuned Piano —a permutating composition of themes and improvisations for just-intoned solo piano—to be his masterpiece. Young gave
4680-458: The performance of voice or an instrument or on music theory , and developed their compositional skills over the course of a career in another musical occupation. Trio for Strings Trio for Strings is a 1958 composition for violin, viola, and cello by American composer La Monte Young . It consists almost entirely of sustained tones and rests , and represents Young's first full embrace of "static" composition. It has been described as
4758-408: The performer elaborating seriously the music as given in the score, particularly for Baroque music and music from the early Classical period . The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise . In genres other than classical music, the performer generally has more freedom; thus for instance when
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#17327931242154836-416: The performer to build a fire. Another states that "this piece is a little whirlpool out in the middle of the ocean." Another says the performer should release a butterfly into the room. Yet another challenges the performer to push a piano through a wall. Composition 1960 #7 proved especially pertinent to his future endeavors: it consisted of a B, an F#, a perfect fifth , and the instruction: "To be held for
4914-431: The piece again as part of a larger concert series that included many more of his works. This performance, on May 10, 1987, was videotaped and released on DVD in 2000 on Young's label, Just Dreams . Performances have exceeded six hours in length, and so far have only been documented several times. The Well-Tuned Piano is strongly influenced by mathematical composition as well as Hindustani classical music practice. Since
4992-413: The piece with paving the way for his influential 1964 composition In C , stating that "What La Monte introduced was this concept of not having to press ahead to create interest. He would wait for the music to take its own course." According to Young himself, "Nobody ever took an interest in writing sustained tones without melodies over them before me." On January 29, 2022, Dia Art Foundation published
5070-770: The piece. In 2005, Young premiered a new " Just Intonation Version" of the Trio for a sextet, performed by the Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble under the direction of Curtis. A series of 2015 performances at Dia Chelsea extended the piece to three hours in length. This version was officially released in 2021 by the Dia Art Foundation under the title Trio for Strings Original Full Length Just Intonation Version (1958–1984–1998–2001–2005–2015) featuring Curtis and Reynard Rott (cello), Erik Carlson and Christopher Otto (violin, viola). The composition has been described as an "origin point for minimalism ." The New Yorker called it "a sensuous and transcendent work" and "for many,
5148-479: The received ' canon ' of performed musical works." She argues that in the 1800s, women composers typically wrote art songs for performance in small recitals rather than symphonies intended for performance with an orchestra in a large hall, with the latter works being seen as the most important genre for composers; since women composers did not write many symphonies, they were deemed to be not notable as composers. According to Abbey Philips, "women musicians have had
5226-430: The role of male composers. As well, very few works by women composers are part of the standard repertoire of classical music. In Concise Oxford History of Music , " Clara Shumann [ sic ] is one of the only female composers mentioned", but other notable women composers of the common practice period include Fanny Mendelssohn and Cécile Chaminade , and arguably the most influential teacher of composers during
5304-522: The second rehearsal. In 1964 Young provided a loud minimalist drone soundtrack to Warhol's static films Kiss , Eat , Haircut , and Sleep when shown as small TV-sized projections at the entrance lobby to the third New York Film Festival held at Lincoln Center . Lou Reed 's 1975 album Metal Machine Music notes, "Drone cognizance and harmonic possibilities vis a vis Lamont (sic) Young's Dream Music" among its "Specifications". The album Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music by
5382-427: The seminal work of musical minimalism." Author Edward Strickland called it "the first work in full-blown musical minimalism" following Young's transitional pieces for Brass (1957) and for Guitar (1958). David Paul of Seconds stated that the piece, "with its silences and long tones, paved the way for music based on tonality , drone and infinite time spans, brushing aside elaborate formal development in favor of
5460-440: The top ten rankings only in the 18th century and was ranked third most important city in both the 19th and 20th centuries. New York City entered the rankings in the 19th century (in fifth place) and stood at second rank in the 20th century. The patterns are very similar for a sample of 522 top composers. Professional classical composers often have a background in performing classical music during their childhood and teens, either as
5538-472: The tradition of Western classical music . Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms ' songwriter ' or ' singer-songwriter ' are more often used, particularly in popular music genres. In other contexts, the term 'composer' can refer to a literary writer, or more rarely and generally, someone who combines pieces into a whole. Across cultures and traditions composers may write and transmit music in
5616-422: The work, by such means as by varying their articulation and phrasing , choosing how long to make fermatas (held notes) or pauses, and — in the case of bowed string instruments, woodwinds or brass instruments — deciding whether to use expressive effects such as vibrato or portamento . For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated
5694-535: The world premiere of The Well-Tuned Piano in Rome in 1974, ten years after the creation of the piece. Previously, he had presented it as a recorded work. In 1975, Young premiered the work in New York, with eleven live performances during the months of April and May. As of October 25, 1981, the date of the Gramavision recording of The Well-Tuned Piano , Young had performed the piece 55 times. In 1987, Young performed
5772-402: Was a central figure in the downtown music and Fluxus art scenes. He then became known for his pioneering work in drone music (originally called dream music ) with his Theatre of Eternal Music collective, alongside collaborators such as Tony Conrad , John Cale , and his wife, the multimedia artist Marian Zazeela . Since 1962, he has worked extensively with Zazeela, with whom he developed
5850-657: Was born in a log cabin in Bern, Idaho . As a child he was influenced by the droning sounds of the environment, such as blowing wind and electrical transformers . During his childhood, Young's family moved several times before settling in Los Angeles , as his father searched for work. He was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He graduated from John Marshall High School . Young began his music studies at Los Angeles City College , and transferred to
5928-487: Was perhaps the best part of my education and my introduction to musical discipline." His work has inspired prominent musicians across various genres, including fellow minimalist composer Terry Riley , experimental rock groups the Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth , and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno . Eno calls him "the daddy of us all". In 1981, Eno referred to X for Henry Flynt by saying, "It really
6006-439: Was the case with the musicians of the Theatre of Eternal Music , with whom he "got high for every concert: the whole group". He considers that the cannabis experience helped him open up to where he went with Trio for Strings , though sometimes it proved a disadvantage when performing anything which required keeping track of the number of elapsed bars. He commented on the subject: These tools can be used to your advantage if you're
6084-400: Was the sound of wind blowing under the eaves and around the log extensions at the corners of the log cabin". Continuous sounds—human-made as well as natural—fascinated him as a child. He described himself as fascinated from a young age by droning sounds, such as "the sound of the wind blowing", the "60 cycle per second drone [of] step-down transformers on telephone poles", the tanpura drone and
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