
Programming Steve Reich’s Piano Phase in SuperCollider - ezralafleur
https://www.ezralafleur.com/programming-steve-reichs-piano-phase-in-supercollider/
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jkarni
And here is a "Piano Phase" written in C with no libraries that fits in an
(old-style, 140 character) tweet:

main(){int l=999,i,j;int
v[]={133,119,89,80,75,119,113,80,89,119,75,80};for(;;){putchar(250*(j++%v[i%12]&&(j+i)%v[i%12]==0));i+=(j%l)==0;}}

Just compile and run that with "a.out | aplay".

It's been a while since I wrote this, and I remeber cheating a bit somewhere,
but not surprisingly I can't figure out what it's doing much less how it's
cheating.

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Rochus
that's funny

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daviddaviddavid
For those not familiar with Steve Reich's music, it makes great programming
music, in my opinion. Melodic, repetitive, propulsive and most pieces lack a
foregrounded instrument vying for your attention.

Some favorite pieces of mine are:

    
    
      - New York Counterpoint (esp the version with Evan Ziporyn on overdubbed clarinets)
      - Electric Counterpoint (esp the version with Pat Metheny on overdubbed guitars)
      - Different Trains
      - Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards
      - Tehillim (probably not good coding music)
    

The 5 disc Nonesuch retrospective is a really great entry point / survey.

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Rochus
I would add Music for 18 Musicians.

EDIT: here is my favorite recording of this masterpiece by ECM:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILpCKQlDmhc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILpCKQlDmhc)

~~~
sqlacid
and Drumming

and Come Out

Drumming is fascinating to watch players perform

Come Out has amazing analog audio tape phasing

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Rochus
It's all on the aforementioned Nonesuch Retrospective.

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leephillips
I have a peculiar reaction to Reich’s music. Part of my brain thinks it’s
silly, but another part is thrilled.

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niccl
Off topic, but possibly the people here might be able to help: Is there a name
for the type of music where the theme evolves over time. Not (obviously)
repeating, no echoing on another instrument, just progression. The bass line
in Free's Mr Big
([https://youtu.be/Azkef2lXW88?t=282](https://youtu.be/Azkef2lXW88?t=282)) is
the classic example for me. Is it a one-part fugue? or something with no name
that just happens and has no name?

I asked a musician theorist friend and he said Minimalism, but that doesn't
seem quite right.

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ezralafleur
The classical term for what you describe as far as overall form is concerned
would be through-composed ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through-
composed_music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through-composed_music)). For
themes/melodies specifically I think they could either be repeated or not in
any genre (think improvised sections vs. thematic sections).

For a more all-encompassing take on music that evolves over time and where the
tie-in to minimalism might be, Generative Music as originally conceived by
Brian Eno
([https://inmotionmagazine.com/eno1.html](https://inmotionmagazine.com/eno1.html))
is where it's at

