Steve Reich – Pendulum Music

Sunday Synth Jam: Here’s a performance of Steve Reich‘s 1968 process music piece, Pendulum Music, by Simon Acevedo, Mathieu Cart, Simon Paccaud & Olivier Schuppisser.

In Pendulum Music, three or more microphones are suspended by their cables over the speakers that they are connected to. The microphones are set in motion, creating overlapping patterns of feedback. 

Pendulum Music is considered to be a seminal work of minimalism, because it explores the idea of music created from repeating patterns that phase against each other. His 70’s work explores the same concept, but with live musicians playing repeating musical phrases that phase against each other. These laters works were extremely influential with electronic musicians in the 70s and 80s, who explored similar territory with sequencers.

via ECAL

10 thoughts on “Steve Reich – Pendulum Music

  1. I always thought this kind of music is as fun to do as it’s boring to listen at.
    My point of view obviously.

  2. I think minimalist sound installations are a cool idea, but I’m just not sure it’s necessary to “clap” at the end.

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