peterr (01/27/83)
Some time ago, there was a discussion of why people liked ambient/minimalist
(or, perjoratively, "furniture") music. I don't remember any specific
reasons coming up, so I thought I'd contribute some reasons why I like such
music (to clarify-- this is music such as composed by Steve Reich, Phillip
Glass, Jon Hassell, Brian Eno (recently), and Harold Budd).
The simplest reason is that I often enjoy minimal things in general.
Stripping something down to its basic components exposes the underlying
structure and the elements one has to play (pun intended!) with (in this case,
timbre, pitch, rhythm, ...). This makes it easier to question the assumptions
in more complicated structures. I think one can at least partially
attribute the use of polyrhythms in popular music (e.g. Talking Heads, Peter
Gabriel) to the influence of some minimalists, especially Eno.
But you have to do something with these elements or the music is devoid of
content. I don't deny that this music is restful (another reason why I like
it), but it has content in at least one way: often, there is a reflection of
the notion of a guiding process resulting in slow structural change,
manifested as changes in timbre, pitch, or, most popularly, rhythm. Morton
Subotnick wrote some pieces which did this very explicitly, using the life
cycle of a butterfly to govern the structure of the pieces. The elements
of process and change over time reflect the way a lot of the universe
works, and I find this enjoyable.
The last reason I can put my finger on, and the one I like best, is that
the pieces often seem to represent a multitude of seemingly unrelated
forces coming together, as though by chance, to produce something of beauty.
This is in contrast to most music, which sounds very centrally-organized
("authoritarian", if you will). It's nice to have, as an alternative, music
which (at least in appearance) conveys bottom-up ("grass-roots"!)
organization.
As I read over this, I think I might rightly be accused of over-
intellectualizing the subject, but at least these are things that one can
point out to people, and they can say whether or not they also appreciate them.
This is all not to say that I only listen to this sort of music! But I
think that this music does deserve more credit than it seems to get.
peter rowley, university of toronto ..decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr