{"id":1768,"date":"2017-03-31T16:39:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T16:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/?post_type=chapter&p=1768"},"modified":"2020-04-11T21:52:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:52:21","slug":"john-adams","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/chapter\/john-adams\/","title":{"raw":"Minimalism - John Adams","rendered":"Minimalism – John Adams"},"content":{"raw":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=767&action=edit<\/span>\r\n\r\nJohn Adams\u00a0(1947- \u00a0 \u00a0 )\u00a0 Works in a minimalist style, though he is less rigid in his application of minimalism than some earlier composers such as Phillip Glass or Steve Reich. As you read the section entitled \"Musical Style,\" pay special attention to his feelings about twelve-tone composition and the influence of John Cage.\r\n\r\nAdam's \u00a0works include Short Ride in a Fast Machine<\/i> (1986), On the Transmigration of Souls<\/i> (2002), a choral piece commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003), and Shaker Loops<\/i> (1978), a minimalist four-movement work for strings. His operas include Nixon in China<\/i> (1987), which recounts Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, and Doctor Atomic<\/i> (2005), which covers Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the building of the first atomic bomb.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_876\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\"]\"Figure<\/a> Figure 1. John Adams[\/caption]\r\n\r\nHe also wrote The Death of Klinghoffer<\/i> is an opera for which he wrote the music, based on the hijacking of the passenger liner Achille Lauro<\/i> by the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985, and the hijackers' murder of wheelchair-bound 69-year-old Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer. The opera has drawn controversy, including allegations by some (including Klinghoffer's two daughters) that the opera is antisemitic and glorifies terrorism. The work's creators and others have disputed these criticisms.\r\n\r\nMusical Style:\u00a0<\/strong>The music of John Adams is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist although he has categorized himself as a 'post-style' composer. \u00a0However \u00a0Adams is not a strict follower of the movement. His \u00a0writing is more developmental and directional, containing elements of Romanticism.\r\n\r\nAdams experienced a musical epiphany after reading John Cage's book Silence<\/i> (1973) in which Cage\u00a0 posed fundamental questions about what music was. Cage regarded all types of sounds as viable sources of music. (See video \u00a0by Cage in \u00a0Topic titled Cage in this module). This perspective offered to Adams a liberating alternative to the highly disciplined techniques of serialism. \u00a0At this point Adams began to experiment with electronic music, and his experiences are reflected in the writing of Phrygian Gates<\/i> (1977\u201378), in which the constant shifting between modules in Lydian mode and Phrygian mode refers to activating electronic gates rather than architectural ones. \u00a0(see image below) Adams explained that working with synthesizers caused a \"diatonic conversion,\" a reversion to the belief that tonality was a force of nature.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_877\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Figure<\/a> Figure 2. John Adams, Phrygian Gates<\/em>, mm 21\u201340 (1977) Notice the repetition of the short \u00a0melodic patterns, a visual \u00a0view of minimalist writing.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSome of Adams's compositions are an amalgamation of different styles. One example is Grand Pianola Music (1981\u201382)<\/i>, a humorous piece that purposely draws its content from musical cliches. Adams professes his love of other genres other than classical music. \u00a0His parents were jazz musicians. He has also listened to rock music, albeit only passively. Adams once claimed that originality wasn't an urgent concern for him the way it was necessary for the minimalists. He compared his position to that of Gustav Mahler, J. S. Bach, and Johannes Brahms, who \"were standing at the end of an era and were embracing the evolution that occurred over the previous thirty to fifty years.\"<\/span>\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/o96o-N-nX-I\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/span>Violin Concerto, Mvt. III \"Toccare\"<\/span><\/strong>\r\n\r\nLilsten to this work -\u00a0 based upon the toccata, defined as a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered \u00a0virtuoso passages\u00a0generally emphasizing the dexterity of of the performer's fingers (in this case these \u00a0characteristics are transferred to the \u00a0violin). The beginning is quite rhythmic and driven, 2:33 has primitive sound percussion sounds, 3:11 involves the orchestra and 3:55 \u00a0projects the full orchestra sound.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/AhjRgOdhsFA\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=768&action=edit<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs you read this page\u00a0on Short Ride in a Fast Machine<\/em>, please pay attention both to the ways in which the piece exemplifies the principles of minimalism and the ways in which it expands on those principles (note the references to \"post-minimalism\"). One of the main elements in this piece is rhythm, in particular the repeated beat played by the woodblock. Note in that section that Adams plays other rhythmic patterns against that beat that shift the listener's sense of pulse.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/5LoUm_r7It8\r\n

Rhythmic Devices<\/h2>\r\nIn terms of rhythm, this work follows in the main precepts of minimalism, which focus on repeated material, generally in the form of ostinati. There is also a strong sense of pulse, which Adams heavily enforces in Short Ride in a Fast Machine<\/i> in his scoring of the wood block. Adams claims that \"I need to experience that fundamental\u00a0 \"tick\" of the wood block in his work.\u00a0Throughout the course of the work, Adams experiments with the idea of rhythmic dissonance<\/strong> as material begins to appear, initially in the trumpets, and gravitates to a new sense of pulse.\u00a0As shown below, the manifestation of rhythmic dissonance is akin to Adams's method of creating harmonic dissonance as he adds conflicting rhythms to disrupt the metronomic stability of the wood block<\/em>. Adams himself admits that he seeks to \"enrich the experience of perceiving the way that time is divided\" within his works.\u00a0Later in the work, \u00a0Adams introduces a simple polyrhythm as a means of initiating a new section that contrasts the rhythmic dissonance of the first section.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_881\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]\"\"<\/a> Example 1. Initial rhythmic dissonance[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_880\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]\"Example<\/a> Example 2. Development of rhythmic dissonance[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_882\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"640\"]\"Example<\/a> Example 3. Result of rhythmic dissonance[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\"Example<\/a>","rendered":"

https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=767&action=edit<\/span><\/p>\n

John Adams\u00a0(1947- \u00a0 \u00a0 )\u00a0 Works in a minimalist style, though he is less rigid in his application of minimalism than some earlier composers such as Phillip Glass or Steve Reich. As you read the section entitled “Musical Style,” pay special attention to his feelings about twelve-tone composition and the influence of John Cage.<\/p>\n

Adam’s \u00a0works include Short Ride in a Fast Machine<\/i> (1986), On the Transmigration of Souls<\/i> (2002), a choral piece commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks (for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003), and Shaker Loops<\/i> (1978), a minimalist four-movement work for strings. His operas include Nixon in China<\/i> (1987), which recounts Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, and Doctor Atomic<\/i> (2005), which covers Robert Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, and the building of the first atomic bomb.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1. John Adams<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He also wrote The Death of Klinghoffer<\/i> is an opera for which he wrote the music, based on the hijacking of the passenger liner Achille Lauro<\/i> by the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985, and the hijackers’ murder of wheelchair-bound 69-year-old Jewish-American passenger Leon Klinghoffer. The opera has drawn controversy, including allegations by some (including Klinghoffer’s two daughters) that the opera is antisemitic and glorifies terrorism. The work’s creators and others have disputed these criticisms.<\/p>\n

Musical Style:\u00a0<\/strong>The music of John Adams is usually categorized as minimalist or post-minimalist although he has categorized himself as a ‘post-style’ composer. \u00a0However \u00a0Adams is not a strict follower of the movement. His \u00a0writing is more developmental and directional, containing elements of Romanticism.<\/p>\n

Adams experienced a musical epiphany after reading John Cage’s book Silence<\/i> (1973) in which Cage\u00a0 posed fundamental questions about what music was. Cage regarded all types of sounds as viable sources of music. (See video \u00a0by Cage in \u00a0Topic titled Cage in this module). This perspective offered to Adams a liberating alternative to the highly disciplined techniques of serialism. \u00a0At this point Adams began to experiment with electronic music, and his experiences are reflected in the writing of Phrygian Gates<\/i> (1977\u201378), in which the constant shifting between modules in Lydian mode and Phrygian mode refers to activating electronic gates rather than architectural ones. \u00a0(see image below) Adams explained that working with synthesizers caused a “diatonic conversion,” a reversion to the belief that tonality was a force of nature.<\/p>\n

\"Figure<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 2. John Adams, Phrygian Gates<\/em>, mm 21\u201340 (1977) Notice the repetition of the short \u00a0melodic patterns, a visual \u00a0view of minimalist writing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some of Adams’s compositions are an amalgamation of different styles. One example is Grand Pianola Music (1981\u201382)<\/i>, a humorous piece that purposely draws its content from musical cliches. Adams professes his love of other genres other than classical music. \u00a0His parents were jazz musicians. He has also listened to rock music, albeit only passively. Adams once claimed that originality wasn’t an urgent concern for him the way it was necessary for the minimalists. He compared his position to that of Gustav Mahler, J. S. Bach, and Johannes Brahms, who “were standing at the end of an era and were embracing the evolution that occurred over the previous thirty to fifty years.”<\/span><\/p>\n