One of the hallmarks of Reich’s style is the construction of complex sounds out
of simple materials. These excerpts from Music for Pieces of Wood demonstrate two of his typical
techniques. Read instructions.
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Recording of Music for Pieces of Wood used in Demonstration II courtesy of Orange Mountain Music
Demonstration I:
The five parts you hear (written for differently pitched wood blocks, but
presented here on the piano to make it easier to pick out the different parts)
are all based around one rhythmic pattern. By turning on and off the different
parts, you can isolate combinations of voices.
Notice that the top voice plays an even pulse, and that the second
and fifth voices from the top play the same rhythm on different pitches, as do
the third and fourth voice (the pattern, beginning either at the start or the
middle of the bar, is one of groups of 3-2-1-2, each group separated by a single
rest). Try listening to just the second voice and then just the third voice—if
you close your eyes, you should be able to hear that the two voices actually play
the same rhythm, but the third voice starts in the middle of the bar. This
technique (related to phasing) is one that Reich uses frequently, often
overlapping yet more voices playing the same patterns in different rhythmic “offsets.”
Demonstration II:
In this sample, the top voice once again plays a pulse. Observe in the
score, that the second and third voices have the same rhythm you saw in the previous
example. In this case, however, Reich starts with just the regular pulse and
then adds the second voice playing the complete rhythmic pattern. Each time the third
voice enters, though, it begins by playing just one note of the pattern. As
the phrase repeats, the third voice adds more and more notes—watch the notes
in the third voice turn black one at a time as the pattern builds up until
arriving at a version of the complete pattern heard in example one.
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