My Research - early electronic music

This is my essay on Steve Reich's early electronic music. I am happy to share my research with anyone who is interested!
Directly below is a brief introduction to my research. Below that is the essay as well as the powerpoint that I use to present my findings.

How I got to the research

Steve Reich is a household name in percussion circles, especially for anyone interested in percussion ensembles. This year (2021) is also the 50th anniversary of Drumming,  so Reich has been on my mind lately. I had played very few of Reich's compositions before quarantine and my experience with So Percussion's Summer Institute. my first introduction to Reich (for SoSI) was with recording Clapping Music. Listening to this recording, I was enraptured by the phasing and interlocking of Reich's music. During SoSI, I talked to some people about Reich, his music, and the music inspired by what he had created. I fell in love with minimalism.

The following semester (fall 2020) I was enrolled in a class called 20th Century Music. One of the major units was on minimalism and how it came to be. I also had to research and write an essay on a composer or topic from the 20th Century. My original thought was to write about So Percussion, but there is little to no academic research on them or their impact on percussion (yet, who knows maybe a Masters topic). The next thing I thought about was the composers and performers that they work with. This led me to NEXUS and then ultimately back to Reich.

I originally decided to write about Drumming, Clapping Music, and Music for Pieces of Wood, but I discovered Reich's earliest compositions; his electronic compositions ignited something in me and I could not stop until I knew more. Then the quotes came out about Reich in the book A Hidden Landscape Once A Week. I struggled for a while on whether I should abandon the research that I was doing or continue my pursuit. I continued to research, but my research took on a new view. I decided I wanted to research not only his electronic pieces, but focus more on his 'race pieces'. Reich's race pieces are Come Out and It's Gonna Rain. Both of these pieces utilize the male, African American/Black voices which are manipulated to create stories. I go into a lot of detail about these pieces as well as how they can be interpreted in my essay/powerpoint/and the video on Youtube that is coming in a few days.
This is a long discussion and video of my research. It was filmed in February of 2020. The interesting thing about this research is that it is ever-changing, so some of my opinion expressed here or some of the information may have changed since that date. Regardless, please enjoy.
I also have to say that I am lucky to have connections, such as Jason Treuting of So, who are willing to sit down and talk with me about Reich and racism. I hope that this research will serve as a starting point for me as well as for others to continue the conversation. These conversations have led me to discover things about myself and how I see the world as well as how the world is. It has also led to some very insightful conversations about appropriation and how american percussionists utilize other cultures instruments.

More resources and information

Drumming at 50 Project
Rethinking Reich by Sumanth Gopinath
American Minimal Music: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass​ by Wim Mertens​
Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass by Keith Potter​
Minimalists​ by Robert Schwarz
New Voices: American Composers Talk about Their Music by Geoff and Nicola Smith
Steve Reich and the Politics of Race with Sumanth Gopinath - ​ Sound Expertise Podcast hosted by Will Robin
“Steve Reich & William Carlos Williams: Finding a Form”
​‘Come Out to Show Them’: Speech and Ambivalence in the Work of Steve Reich and Glenn Ligon by Ellen Tani