Annotated Bibliography

Name: Sitan Chen

Topic and research question: Indian classical music and its connections to Indian philosophies
and minimalist music. I plan to use the influence of Indian thought and music on American
minimalist composer Philip Glass as a lens through which one can examine the connection
between the Hindustani musical tradition and ideas from Hinduism and Buddhism. What
elements of Indian music are reflective of these ideas, and does this or Glasss music represent a
blurring of the line between these two streams of thought? Most importantly, how do Glasss
compositions themselves reflect the link between music and philosophy in Indian culture?
Source #1
Citation: Claman, David Neumann. Western Composers and India's Music: Concepts,
History, and Recent Music. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest Information and Learning, 2002. Print.
Type of source:
(a) Primary or secondary: I will be using it as a secondary source.
(b) Medium: Ph.D. dissertation, reprinted manuscript
(c) Discipline: Music history/ethnomusicology
Authors credentials: Ph.D. in composition from Princeton University,
assistant professor at Lehman College-CUNY
Summary: Clamans dissertation examines the influence of Indian classical
music on the development of Western music starting close to the end of the
eighteenth century. He begins by categorizing the different ways in which the
West perceives Indian culture, then looks at specific instances of the Wests
response to interactions with the music of India and the role Orientalism
began to play in the musical themes of many composers of the time. In the
second half of his paper, Claman studies the influences Indian music has had
on British jazz-rock artist John McLaughlin and American minimalist composer
La Monte Young.
Use: I will be using Clamans analysis of the ways in which Orientalism
influenced the compositions of earlier composers from Mozart to Ravel to
inform my own analysis of how Indian classical music has influenced the
works of Philip Glass and how those influences compare. In particular, I will
be looking at how Claman defends Indian music in the face of criticisms of
British imperialists who deemed it dissonant and primitive in order to find
commonalities between those criticisms and the controversies surrounding
Glasss own music. These commonalities will highlight how Glasss music
embodies the same sophistication through simplicity that characterizes
Indian music. I will also take into account Clamans discussion of Indian
musics influences on Young as a reference by which to evaluate
Orientalisms influence on the minimalist school as a whole.

Source #2
Citation: Glass, Philip, and Robert T. Jones. Music by Philip Glass. New York: Harper &
Row, 1987. Print.
Type of source:
(a) Primary or secondary: I will be using it as a primary source.
(b) Medium: Autobiography of sorts
(c) Discipline: Music theory
Authors credentials: The author is Philip Glass himself, one of the pioneers of
the 20th century minimalist movement in American musical composition.
Summary: Glasss autobiography looks at his career as a composer,
stretching from his time at Juilliard and his studies with Nadia Boulanger in
Paris, to his collaboration with renowned Indian classical musician Ravi
Shankar and his meteorically successful trilogy of operas Einstein on the
Beach, Satyagraha, and Akhenaten. The autobiography includes discussions
of the music of these three operas, Glasss initial struggles to attain critical
recognition for his music, and his various sources of inspiration for his works.
Use: Firstly, I will be examining the new musical ideas Glass took away from
his collaboration with Ravi Shankar. With these musical influences in mind, I
will then focus on Glass discussion of the second opera in his trilogy,
Satyagraha, named after Gandhis famous civil disobedience movement, is a
portrait of Gandhis years in South Africa. The programmatic and musical
ideas behind this opera, as explained by Glass, reflect both the musical and
philosophical influences of Glasss work with Shankar and his experiences in
India.
Source #3
Citation: Kostelanetz, Richard. Writings on Glass: Essays, Interviews, Criticism. New York:
Schirmer, 1997. Print.
Type of source:
(a) Primary or secondary: I will be using some of the essays in this
collection as secondary sources, and I will use the interviews in this
collection as primary sources.
(b) Medium: Collections interviews with Philip Glass and essays on his
music
(c) Discipline: Music criticism
Editors credentials: B.A. from Brown University, M.A. in American history
from Columbia University

Summary: Kostelanetzs work is a collection of essays by a number of

prominent contemporary music critics. Notable essays include one
comparing Glass and a contemporary, the American minimalist composer
Steve Reich, quite a few recounting Glasss studies at Juilliard, in Paris with
Boulanger, and in India through working with Shankar, several analyzing
notable works like his trilogy of operas, his Music in 12 Parts, etc.
Use: I will be focusing on the passages from select essays discussing Glasss
emulation of the additive and cyclic structure of Indian music and from
interviews where Glass describes his own music as producing a sort of
synergy between the listener and the music through this structure that has
overtones of the ways of thought Glass learned in his time in India. In
particular, I will be examining Glasss interview with Tricycle magazine in
which he talks at length about his studies of yoga, Buddhism; this primary
source will provide me context in which to consider Glasss Oriental
influences and establish a dichotomy not just between musical and
philosophical influences, but between that which these undercurrents
influence. Specifically, Glass insists his studies in Buddhism taught him more
about how to live life in general than how to compose, yet his studies in
Indian classical music seem to have influenced his compositional style
enough that the ways of thought underlying Indian music should in some
way carry over to the extra-musical ideas underlying his own compositions.
Source #4
Citation: Shankar, Ravi. My Music, My Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Print.
Type of source:
(a) Primary or secondary: I will be using it as a background source on
the Indian classical music tradition.
(b) Medium: Autobiography with an introduction to Indian music and
sitar playing
(c) Discipline: Traditional music
Editors credentials: One of the most famous contemporary musicians in
India, notably collaborated with Philip Glass and subsequently influenced
Glasss compositional style tremendously
Summary: Shankars autobiography discusses the many facets of the
tradition of Indian classical music, from the guru-student relationship to the
unique structure of Indian musical works, recounts his growth from a young
dancer traveling with his fathers dance company across India and beyond to
perform into a sitarist recognized internationally for his artistry, and even
presents an introductory manual to sitar-playing.

Use: I will be focusing on the first section of the book in which Shankar
details the many characteristics of Indian classical music ranging from the
vast importance of melody over Western musical elements like harmony and
counterpoint to the structure of a raga, a building block of melody central to
Indian music. These myriad characteristics will serve not only to highlight
elements that Glass has borrowed from Indian music in his own works, but
also to underscore the common threads between Indian religious thought
and Indian music.
Source #5
Citation: Welch, Allison. Meetings along the Edge: Svara and Tla in American Minimal
Music. American Music , Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 179-199.
Type of source:
(a) Primary or secondary: I will be using this as a secondary source.
(b) Medium: Scholarly article published in a peer-reviewed journal
(c) Discipline: Musicology/ethnomusicology
Editors credentials: Ph.D. in musicology/ethnomusicology from UT Austin,
has studied sitar and tabla with Stephen Slawek, student of Ravi Shankar
Summary: Welch analyzes the importance of two concepts central to Indian
classical music, namely svara, the properties of pitch as a sound and also as
a stimulus for emotional response in the listener, and tala, the temporal
organization of music in a way that cyclicism guides improvisatory passages,
to the minimalist movement in American composition. She notes that Indian
music is more about a cyclical process than an object to be arrived at after
some linear progression, a principal that has influenced the works of Young,
Riley, and Glass, notable minimalist composers. Welch proceeds to analyze
works by these three composers as they relate to the Hindustani musical
tradition, ending with an analysis of Glasss Satyagraha as using rhythm
rather than harmonic or melodic motifs to be the building block for musical
structure in his opera.
Use: I will be using Welchs article to inform my own analysis of Glasss
works: she provides a compelling framework based on sound and temporal
structure that connects Indian music to Indian spirituality and minimalist
music. In particular, I will extend her analysis of Glasss use of rhythm as the
basis of structure in Satyagraha to some of his less overtly Indian works,
perhaps Glassworks and Music in 12 Parts. I will also extend Welchs point
that cyclicism evokes the Indian worldview that all processes will return to
their starting points to other elements of Hindustani music, like emphasis on
melody, lack of harmony and counterpoint, repetition, etc.