China Gates Analysis

ABSTRACT
THIRTY YEARS OF POSTMINIMALISM:
ELEMENTS AND GROWTH
By
Jason Stanton
December 2010
Minimalism was a short lived movement in American music, but it had a
lasting effect, giving rise to a new generation of composers and a new genre:
postminimalism. While difficult to define, postminimalism can be best understood by
looking at the roughly thirty years of its development, from its roots in minimalism, to
the more recent genre totalism. This paper will explore that development and will
present a detailed analysis of John Adams's 1977 solo piano work China Gates, an
example of early postminimalism, as well as an analysis of the author's 2007
orchestral work Envelopes as a recent example of this genre.

THIRTY YEARS OF POSTMINIMALISM:
ELEMENTS AND GROWTH
A PROJECT REPORT
Presented to the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music
California State University, Long Beach
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Music in Composition
Committee Members:
Carolyn Bremer, Ph.D. (Chair)

Martin Herman, Ph.D.
Perry La Marca
College Designee:
Carolyn Bremer, Ph.D.
By Jason Stanton
B.M., 2000, University of Missouri, Columbia
December 2010
UMI Number: 1490418
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS

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Copyright ©2010
Jason Stanton
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Carolyn Bremer, Dr. Martin Herman, Perry
La Marca, Dr. Kristine Forney, and Dr. Alicia Doyle for all of their guidance and help
with this project.
in
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES v
LIST OF FIGURES vi
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER
1. MINIMALISM 1
2. CHINA GATES 8
3. POSTMINIMALISM AND TOTALISM 15
A. ENVELOPES 27
5. CONCLUSION 33
APPENDIX: GRADUATE RECITAL PROGRAM 36
BIBLIOGRAPHY 45
IV
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE Page
1. Envelope Parameters in China Gates 14
2. Structure of Envelopes, Movement I 29
3. Structure of Envelopes, Movement II 30
v
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE Page
1. ADSR sound envelope 9
2. Gating map from China Gates 13
3. Melody of Envelopes, movement 1 29
VI
PREFACE
The minimalist movement that arose in American music in the 1960s and
1970s had a shattering effect on an increasingly academic tradition. Much of Western
art music had by that time grown to such complexity and competitiveness that it had,
whether by choice or consequence, cut itself off from much of the world outside of the
university. In the 1960s, composers such as LaMonte Young, Steve Reich, Terry
Riley, and Philip Glass helped to change that—turning their back on what many
considered academic elitism and introducing the world to musical minimalism. The
effects on American music were permanent; however, the overly simplistic nature of
pure minimalism resulted in a predictably ephemeral life-span. Though still enjoyed
publicly today, minimalism served Western music best as a much-needed course-
change—one that would spark a new genre fueled by a new generation of composers.
As a member of this new generation, John Adams helped to sow the seeds of this new
genre aptly named postminimalism to which the author's 2007 orchestral work
Envelopes both belongs and reaches beyond.
Defining postminimalism as a genre is difficult at best. It encompasses music
undeniably rooted in minimalism while refusing to remain contained within it. This
paper will attempt to define postminimalism by looking at its foundation, its thirty-
year development, the many other genres effecting and melding into it, and the major
vii
composers involved. It will also discuss the concept of totalism, how it has been used
to define more recent works that surpass the assumed limits of postminimalism, and
whether it is its own genre or is merely the further development of postminimalist
music.
As one of the most prominent composers of this new genre, John Adams
played a major role in laying the groundwork for the genre's development. A detailed
analysis of his 1977 work for solo piano, China Gates, will uncover the seeds of
postminimalist composition. As its minimalist foundation is immediately clear upon
listening, focus will be drawn to its non-minimalist aspects: its sudden rhythmic and
modal changes, its structural complexity, its harmonic language and development, and
its brevity.
Written thirty years after China Gates, the author's composition Envelopes will
reveal a product of a now fully-developed genre. It is a work with unquestionable
roots in minimalism that at the same time cannot be classified as minimalist. Its
formal structure and harmonic development, the lack of extended repetition, its
rhythmic complexity, and the influence of American popular music show the direction
postminimalism (and arguably totalism) has come.1
Though China Gates and Envelopes are vastly different works—in form,
1
Kyle Gann, "A Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism: An Essay on
Postminimalism and Totalist Music." 1998 Minimalist Festival of the Berliner
Gesellschaft fur Neue Musik. http://www.kylegann.com/postminimalism.html
(accessed October 11, 2010).
viii
instrumentation, development, and even style—they clearly share a common
foundation. They are both products of the course-changing effect minimalism had on
American music in the 1960s, and hence both belong to the world of music after
minimalism. The defining aspects of this postminimalist genre are found in their
commonalities. In their differences lie the growth and development this genre has
taken over the last thirty years.
IX
CHAPTER 1
MINIMALISM
In order to understand what is meant by postminimalism, one must have a
proper understanding of the genre minimalism. The Grove Music Online defines
minimalism as "a term borrowed from the visual arts to describe a style of
composition characterized by an intentionally simplified rhythmic, melodic and
harmonic vocabulary."2 A little less encyclopedic, and a little more pertinent,
Jonathan W. Bernard defines minimalism as "a drastic simplification of raw materials
and an omnipresent pulse in tandem with insistent repetitions that, usually over long
stretches of time, served as the vehicle for steady change."3 This latter definition is
one that at least gives us hints of some of the many aspects that must go into defining
minimalism: a "drastic simplification," the signature pulse and repetitions, the "long
stretches of time," and the very gradual musical development. But before diving into
any of these components, before we discuss what minimalism is musically; let us first
discuss the reasons, the implications, of what minimalism means historically.
2
Keith Potter, "Minimalism," Grove Music Online (2009).
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40603 (accessed
October 11, 2010).
3
Jonathan W. Bernard, "Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of
Tonality in Recent American Music," American Music 21, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 114.
1
Simply stated, minimalism was a reaction. From the increasing complexity of
serialism, to the abstractness of post-Cage conceptualism, musical composition in the
Western world of the 1960s had become isolated—flourishing within the thickening
walls of the university, virtually unnoticed without. As Kyle Gann writes, "The
atmosphere was arid, motivations were competitive, and few had anything but
contempt for non-musicians too faint of heart to follow the avant-garde."4 This
isolationism, as natural as it has historically been to the university, was never
something that could last. And so came the inevitable reaction. With pieces like
Terry Riley's In C, Steve Reich's Drumming, and Philip Glass's Music in Fifths, a
new sound was bom. Gann writes, "what gradually dawned on the young composers
was the bald-faced truth that, contrary to what their elders had told them, music was
not like stomach medicine: it did not have to taste awful to be good for you."5 Simple
tonality was okay; a steady rhythmic pulse was okay; in fact, we could take only a
handful of musical elements—a few pitch classes and some sort of pattern—give them
a beginning, and let them develop themselves, exploring entirely different aspects of
music than what is traditionally explored. A musical piece did not have to be a
meticulously contrived, complex structure of sounds, and it did not have to be the
4
Postminimalism and Totalist Music." 1998 Minimalist Festival of the Berliner
5
Ibid.
2
product of a pre-compositional plan largely indifferent to its audible result. It could
simply produce a directly communicative sound the composer was looking for—in
timbre, harmony, melody, or even process—with simple materials.
In looking at minimalism as a reaction, this is not the first time such a reaction
has occurred in Western music. The sudden emergence of minimalism was a natural
(and even predictable) outcome. It is arguable that early Baroque music counteracted
the complexity that late Renaissance music had reached. And once Baroque music had
similarly evolved to a high level of intricacy, the relative simplicity of early Classical
music emerged. It was historically predictive, then, that the modernism of the 1950s
and 60s would give way to the simplicity of minimalism.
Furthermore, the term minimalism itself, without a proper understanding of its
origin, could so easily be misunderstood to imply music with minimal substance: in
essence, "music where nothing happens."6 And this is precisely the mistake that was
so often made by musicians and music journalists of the time. Knowing little of
minimalist art and failing to recognize the impact minimalist music was making, it
was often seen as little more than a fad, something that could be "slipped into and out
of like some fashionable costume."7 This led to a lack of identification of the
minimalist roots in later music that had "slipped out" of costume, as will be discussed
in Chapter 4.
6
7
Ibid.
3
The minimalist reaction took place primarily on two stages: "the California
counterculture of the 1960s, to which Riley belonged, and the 'downtown' Manhattan
scene of the 60s and 70s, which formed the main base for the activities of Young,
Reich and Glass, and of which Riley was also part for a time."8 To these "main" four
minimalists, a long list of composers must be also added who contributed to
minimalism, including Richard Maxfield, Terry Jennings, Angus MacLise, Tony
Conrad, Charlemagne Palestine, Dennis Johnson, John Cale, Pauline Oliveros, Phill
Niblock, Harold Budd, Julius Eastman, Tom Johnson, Daniel Goode, Barbara Benary,
Jon Gibson, and Meredith Monk.9 The geographic specificity of the minimalists fed
the notion of this new sound as a fad, but as we will see, the music that minimalist
composers produced would touch all corners of the country.
To return to the musical aspects that comprise minimalism, Kyle Gann
recognizes twelve main features: static harmony, static instrumentation, repetition,
steady beat, additive processes, linear transformation, phase-shifting, permutational
process, metamusic, pure tuning, the influence of non-Western cultures, and audible
structure.10 The first four of these features are perhaps the most obvious. Harmony in
* Keith Potter, "Minimalism," Grove Music Online (2009).

October 11, 2010).
9
Kyle Gann, "Minimal Music, Maximal Impact," New Music Box Web
Magazine, November 2001, http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=31tp00
4
minimalist music tended to be triadic, lacking in dissonance, and there was little
harmonic development in the traditional sense. The music usually restricted itself to a
small group of chords, or in Philip Glass's case scales, and would alternate among
them. Instrumentation was also static in that the instrumental changes found so often
in classical and Romantic music—the give and take dialogue of the traditional
ensemble—disappeared. Minimalist ensembles tended to be smaller and, especially in
the case of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, "founded on a concept of everyone playing
all the time."11 This economy of ensemble had a lasting effect that found its way into
much of the music that followed minimalism as well. The most obvious features of
minimalism, however, and for many the most definitive ones, are the repetition and
steady beat. While little explanation is needed for these features, not all minimalism
used repetition or steady pulses. The most notable exceptions are Le Monte Young's
sine-tone installations and the drone-based music of Phill Niblock.12
Two more features Gann recognizes as unique to minimalism are the additive
process and linear transformation. Minimalist music tended to start with something
small—a motive or phrase—and add on to it progressively. Often this meant adding
notes or phrases, such as in Glass's Music in Fifths, or slowly reducing them.
Similarly, many minimalists wrote gradual, linear transformations from one musical
state or sound to another as in the slow shift from tonality to atonality in James
11
ibid.
12
ibid.
5
1^
Tenney's Chromatic Canon. This characteristic focus on linear processes often gave
minimalism the label "process music," a term used even today to describe much of the
music of this genre.
Phase-shifting, permutational processes, metamusic, and pure tuning are
somewhat less characteristic of minimalism in general, but each tool found a unique
niche in minimalism not seen before. By permutational processes, Gann is referring to
the "systematic permutations of pitches," beginning with a sustained pitch or pitch
class and gradually altering it over time as seen in Jon Gibson's Melody IV and Call
and Tom Johnson's Nine Bells. Phase-shifting was utilized extensively by Reich in
his Piano Phase and other works. Metamusic is a term Reich used to describe the
intentional (or unintentional) melodies being produced in the overtones of the patterns
of his processes.14 The lengthy repetition characteristic of these pieces made it easier
to actually focus on such melodies. Pure tuning, though not typical of Glass's or
Reich's music was often a feature of the earliest minimalist pieces, including those of
Young, Riley, Tony Conrad, and Phill Niblock.15
The influence of non-Western cultures is another aspect of minimalism that,
while not prominent within minimalism itself, had a profound and lasting effect on
later music. Gann writes, "minimalism created a bridge over which American
13
ibid.
14
ibid.
15
ibid.
6
composers could rejoin the rest of the non-European world."16 Because of
minimalism's sudden and stark divergence from the European tradition, minimalist
composers had little or no examples to learn from or build upon, thus driving them to
look elsewhere, including Indian classical music (in the case of Young, Riley, and
Glass) and African music (in the case of Reich).17 Again, this influence is not
necessarily a defining aspect of minimalism, but rather it is a product of minimalism's
historical reaction, its importance lying more in the effect it had on the music of the
postminimalist genre.
The twelfth feature Gann recognizes is minimalism's audible structure. Unlike
that in previous genres, the structure of a minimalist piece is very often obvious on the
first listen. There are no hidden cadences, no ambiguous section changes. The
architecture—often simple—is clear and accessible.
To this list of features I would add length. Perhaps because of the gradual
nature of minimalism's processes it was often necessary for the works to be very long.
In a 2007 article in the New York Times Anthony Tommasini refers to minimalism as
"a musical art that says very few things over long periods of time. . . . Listeners enter
a trancelike involvement but can answer the phone or go to the refrigerator and not
16
ibid.
17
ibid.
18
ibid.
7
miss much at all."19 As was mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Jonathan
Bernard defines minimalism as consisting of changes that usually occur "over long
stretches of time."20 It is perhaps minimalism's least admired trait, but one that
typified most of this music; and it is a feature that, as we will see in the next chapter,
was very quickly abandoned.
19
Anthony Tommasini et al., "Don't Call It Minimalism (Just Listen)," New
York Times, August 10, 2007.
20
CHAPTER 2
CHINA GATES
The twentieth century advent of electronic music, while producing a genre of
its own, found a suitable partner in the music of the minimalists. From the
incorporation of new instruments and sounds to the development of new
compositional techniques, electronic music had a strong effect. Its influence can even
be found in strictly acoustic music. In his 1977 China Gates for solo piano, Adams
borrows a technical concept from electronic music to lay out a series of gated sound
envelopes defined by their palindromes, patterns, pitch class sets, and their sometimes
ambiguous modal shifts. Taken together, these envelopes embody much of what
defines minimalism while clearly leaving behind some of its most fundamental traits.
In doing so, the piece clearly points forward to postminimalism.
In the world of electronic music the term "gate" refers to a voltage that is used
to control a sound envelope. The envelope—or ADSR envelope—encompasses the
entire sound event, from start to finish. In its most simple form, this involves the
initial attack (A), the decay of the attack (D), the sustain of the sound (S), and finally
its release (R). When sound is produced electronically, there must be an action that
triggers the start as well as the finish of this envelope—in effect, a switch that turns it
on and off. This is the function of a gate, or gate voltage. As shown in Figure 1, when
9
the gate (picture a key on a synthesizer keyboard) opens, voltage is sent to the tone
module triggering the initial attack. As long as that gate is open, and the voltage is
being sent, the sound is sustained. Once the gate closes (picture letting up on the key),
the voltage stops along with the sustain of the sound, leaving only its release.
Time
i
A .
Sound
5 / Envelope
Gate
FIGURE 1. ADSR sound envelope.
In China Gates\ John Adams uses the sustain pedal of the piano to act as a
gate. Each time the pedal is pressed, a new envelope of sound is triggered—a new set
of pitch classes, a new mode, and often a new rhythmic pattern appears. This
collective of musical elements, though always in motion, acts as one sound that is
sustained until the pedal is released, and the gate closed. It is important to note that in
the envelopes oi China Gates, Adams is primarily concerned with the sustain of the
sound. With the motion perpetual, the sound changes somewhat subtle, and even
eighth-notes beamed across gates, there is no real attack after the start of the piece, and
no real release until its finish. This directs our focus to the other elements used to
define Adams's envelopes.
10
Adams provides us with a map of the gates and thus the form of the piece at
the start of the score itself. The first aspect of this map we notice is the overall
palindrome displayed—when viewed upside down (and thus backwards), the map
appears almost identical. The details of the map and how it relates to the score can be
seen in Figure 2. Here we see the palindrome of the overall structure in the lengths of
the envelopes (measured in units, where 1 unit = 8 eighth-notes). Section A' is the
structural reverse of Section A, and they are separated by a center section (B), where
the palindrome does not abruptly stop, but rather begins to break down.
The palindrome is an important aspect of China Gates, and Adams does not
stop at the overall form. As we can see in Figure 2, the envelopes in Section A and A'
are laid out in pairs. Every two envelopes have the same length. Each pair is bound
together by a brilliantly complex rhythmic palindrome in the left hand. The left hand
part of the A/A' envelopes consist of a series of rhythmic patterns. In each envelope
pair, the patterns of the second envelope are the exact retrograde of those of the first
envelope. As an example, the first two bars of the first envelope (m. 1-2), and the last
two bars of the second envelope in that pair (m. 29-30) show this rhythmic palindrome
in the left hand. These palindromes can be seen on a larger scale in Table 1, where the
rhythmic set lengths of each envelope are listed.
While palindromes define the structure of the sound envelopes in this piece,
the sounds themselves (or what we might call the timbre of each individual sound
envelope) are defined by the pitch class set used and the mode implied. Adams takes
great care to construct pitch class sets that are unique to their envelopes. In fact, of the
11
thirty-three pitch class sets, only four are used twice. That said, the change in pitch
class sets from envelope to envelope is often very subtle, utilizing common pitch
classes (often spelled enharmonically) and nearby pitch classes. This has the aural
effect of unifying the envelopes—creating a musical line with them. The changes are
not quite as drastic as they appear in his gating map and could perhaps be compared to
the change of notes in a melody played by a single, monophonic instrument.
With each change of pitch class set comes a change of mode. These are often
ambiguous and like the pitch class sets themselves, are often subtle. They do shift at
every gate, however, and are perhaps the most noticeably defining element of
Adams's envelopes. Section A begins alternating back and forth between
major/mixolydian and minor modes, mirroring the shape of the gating map Adams
provides. This alternating does not continue for long, however, and for the majority of
the piece, the implied modes simply shift around, rarely staying the same but never
jumping very far.
Patterns in the pitch class sets are elusive but evident enough to warrant
mentioning as a method of providing unity among the envelopes. For example, as we
can see in Table 1, in Section A, the pitch classes common to all eight sets (spelled
with flats) are E b and A b. Those common to the last six sets are D b, E b, and A b.
And the pitch classes common to the last three sets are D b, E b, A b, and G b. In the
shortest gated envelope of the piece—a two eighth-note-long envelope in Section B at
bar 104—the pitch class set consists only of D b, E b, A b, and G b. In another
12
example, the only pitch class common to all sets in Section A' is F—a pitch class not
once used in Section A, but one of the most used pitch classes of Section B. These
patterns, and probably others, are again elusive and not likely evident at first hearing,
but serve as another example of how subtle the shifts are between envelopes.
This subtlety of change, a common thread in a great deal of minimalist music,
allows a string of gated sound envelopes to sound as if they are only one sound,
constantly moving forward but never changing locations. In effect, the piece in its
entirety can be heard as one envelope of sound, an envelope that begins, is sustained
over a period of ever-shifting colors, and then releases as subtly as it began.
While China Gates looks and sounds like minimalism, it carries surprisingly
few of the traits outlined in the previous chapter and in fact shows hints of aspects we
will use in the next chapter to discuss the music after minimalism. The
instrumentation, obviously, is static. One sees repetition of patterns throughout, and
there is a steady pulse from start to finish. But the harmony is not static, nor is it
tonal. While the constant, subtle shifts define the piece, there is no additive process,
no linear transformation, no phase-shifting, and no permutation of pitches. The
structure of the piece is not immediately recognizable, non-Western influences are
limited to its title, the existence of metamusic is doubtful, and compared to most of
minimalism, the piece is very short. Its brevity, along with its harmonic motion,
calculated structure and processes, complexity of rhythmic patterns, and the room it
leaves for personal expression exemplifies traits that become more common as
American music makes the transition into the much larger genre of postminimalism.
13
0.6
m.105 \ m.113
m 103
- m.109
m.102
m.92 m.100
3.6 7.4
11.2 7.4 3.6
m 75 1.117 m.129
m.63 | -
m.31 m.43 m.55 m.71 m.121 m.137 m.149 m.161 m.176
m.79 TI.113
A B
9 ,V
FIGURE 2. Gating map from China Gates.

CHINA GATES
By John Adams
Copyright © 1983 by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (BMI)
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
Used by Permission.
14
TABLE 1. Envelope Parameters in China Gates
Starting Pedal Implied LI I Rhythmic
Envelope Measure Length* Pitch Class Set I Tone Root Implied M o d e * * Set Lengths***
1 J 1 15 C \D\> JEbj | | iAb | Ab Ab Major (Mixolydian) j 7 7 6 8 4
2 16 15 1 * I^SlB | JG# j B G# G# 1minor 4 8 6 7 7
3 31 11.2 C JDb JEb! ! Gb iAb |Bb Ab Ab Mixolydian 9 8 10 9 4
1 T
_ 4 _ _ . 43^ 11.2 jcSl }D# I 1F # * SG# JLJ G# G# .miE9JL.>v,,.,.^....v,v..v...v _ 4 .....? J . 0 8.9
A ' " 5 55 7.4 c job IFb 1 f I iAb JBb Ab Ab Major (Mixolydian) 3 6 4 3 2
6 63 7.4 icfti IM!FU.JJ F# JG# B G# B Major 2 3 4 6 3
7 71 3.6 C !Db JEb| ! "j Gb JA b i Ab Ab Mixolydian 2 4 6
8 75 3.6 F#, !G# |A# G# (F#) (Major) 6 4 2
!C#| \D# \
9 79 0.4 c [ 1 | !E IF G 1 |A [ B | A(C) minor (Major) 4
10 80 1 ! ] ;bi F# IA# B B Major 3
M 8.L 2 JDb JEbj QJL JBb si.:— C b j[B b } Major XLpjcnan] 5
„ 12 _ .83 4 C^JD,b _ [ t O j F IHAXZ J)±iQL Major (Locrian) ...7
13 87 3.6 c 1 ID 1 ]E F O 1 !A c Major l"
14 0.4 jc#l | D # ! E F# B c# minor 4
15
91
92 1 JDb JEbj F iAb .' ! B b
JIM cb cb Lydian 4
16 93 2.2 1 I teM F Gb jA.b '. Gb _. 5
c
B ZZM
J7
11
96
100
4
2
F
_je!
G I j B
B
• „
GJL
Major
minor.„
7
3
19 102 1 IDb jEb i F JA b
-llBb Cb Ab Dorian 4
20
21
103
104
0.4
0.2
ID b
JDb
TEM
lEbl
F
GT IAb —
i — (PiJ_ QAmi)
Gb ]
4
2
22 105 2 C„.i 1 1 iE F \ IA i B A minor 7
23 107 1 F# :G# !A# B G# minor 3
24 108 0.4 _J.Db_ \gk.L F i :Ab !Bb Icb Ab Dorian 4
25 109 3.6 \Db ;Eb! F Gb iAb IB b Ab Dorian (Mixolydian) 5
2 6 _ IJ1 „ jjDb_ [E.bi Gb .LJck F_ Mjx^Jydjan
117 3.6 CI JD F IE G 1 ' IA
1 ]B F F Lydian 2 4 8
28 121 7.4 I i \E?\ IF Gb | IAb
Jell
F F Locrian (Phrygian) 6 3 6 3 2
?9 ]?9 74 i i ! =E I F fcl \ 1 1 F F 2 3 6 3 6
A' 30
31
137
149
11.2
11.2
ID b iB b i
\c \ I D I IE IF
|F Gb
ic ! U
IA b
i
iBbjCb
|B
F
F
Db
C
Mixolydian
Major
: 7 8 11 12 15
LIS 12 11 8 7
32 161 L 15 !Db JF.bjlF Gb j IAb fBb jCb F/A b C Lydian 4 5 2 4 2
33 176 1 15 fc j 1 i lc IF
•Length measured in units, where 1 unit = 8 eighth notes (0.8).
• G [ [ ! IB F/E
r B Locrian I 2 4 2 5 4
••Parenthesis indicate an arguable alternative.

•••Measured in eighth notes.
CHAPTER 3
POSTMINIMALISM AND TOTALISM
In Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality in Recent
American Music, Jonathan Bernard writes, "minimalism was finished by the mid-
1970s, its original practitioners having gone on to other things."21 We can see in
Adams's China Gates, the beginnings of such a departure from purely minimalist
music. In 1979 William Duckworth wrote The Time Curve Preludes, a piece Kyle
Gann considers the first of postminimalism, one "more subtle and mysterious than
minimalist music."22 Also in 1979 Ingram Marshall began his Frog Tropes and
Gradual Requiem, making use of less pulse-oriented textures. In 1980 came Janice
Giteck's Breathing Songs from a Turning Sky, heavily influenced by Balinese music.
In 1981-83, Jonathan Kramer wrote Moments In and Out of Time, "severely limited in
tonality but by no means repetitiously or structurally minimalist." Daniel Lentz in
91

22
Postminimalism and Totalist Music," 1998 Minimalist Festival of the Berliner
Gesellschaftfur Neue Musik, http://www.kylegann.com/postminimalism.html
16
1986 wrote With the Crack in the Bell, leaving minimalism's tendency to stay in one
key. All of these pieces, while clearly rooted in and influenced by minimalism,
represent a departure, taking off into a new direction, to form a genre of music we now
call postminimalism.
Like minimalism, this new music tended to be "tonal, mostly consonant (or at
least never tensely dissonant), and usually based on a steady pulse."24 Unlike
minimalism, these pieces were usually shorter in length, involved more textural
variety, and often took surprising turns.25 With postminimalism came a return of
harmonic motion, breaking away from the static harmony of minimalism. Processes
in postminimalist music were seldom left to themselves and were not as obvious upon
listening.27 Rhythms grew in complexity and were often layered.28 The "preferred
medium [of the postminimalists was] often the mixed chamber ensemble pioneered by
24
ibid.
25
ibid.
26
Keith Potter, "Minimalism," Grove Music Online (2009).
October 11,2010).
Kyle Gann, American Music in the Twentieth Century (New York: G.

Schirmer, 1997), 326.

Gesellschaft fur Neue Musik, http://www.kylegann.com/postminimalism.html
17
Glass and Reich, though without the minimalist habit of ensemble unison." And
while each piece or movement tended to remain within one mood or emotional state,
there was a newfound allowance for personal expression not seen in what Gann refers
to as "minimalism's motoric impersonality." All of these changes did not by any
means represent a return to compositional methods of the past. While neo-
Romanticism was alive and well during this period, looking to the tonal, formal, and
emotional practices of an earlier European genre, postminimalism took the
foundations of minimalism and carried them forward furthering the evolution of a
purely American music.31
Postminimalism can still be seen as part of the reaction to serialism. In "A
Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism," Gann writes, "Where serialist syntax was
abrupt, discontinuous, angular, arrhythmic, and opaque, postminimalist syntax was
precisely the opposite: smooth, linear, melodic, gently rhythmic, comprehensible."
Lacking from this list is simplicity. Where minimalism answered the great complexity
30
Ibid.
-5 1

Schirmer, 1997), 326-7.
32
18
of the serialists with stark simplicity, postminimalism's reaction focused on the nature
of the syntax itself; its harmonic and melodic motion was smooth rather than angular.
That said, postminimalism did not entirely abandon the qualities developed by
serialism. As Gann writes,
Born in the 1940s, the postminimalist generation grew up studying serialism,

and internalized many of its values. Minimalism inspired them to seek a more
audience-friendly music than serialism, but they still conceptualized music in
terms familiar to them from 12-tone thought: as a language with rules meant
to guarantee internal cohesiveness.33
This is seen in the aforementioned structural, harmonic, and rhythmic aspects that
distinguish it from pure minimalism.
As a genre, postminimalism was geographically diverse. It never had a
"scene" or a "school." Unlike minimalism, which was based primarily in New York
and California, postminimalism was springing up simultaneously all over the country:
from William Duckworth in Pennsylvania, Janice Giteck in Seattle, Daniel Lentz in
Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, Ingram Marshall in San Francisco, Jonathan Kramer
in New York, Peter Gena in Chicago, and Paul Epstein in Philadelphia.34 It consisted
of a series of individual, independent responses to both serialism and minimalism,
34
19
whose major players at the time knew little of one another.35 It is arguable that this
diversity and physical separation had a hand in the fact that the names of the
postminimalists are much less known than those of the major minimalists (Glass,
Reich, Riley, and Young).36 When a musical movement and all of its originators is
located in one or two geographic centers—such as that of minimalism—it is easier for
the artists to collectively make an impact. They know of each other, can collaborate or
compete with one another, and are more likely to be noticed by journalists covering
their "scene."
The list of influences for this genre is diverse. Most postminimalist composers
grew up with rock music and enjoyed lessons on African and Asian music in school,
leading them to realize the potential for steady, complex rhythms that could still be
enjoyed by the average listener. They saw no need to stick to minimalism's "quiet
chords, pretty textures, and rhythmic simplicity." Gann writes of postminimalism's
"inclusiveness bringing together ideas from a daunting array of musical sources.
Within its smooth exterior, postminimalism is a big melting pot in which all the
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid.
20
world's musics swim together in unobtrusive harmony." One of the most important
results of this diversity of influences was a growing complexity of rhythm. Michael
Gordon began using multiple rhythms and tempos, his Four Kings Fight Five (1988)
using up to 11 tempos at once; John Luther Adams began layering rhythms, such as in
his Dream of White on White (1992); and Kyle Gann himself "started borrowing
tempo-shifting techniques from Hopi and Pueblo Indian musics in Mountain Spring
(1983)."40
One great irony of postminimalism is how relatively unknown it is as a genre
when compared to minimalism, but how much more music it has produced. Gann
writes, "postminimalism is not a small, isolated, or ephemeral phenomenon. Involving
composers working independently from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Maine,
it constitutes an American repertoire that dwarfs minimalism in quantity and
frequently surpasses the best minimalist works in quality as well."41 Whereas with
minimalism we refer to a decade or so of time and a handful of well-known
composers, postminimalism covers thirty years and a long list of relatively unknown
names.
40
21
In the 1990s postminimalism began to take on a new direction, or more
precisely, several new directions. From an ever increasing complexity of rhythm, to a
blossoming of multimedia works, and an increased blurring of lines between "art"
music and pop/rock music, postminimalism as a term began to lose its importance.
The closer we get to our current time, the harder it is to label its music, hence, several
journalists and even some historians have settled on the term totalism.
Before attempting to define what is meant by totalism, we must examine
several cultural changes that brought us to this point. In his book American Music in
the Twentieth Century, Kyle Gann outlines several of these changes, all of which fall
into the following four categories: a population boom—both in general as well as in
the arts—changes in education, the development of new technologies, and the
importance of rock and other genres.
In the post-World War II 1950s the birth rate in America increased
exponentially, as did the standard of living. With less economic stress, people born in
this time were more likely to pursue the arts than traditional vocations.42 Simply put,
there are more people writing music today than ever before. And more people
inevitably mean more ideas, styles, and directions.
Education for this generation had also changed. Gann writes, "The generation
born in the 1950s is the first to benefit from greatly increased exposure to non-

Schirmer, 1997), 352.
22
Western musics in college." Whereas previous generations had spent their time in
school almost exclusively studying the Western European composers, students now
were being exposed to African, Latin American, Asian, Native American, Indonesian,
and other musical traditions as well as American jazz, whose acceptance in academia
took an incredibly long time. All of these traditions, as well as European medieval
and Renaissance music, were being disseminated on recordings at an increasing rate.
Gann also notes the negative trend of school districts to pull music education out of
the k-12 curriculum, decreasing "the establishment of any common musical culture
beyond what is heard on radio."44 All of this results in composers who see the
Western European musical tradition as only one of many, and not exclusively
important.
The introduction of new technologies in the 1980s and 90s had perhaps the
most direct influence on American music. Samplers and sequencing and notation
software have almost completely replaced paper manuscript as the means of
composition and distribution. Even when paper is the final product, composers
predominantly use notation software, writing and making edits directly on the
computer screen.45 One major effect of sequencers on the compositional process is the
instant gratification of being able to play back music—approximating how the final
43
ibid.
44
ibid.
45
ibid.
23
product will sound—while it is being written. The ability to hear a full orchestra play
one's piece when one has only written three bars has a substantial effect on the
direction a composer takes his/her piece. Another important effect of sequencers is
the tendency to "layer" sounds or musical lines. The effect this has on the
compositional process will be explored in depth in the next chapter. The effect of the
sampler, according to Gann, was to change the fundamentals of music: 'The musical
atom is increasingly no longer the note, but the sample."46 While this statement seems
a bit exaggerated, it has become very common in some styles for composers to form
their music by piecing together sampled sounds—whether single tones or phrases—
and to work with them as if they are working with notes.
With the prevalence of this technology as well as that of recording equipment,
the CD or mp3 has replaced the written score as the final musical product. Whereas in
the past, composers distributed their music in the form of a score, and in the hopes of
someday getting a recording; today it is the audible recording that is distributed, often
with little hope or concern for having the score published. Gann notes a very possible
effect of this reversal: "for midcentury composers showed a tendency to consider the
score the actual music, with a corresponding loss of concern for how the music
sounded; today, more and more music can be judged only for how it sounds, for the
score may either not exist or be practically unavailable."47 One final effect of this
47
ibid.
technology on music is the fact that is it so widely available and inexpensive. Most
computers now come prepackaged with sequencing software. Adding to the
population boom, this simply means that more and more people are making more and
more music.
The importance of pop/rock music cannot be overstated. The universal appeal
of pop/rock music and all of its subgenres has given it a world-wide audience. It is
being produced in almost every country and quickly dispersed by means of CD
distribution, radio (most of whose stations are entirely devoted to some form of
popular music), and more recently internet applications such as iTunes. Composers
born in the 1950s grew up on rock music, and for many it became an unavoidable
force in their own compositions. Gann writes, "For many, rock has become the
vernacular bedrock from which music must grow in order to gain any currency with a
large audience." Rock music, however, comes in a wide variety of flavors. And
along with the sheer number of composers writing, and the newfound importance of
every other musical genre or tradition discoverable, it is no wonder that one sees a
"splintering of audiences and a daunting multiplicity of subcultures."49 While it is
tempting to conclude that the American musical tradition by the 1990s had simply
shattered, there are some commonalities and trends that have earned it the label of
totalism.
49
ibid.
Totalism for Kyle Gann "implies . . . having your cake and eating it too:
appealing to lay audiences, yet also providing enough underlying complexity to
intrigue sophisticated musicians."50 This "best of both worlds" can be accomplished
entirely within the rhythm of the music. While totalist rhythms grew increasingly
complex, they rarely strayed from a steady beat: a direct influence of both
minimalism and rock music, and a key to universal appeal. The steady beat provided a
simple context against which polyrhythms and other complexities could be measured.
Harmonies in totalism, influenced by everything from jazz to rock to any number of
world music genres, "can be either consonant, or dissonant, or both—the distinction
having ceased to be very important—but it is usually fairly static, concentrating on
harmonic or melodic images that are easily memorable even when quite complex."51
Noise itself became a common aspect in totalism, but the preference for memorable
harmonies or melodies shows further influence of rock music's "hooks" and is another
key to appealing to audiences on a mass scale. For the totalist composer, writing
complex or intellectually stimulating music is pointless if it is only heard by a few

1
Schirmer, 1997), 355.
Edward Rothstein, "Is There Music After Minimalism? Bang on a Can

Festival Says Yes," New York Times, May 19, 1992.
26
people. Minimalism and rock—primarily in their use of steady rhythms—provided
the key to mass appeal upon which totalism was then able to build.
The desire of totalist composers to appeal to both the educated listener as well
as the lay audience does not always result in homogeneity. Writing in the New York
Times in 1992, Edward Rothstein proclaims "There is a hint of anxiety in these
[totalist] works as well; they are deliberately noncommittal and a bit concerned with
their status. Like cautious swimmers, the music tests the uptown waters with a toe
while proclaiming its satisfaction with dry land."53 He goes on to write that "Totalism
may not really be a style at all, so chaotic is its character."54 Of course this apparent
lack of cohesion may only be evidence of a musical trend that has yet to folly develop.
Unlike the geographic diversity of postminimalism, the totalism that Gann and
Rothstein write of is primarily restricted to New York City. With the exception of Art
Jarvinen in Los Angeles, and John Luther Adams in Alaska, these are New York
composers and include Mikel Rouse, David First, Ben Neill, Diana Meckley, Larry
Polansky, and Bang on a Can composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia
Wolfe.55 This geographic restriction ironically seems to contradict its implied all-
inclusiveness, and that along with its smaller output when compared to
53
ibid.
54
ibid.
55
Schirmer, 1997), 355.
27
postminimalism, begs the question of whether totalism is truly its own genre, or if it is
merely a subgenre or offshoot of the larger postminimalism. This question of course
will likely not be answerable until sufficient time has passed and the American
musical tradition has moved beyond what is currently being called totalism to allow it
be seen in proper perspective.
28
CHAPTER 4
ENVELOPES
There are no real similarities between John Adams's China Gates and my own
two-movement orchestra work in instrumentation, form, or style, yet the theoretical
basis for Envelopes was directly inspired by Adams's piece. While China Gates
concerned itself only with the sustain of the ADSR envelope, and used the electronic
concept of gate voltages to determine its structure, Envelopes began as an exploration
of the complete sound (or amplitude) envelopes themselves. Sonorities are presented
by the various sections of the orchestra as complete or partial envelopes with various
combinations of attack, decay, sustain, and release. The envelopes then interact with
and layer on top of one another to form the harmonic foundation of the piece.
Melodies within the work are presented as envelopes as well, sometimes as one
complete envelope, and sometimes as a series of overlapping ones. The form of the
work, and that of each movement, is not determined by the envelopes but rather exists
with the sole purpose of exemplifying the harmonic and melodic sound envelopes.
Envelopes can be outlined in a single part, an instrument section, or multiple
sections together. In the first two bars of the first movement, for instance, the first
violin part can be described as an envelope consisting of a delayed attack, minimal
decay, a long sustain, and minimal release (stopping abruptly for the rest in beat five
29
of the second bar). When this is expanded to include the other strings, however, the
viola part gives us an extended release; and adding the horns and contrabass gives us
the strong initial attack of the envelope.
Envelopes are often presented simply as swells of sound, without any real
attack or sustain, as they are with the piano and harp decorations beginning in bar 9 of
the first movement. They also appear in reverse, such as the repeated reverse
envelopes found in the brass beginning in bar 163 of the second movement. Finally,
the envelopes are combined by various means, sometimes overlapping, where several
individual envelopes are combined, dovetailing each other to form one long envelope,
as is the case with the woodwind melody beginning in bar 66 of movement I. Other
times, envelopes are connected end-to-end in a mirror fashion, as seen in bar 24 of
movement I, where a long string envelope ends in an extended release, only to begin
again with the extended release of a long, reverse envelope.
The overall formal structure of the first movement is Intro—A—B—C—A—
B, where each section represents either one or two cycles through the movement's
harmonic progression, as shown in Table 2. Harmony in this movement consists of
only three sonorities: f minor, Ab major, and E b major with an unresolved 4-3
suspension; the progression is as follows: f, A b, f, A b, f, A b, E b. The unresolved
suspension means that there is an A b in every single bar, acting almost like a drone,
unifying the roughly 8 lA minute movement. The fact that it never resolves—not even
at the end—is a central aspect of this movement. It is a force that drives the music
30
forward, as each cycle leaves the listener in anticipation of the suspension resolving
"next time."
TABLE 2. Structure of Envelopes, Movement I
C
Section Intro A B A B
(Intro)
Subsection a b c c a b c c
Bar 1 9 • 24 38 48 58 66 80 94 104
Number of
1 2 2 1 2 2
Cycles
There is one main melody in the first movement, and it is presented only twice:
once in each A section, and each time spanning the entire section. It is first played by
the first violins, beginning in bar 9, with each note comprising an entire sound
envelope, slowly bringing the melody up from the second scale degree (g) to peak on
the tonic (f) in a near whisper in bar 24, only to slowly fall back down to the second
scale degree (see Figure 3). The fact that the melody begins and ends on the second
scale degree adds to the lack of resolution in the movement. When the A section
returns, each note of the melody is traded off between the clarinet and the oboe. The
dovetailing of the notes is intended to sound as if the melody is being played by one
instrument that is simply shifting colors. A second melody does appear in the
trumpets in the return of section B (bar 94), but its purpose is only to accentuate the
harmonic progression and help the section build to an end.
31
(0*
m
# mi
FIGURE 3. Melody of Envelopes, movement I.
The second movement begins with an introduction very reminiscent of the first
movement in tempo as well as harmony. It uses the same third-relationship as the
first, only modally reversed, moving from major to minor (C to e) instead of minor to
major (f to Ab), and it consists of four envelopes, one forward, one reverse, another
forward, and another reverse. After the introduction, however, the piece abruptly
changes, largely abandoning the exploration of envelopes to develop a shorter, more
pop sounding movement than the first. The overall structure is shown in Table 3.
TABLE 3. Structure of Envelopes, Movement II
Section Intro A B A' B C B
Bar 1 21 45 71 115 147 163
Several aspects of this movement show an influence of pop/rock music. The
chorus-like sound of the B section gives the structure a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-
bridge-chorus. The harmony, while using alternating sonorities in the A sections like
the first movement (though in seconds rather than thirds), in the B section follows a
32
three-chord, I-V-VII progression. While melody in the first movement was sparse and
lethargic, melodies in this movement are brief and intentionally catchy. Percussion,
while in the first movement is limited primarily to color and special effect, in this
movement makes use of maracas, suspended cymbals (as if borrowed from a drum
kit), and vibraphone.
The second movement also shows more obvious influence of minimalism than
the first. The clearest example of this is in the patterns set up in the piano and
vibraphone at the beginning of section A (bar 21), setting the rhythm for the entire
movement and reappearing in some form in almost every instrument. The treatment
of melody also resembles the additive process pioneered by minimalist composers.
An example of this is in the motive that appears in the first violins at bar 95 (section
A'), a fragment foreshadowing their melody at bar 115 (section B). This additive
melodic process can also be seen in the first movement in the trumpets at bars 95, 98,
105, and 108, where in each instance a little more of the melody is revealed.
The compositional process explored in Envelopes was a direct product of the
technological advances discussed in Chapter 4. The piece was written using Finale
notation software, and I relied heavily on the playback feature of its built-in sequencer.
Thus while writing, I was always listening to every sonority and every melody in the
timbres of the instruments for which they were intended. Being able to try out all of
my ideas with a full orchestra of sampled sounds gave me the advantage of an
efficiency that far surpasses that of previous generations. And while a sampler will
never truly replicate a live orchestra, its use minimized the adjustments that needed to
33
be made once the piece was read live. The layering of the envelopes in the first
movement, and of the patterns in the second, is also a product of writing with a
sequencer. Hashing out ideas in a sequencer provides one the ability to easily loop
and "stack" phrases. And this is precisely how this piece, and indeed much of my
music is written, through stacking and looping techniques.
While this piece clearly exemplifies aspects of totalism as outlined by Kyle
Gann—the heavy influence of pop/rock music, the polyrhythm found at the end of the
second movement (bar 171), and the effect of technology on the compositional
process—it also contains aspects not typical of totalism, such as the lack of a steady
beat or rhythm in the first movement, and the fact that it is scored for a full orchestra.
Its minimalist roots, textural variety, and harmonic and melodic motion do, however,
make this a postminimalist work. And the ability to further categorize it into any
subgenre will most likely have to wait for more time to pass.
34
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
Writing for the program of a 1998 minimalist festival in Berlin, Kyle Gann
proclaims, "Minimalism is dead as a doornail, of course, and minimalism is also
thriving splendidly, thank you."56 Aspects of minimalism have found their way into
almost every genre and style of American music. The many shades of
postminimalism, totalism, and much of the art music being written today have all
inherited bits and pieces from this course-altering genre. As Gann writes,
Sometimes it's melodic, in the preference for linear, hard-edged melodies and
focus on a few pitches for long passages of time [such as in the first movement
of Envelopes]. Sometimes it's harmonic, in the use of a seamless tonality
cleansed of goal-oriented European associations. Sometimes it's textural, in the
orchestration of mixed ensembles to create a fused, non-soloistic sound.57
Rarely does a postminimalist or totalist piece exhibit all of these minimalist traits, but
most exhibit some. And the sheer number of pieces written in the last thirty years

35
that owe something to minimalism speaks volumes as to its cultural impact.
Not everyone sees the effects of minimalism on American music as positive.
In Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality in Recent American
Music, writing about recent works by Steve Reich and John Adams, Jonathan Bernard
states that the tonality brought about by minimalism "represents a retreat that is in
some ways disappointing, suggesting as it does that minimalism and its offshoots have
failed after all to live up to their initial promise radically to reinvent American art
music."59 Referring to its tonality as a "retreat" however, implies a return to harmonic
practices of the past, or at least a failure to move forward, which I would argue is not
at all the case. The harmony found in minimalism and postminimalism is almost
never treated in a Romantic or Classical way, and if the tonality of current music does
not seem progressive enough, perhaps that is not the focus of the music. He concludes
his essay, rather depressingly, claiming that minimalism has given us "markedly
discouraging evidence against the resilience of our art-music traditions, against their
capacity for perpetuation through self-renewal."60 But Bernard is missing the point
here. The "resurgence of tonality" brought about by minimalism has never
represented a return or retreat. It was, in part, an historic reaction, one that caused a
sudden halt to the spiraling complexity of serialism and allowed several aspects of

36
music to be explored in entirely new ways. It was, as Gann puts it, "for hundreds of
composers, a refreshing breath of air coming out of the murk of 20th-century

l
pretentiousness and academicism and opaque complexity." And music after
minimalism has continued to grow and develop in a constant state of "self-renewal."
One thing Bernard does get right is his recognition of the difficulty in labeling
a genre as recent as postminimalism. He wisely writes that "while postminimalism
does mean something, in the end it can serve only as a placemarker for more precise
terms, the coining of which probably awaits greater historical perspective on this
period."62 And if the term postminimalism seems lacking in meaning, the term
totalism borders on absurd. But whatever labels end up in the history books to
describe the last thirty years of American art music, the significance and impact of
minimalism cannot be denied.
61
62
37
APPENDIX
GRADUATE RECITAL PROGRAM

graduate
composition recital
luyiaiii
Saturday, may 10. I I I !
recital hall
conservatory
California
beach
39
Circle No. 1
Max Minskoff, conga • Larry Flor, djembe

Amanda Duncan, djembe • Paul Stengel, bongos
Dominic Primo, tambourine • Ben Sieke, guiro
Anthony Vezirian, claves
Notes: This piece was originally written while studying with Dr. Thomas
McKenney at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The ensemble was
inspired by the drum circles I experienced in the parking lots and
campsites of Greatful Dead concerts. This particular piece was written
as a personal study of meters and how I could gradually phase the
ensemble in and out of various meters. Written mathematically, it was
extensively reworked in fall 2005 under the direction of Dr. Justus
Matthews and with the invaluable help of Dr. Dave Gerhart to become a
performable piece of music.
Excerpt from the film ForNo One

Written and directed by Jeff Mizushima
Film Synopsis: Molly has just come out of a long term relationship and
realizes that she never really did anything on her own. She is reaching
her quarter-life crisis, thinking that she is for no one. A life change is in
order. So she sets out to start a new hobby: keyboard. Along the way
she meets a few of her old friends during one idyllic day in San
Francisco. (Jeff Mizushima)
Music Notes: The goal here was to write a song for Molly in an
unpolished, "indie," singer-songwriter style. The song was rewritten
several times through close collaboration with the director.
40
Excerpts from the film The James lee Smith Story
I. Title/Opening Credits
II. The Move/New Job
Written and directed by Nick Corsetti
Film Synopsis: Struggling to care for his family, James's lack of steady
work and constant financial troubles find him on the wrong side of the
law and eventually sentenced to time in prison. While there he is
physically abused and denied treatment for a developing psychiatric
illness. The abuse escalates, and after finally meeting with an attorney,
he files suit and takes the state to court.
Music Notes: The title song for this film was written in an attempt to
show what it would sound like if James were to sit down himself and
sing his story. The harmonic and motivic development in the song then
became the source material for much of the remainder of the score.
Acrylic on Television
I. A pleasant drive with an American Family through
suburbia to the ice cream parlor on a sunny Sunday
afternoon in
mid-April
II. a sliver of culmination
Mark Uranker, piano • Adam Wolf, horn • Mark Lilienthal, horn
Spencer Dorn, bassoon • Brian Manolovitz, bassoon
Notes: This piece was originally written while studying under Dr.
Thomas McKenney at the University of Missouri, Columbia and was
revised in spring 2007 under the direction of Dr. Carolyn Bremer. The
first movement is a snapshot of what suburban America tries all too
hard to be. Naturally, it tends to fall short of perfect. The second
movement is a slightly more realistic picture.
41
Envelopes
i.
n.
For orchestra
(sampler recording)
Notes: The concept for Envelopes was inspired by John Adams's China
Gates (1977), for solo piano. The term gates in his title refers to gate
voltages, an element of electronic music, which essentially determine
the starting and ending points of an electronic sound. The idea of basing
an entirely acoustic piece on a strictly electronic concept fascinated me,
and I decided to take the idea of gates a step further and base an
acoustic piece on the electronic concept of amplitude envelopes. These
envelopes are the set of variables that govern all aspects of a sound's
amplitude from its beginning (the initial attack), the decay from that
initial peak, the sustain of the sound, and finally its release. This piece,
most noticeably in the first movement, explores and exaggerates the
envelopes of each sound. Some envelopes occur in a natural, forward
motion, while others seem to occur in reverse (beginning with the
release and ending with the attack). In the process of writing the piece,
the title began to take on a more abstract meaning for me, hinting at
the unknown, the forever sealed, the anticipated, and the empty.
This piece was written for my thesis in spring 2007 under the guidance
of Dr. Bremer.
- I n t e r m i s s i o n -
42
Water
For sampler and vocoder
Notes: Written in spring 2007 my sole intention was to create a piece

entirely from recorded drops of water. I collected roughly 30 samples of
water drops—some found, some that I recorded myself (dragging
kitchen pans into my bathtub and dangling a microphone dangerously
near splashing water...). I then used a sampler to build a multi-track
sequence of rhythms. Each track, or pattern, of that sequence was then
assigned to its own vocoder instrument (a synthesizer triggered by live
or recorded audio), and harmonic content was added. Each individual
pattern thus has both an acoustic version and a synthetic version—the
latter essentially being "played" by the former. Each pattern begins
acoustic and gradually shifts to its synthetic double. The intended effect
is to begin real and end synthetic, while always listening to the same
drops of water.
From Mars with love

A short film written and directed by Daniel Hernandez
Music Notes: As the exploration of Mars is one of my favorite topics,

this was a fun film to work on. Though it's a short story about a
relationship, its sci-fi setting called for an industrial sound with a touch
of the unknown.
43
Excerpts from the film love anaPunishment
I. Prologue
II. Chapter One
III. Chapter Nineteen
Written and directed by Pramin Phatiphong
Film Synopsis: Love and Punishment is an unromantic tale about two

characters in their floundering search for love, and how, in the
bewildering landscape of their own hearts, they unwittingly come to
share a romantic destiny. (Pramin Phatiphong)
Music Notes: This score is a mix of songs and orchestral underscore.

Through close collaboration with the director, the intention of the music
was not to play the obvious comedic, but rather the dramatic aspects of
the story and its many characters, allowing the comedy to come out on
its own.
TiempoPresente
Chisako Inoshita, celesta • Hitoshi Suzuki, cello
Jason Stanton, bicycle, wind chimes, crystal glasses
Notes: This piece is a musical interpretation of a 1996 painting by the

same name by Venezuelan artist Trino Sanchez (b. 1968) currently on
display at the Museum of Latin American Art. The painting to me depicts
this "present time" as the remnants of a sad circus, where jokers follow
jokers to nowhere, while others are left somewhat confused and
detached.
44
*All film music was written under the guidance of Perry La Marca
and was performed by Jason Stanton
Lyrics by Jason Stanton
This recital is being presented in partial fulfillment of a

Master of Music in Composition
Bob Cole Conservatory of Music
California State University, Long Beach
Jason has studied composition with Perry La Marca,

Carolyn Bremer, and Justus Matthews
/ would like to thank all of my performers, as well as

Perry La Marca, Carolyn Bremer, Martin Herman,
Rychard Cooper, Justus Matthews, Dave Gerhart,
Marianthe Bezzerides, Joe Kaplan, Travis Melvin,
Angelina Martinez, Helene Mandell, Che & Bobbi Scott,
and all of my friends and family
for their guidance and support
45
•
ifiimlistiistiitifijiii
46
BIBLIOGRAPHY
47
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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October 11, 2010).
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Movies. Black Box Classics. CD. 2005.
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Nonesuch. CD. 2004.
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. "The Machine in the Garden." The Harvard University Elston Lecture

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. Phrygian Gates. New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1983.
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Movies. Black Box Classics. CD. 2005.
. Phrygian Gates. Performed by Rolf Hind. On Road Movies. Nonesuch.

CD. 2004.
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diss., Claremont Graduate School, 1996.
Bernard, Jonathan W. "Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality

in Recent American Music." American Music 21, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 112-33.
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Burkhardt, Rebecca Louise. "The Development of Style in the Music of John Adams
from 1978 to 1989." PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1993.
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http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/42479
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37-52.
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2002). http://earbox.com/inter009.html (accessed October 11, 2010).
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The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music, edited by Nicholas Cook
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Press, 2004.
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Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.
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and Totalist Music." For the 1998 Minimalist Festival of the Berliner
. American Music in the Twentieth Century. New York: G. Schirmer,

1997.
. "Minimal Music, Maximal Impact." New Music Box Web Magazine

(November 2001). http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=31tp00
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University of California Press, 2006.
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Johnson, Timothy. "Harmonic Vocabulary in the Music of John Adams: A
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San Francisco Chronicle. May 18, 2003.
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Composer. Pompton Planes, New Jersey: Amadeus Press, 2006.
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Europe and America. New York: Norton, 1991.
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ABSTRACT

THIRTY YEARS OF POSTMINIMALISM:

ELEMENTS AND GROWTH

Minimalism was a short lived movement in American music, but it had a

postminimalism. While difficult to define, postminimalism can be best understood by

example of early postminimalism, as well as an analysis of the author's 2007

orchestral work Envelopes as a recent example of this genre.

ELEMENTS AND GROWTH

Presented to the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music

California State University, Long Beach

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Music in Composition

Carolyn Bremer, Ph.D. (Chair)

Carolyn Bremer, Ph.D.

B.M., 2000, University of Missouri, Columbia

All rights reserved

INFORMATION TO ALL USERS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

with this project.

3. POSTMINIMALISM AND TOTALISM 15

APPENDIX: GRADUATE RECITAL PROGRAM 36

1. Envelope Parameters in China Gates 14

2. Structure of Envelopes, Movement I 29

3. Structure of Envelopes, Movement II 30

1. ADSR sound envelope 9

2. Gating map from China Gates 13

3. Melody of Envelopes, movement 1 29

1970s had a shattering effect on an increasingly academic tradition. Much of Western

pure minimalism resulted in a predictably ephemeral life-span. Though still enjoyed

publicly today, minimalism served Western music best as a much-needed course-

Envelopes both belongs and reaches beyond.

Defining postminimalism as a genre is difficult at best. It encompasses music

whether it is its own genre or is merely the further development of postminimalist

postminimalist composition. As its minimalist foundation is immediately clear upon

reveal a product of a now fully-developed genre. It is a work with unquestionable

postminimalism (and arguably totalism) has come.1

taken over the last thirty years.

In order to understand what is meant by postminimalism, one must have a

composition characterized by an intentionally simplified rhythmic, melodic and

harmonic vocabulary."2 A little less encyclopedic, and a little more pertinent,

Jonathan W. Bernard defines minimalism as "a drastic simplification of raw materials

discuss the reasons, the implications, of what minimalism means historically.

serialism, to the abstractness of post-Cage conceptualism, musical composition in the

isolationism, as natural as it has historically been to the university, was never

timbre, harmony, melody, or even process—with simple materials.

and 60s would give way to the simplicity of minimalism.

Furthermore, the term minimalism itself, without a proper understanding of its

origin, could so easily be misunderstood to imply music with minimal substance: in

of like some fashionable costume."7 This led to a lack of identification of the

minimalists, a long list of composers must be also added who contributed to

minimalism, including Richard Maxfield, Terry Jennings, Angus MacLise, Tony

composers produced would touch all corners of the country.

To return to the musical aspects that comprise minimalism, Kyle Gann

recognizes twelve main features: static harmony, static instrumentation, repetition,

steady beat, additive processes, linear transformation, phase-shifting, permutational

* Keith Potter, "Minimalism," Grove Music Online (2009).

ensemble—disappeared. Minimalist ensembles tended to be smaller and, especially in

sine-tone installations and the drone-based music of Phill Niblock.12

small—a motive or phrase—and add on to it progressively. Often this meant adding

notes or phrases, such as in Glass's Music in Fifths, or slowly reducing them.

music of this genre.

Phase-shifting, permutational processes, metamusic, and pure tuning are

niche in minimalism not seen before. By permutational processes, Gann is referring to

the "systematic permutations of pitches," beginning with a sustained pitch or pitch