Editing Process music (section)

{{Short description|Music that arises from a process}}
{{use shortened footnotes|date=September 2023}}
[[File:Steve Reich Clapping Music Rhythm.gif|thumb|Basic rhythm from ''[[Clapping Music]]'' by Steve Reich, which is played against itself. First in rhythmic [[unison]], then with one part moved ahead by an [[eighth note]], then another, and so on, till they are back together—an example of [[Michael Nyman|Nyman]]'s process-type 4.[[File:Steve Reich Clapping Music example.mid|center|First two patterns, abbreviated]]]]
'''Process music''' is [[music]] that arises from a [[Information processing (psychology)|process]]. It may make that process audible to the listener, or the process may be concealed.

Primarily begun in the 1960s, diverse composers have employed divergent methods and styles of process. "A 'musical process' as Christensen defines it is a highly complex dynamic phenomenon involving audible structures that evolve in the course of the musical performance ... 2nd order audible [[musical development|developments]], i.e., audible developments within audible developments".{{sfn|Seibt|2004|loc=xiii}} These processes may involve specific systems of choosing and arranging [[Musical note|note]]s through [[pitch (music)|pitch]] and [[rhythm|time]], often involving a long term change with a limited amount of musical material, or transformations of musical events that are already relatively complex in themselves.

[[Steve Reich]] defines process music not as, "the process of [[musical composition|composition]] but rather pieces of music that are, literally, processes. The distinctive thing about musical processes is that they determine all the note-to-note (sound-to-sound) details and the overall [[musical form|form]] simultaneously. (Think of a [[round (music)|round]] or [[canon (music)|infinite canon]].)"{{sfn|Reich|2002|loc=34}}