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In C
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==Form== ===Score=== The score of ''In C'' consists of 53 modules that fit on a single page. Each module is a short musical phrase notated in [[treble clef]] without a [[time signature]] and bracketed by [[repeat sign]]s. Riley uses nine different pitches, only omitting C{{music|sharp}} and E{{music|flat}} from the [[chromatic scale]].<ref name=Reed>Reed, S. Alexander. 2011. "''In C'' on Its Own Terms: A Statistical and Historical View". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 49, no. 1 (Winter): 47β78. {{doi|10.7757/persnewmusi.49.1.0047}}</ref>{{rp|49}} The total duration of the written score is only 521 [[eighth note]]s. The shortest module lasts one 8th note, and the longest lasts 64. The material varies widely in character, from drones to running [[Sixteenth note|16th note]] figures. Three of the modules are repeated: Nos. 10 (as 41), 11 (as 36), and 18 (as 28). The longest figure is #35, which spans 60 pulses, ranges an octave and a half, and includes seven of the score's pitches. Its length creates a sense of figure 35 as a turning point in the piece, creating a symmetry or even hinting at a very loose [[ternary form]].<ref name=Reed/>{{rp|52}} Riley indicates no tempo, instrumentation, or dynamics. The notation is extremely uncluttered, and by implication, open to a wide range of interpretation. The first melody outlines a [[major third]] with its three [[quarter note]] Es ornamented with [[grace note]] Cs. The final melody is a minor third between G and B{{music|flat}} played in sixteenth notes. The structure of the melodic modules creates a vague sense of tonal shifts, for instance from C to E and then C to G.<ref name=Riley68/> All of the [[Motif (music)|motifs]] are [[Diatonic and chromatic|diatonic]] until #14, which introduces an F{{music|sharp}}. The raised fourth [[Degree (music)|scale degree]] prevails until module 31 when the F{{music|natural}} returns. The F{{music|sharp}} makes one final appearance in module 35, shortly after a B{{music|flat}} is introduced. The seventh scale degree returns to B{{music|natural}} until #49, where it remains lowered until the end of the piece. Riley composed the modules with strong interrelations. Rarely is a module not clearly related to its predecessor.<ref>Hanninen,Β Dora A.Β ''A Theory of Music Analysis: On Segmentation and Associative Organization''.Β [[Boydell & Brewer|University of Rochester Press]],Β 2012. 313f.</ref> ===Instructions=== There are a few rules for performing ''In C'' that have remained since its first performance. They primarily define the [[Indeterminacy (music)|indeterminacy]] of the piece: *'''Instrumentation''': The piece can be played by any group of musicians on any type of instrument. *'''Tempo''': There is no required tempo. All performers play at the same pace. *'''Patterns''': The 53 patterns are to be played in order. *'''Repetitions''': Individual players determine how often to repeat any pattern. *'''Transposition''': Patterns may be transposed up or down. *'''Coordination''': An 8th note pulse may be used to coordinate the performance. It can be played on the top two octaves of a piano or mallet percussion. Time can also be kept by improvised percussion. *'''Ending''': The piece ends when all players arrive at pattern 53. Performers stop playing individually.<ref name=Riley05/> [[File:Module 12 from Terry Riley's "In C".png|thumb|Terry Riley's diagram of potential alignments for module 12 from ''In C''.<ref name=Turek/>|left]]Riley suggests a group of about three dozen performers, while acknowledging smaller and larger groups are possible.<ref name=Riley05>Riley, Terry. [https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/in_c_-_00lead_part_x1 ''In C'']. [[Associated Music Publishers]], 2005.</ref> Though they are governed by the same tempo, the musicians are not required to play together. Performers are encouraged to stagger their entrances, which creates a [[Heterophony|heterophonic]] [[Canon (music)|canon]]. Riley diagrammed the 12th module in several alignments to demonstrate how freely the musicians can perform the score. He initially asked players to remain within 4β5 modules of each other.<ref name=Turek/> The current instructions reduce that bandwidth to 2β3 patterns. Riley also recommends coalescing in [[unison]] at some point.<ref name=Riley05/> If one of the motifs is too difficult to play, a performer is allowed to omit it. Riley even allows for the rhythms of patterns to be augmented. ''In C'' has elements of [[aleatoric music]] due to its improvisatory nature.<ref>Honigmann, David. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20160924021518/https://www.ft.com/content/8959b73a-2f30-11e3-ae87-00144feab7de#axzz38lf7q1Lq In C, Barbican, London β review]". ''[[Financial Times]]'', October 7, 2013.</ref> However, much of its structure is specifically designed to reduce the scope of chance.<ref>Bernard, Jonathan W. "The Minimalist Aesthetic in the Plastic Arts and in Music." ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'', vol. 31, no. 1, 1993. 96. https://doi.org/10.2307/833043.</ref> Riley conceived of a version where each pattern lasted a week and the final pattern was played in the new year.<ref name=Turek/> He estimates an average run time of 45β90 minutes.<ref name=Riley05/> His instructions avoid declarative statements and read like a series of helpful suggestions. Riley composed the piece to deliberately have "a lot of liberties".<ref name=Alburger/>{{rp|9}} ===Performance Practice=== The score's instructions for performers have gone through several iterations.<ref name=Reed/>{{rp|48}} Originally, it had none as musicians played from Riley's [[Ozalid (trade mark)|ozalid]] copies of the score. After the 1968 release of the Columbia [[LP record|LP]], many performances relied on the score that was printed in the album liner.<ref name=Hill/><ref name=Carl/>{{rp|44}} The Soviet premiere, for instance, was made possible because [[Edison Denisov]] passed on his copy of the record to Alexei Lubimov.<ref name=Repit/> The LP includes a terse paragraph, written by David Behrman, that explains how to interpret the score.<ref name=Riley68/> Most musicians were exposed to Behrman's instructions before Riley bothered to write any down. Riley did eventually pen two pages of handwritten notes to explain how to perform ''In C''.<ref name=Turek/> In 1989, he released a shorter typed set of instructions.<ref name=Riley89>Riley, Terry. ''In C''. Celestial Harmonies, 1989.</ref> The most recent set of instructions from 2005 differ significantly from Riley's originals, and all three are afterthoughts, born from the experience of playing the piece with a wide range of instruments and skill levels.<ref name=Carl/>{{rp|58β60}} The one thing the composer has stressed in every version of the instructions is listening: ::"Don't be in a hurry to move from figure to figure. Stay on your part and keep repeating it, listening for how it is relating to what the rest of the ensemble is playing."<ref name=Turek/> ::"It is important to think of patterns [[Period (music)|periodically]] so that when you are resting you are conscious of the larger periodic composite accents that are sounding, and when you re-enter you are aware of what effect your entrance will have on the music's flow." (1989)<ref name=Riley89/> ::"It is very important that performers listen very carefully to one another and this means to occasionally drop out and listen...One of the joys of playing '''''In C''''' is the interaction of the players in polyrhythmic combinations that spontaneously arise among patterns. Some quite fantastic shapes will arise and disintegrate as the ensemble progresses through the piece." (2005)<ref name=Riley05/> Behrman's instructions for the album refer to an unwritten part, "Not included in the score is a piano part, called the Pulse, which consists entirely of even octave eighth notes to be drummed steadily on the top two C's of the keyboard throughout the duration of a performance."<ref name=Riley68/> The prevalence of the Pulse on the recording, along with Behrman's note gave rise to the impression that it is a requirement of the piece. One set of liner notes even fetishizes it, "[[In the beginning (phrase)|In the beginning]] was the pulse."<ref>European Music Project, zignorii++, ''In C''. Liner notes by Johannes Ullmaier, trans. Steven Lindberg. WERGO, 2002.</ref> However, Riley's first instructions are more playful and hint at the available leeway, "The pulse is traditionally played by a beautiful girl on the top two octaves of a grand piano. She must play loudly and keep a strict tempo for the entire ensemble to follow."<ref name=Turek>Riley, Terry. ''In C'' in ''Analytical Anthology of Music''. Edited by Ralph Turek. 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, 1992. 540.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://music.williams.edu/files/2010/01/050708_IN_C_program.pdf|access-date=2025-02-26|title=Terry Riley" ''In C''|date=2007-07-27|publisher=[[Williams College]], Department of Music}}</ref> The current version of the score explicitly makes the Pulse optional, "The ensemble can be aided by the means of an eighth note pulse played on the high C's of a piano or mallet instrument."<ref name=Riley05/> After decades of familiarity with ''In C'', Riley recognized that the pulse had outlived its usefulness. Technique had advanced to a point where "any good musicians now could keep it together...I don't like The Pulse, as is sometimes used, 'out in front,' where it becomes very annoying. That wasn't my intention of the piece at all."<ref name=Alburger/>{{rp|9}} At the 20th anniversary performance in Hartford, no pulse was used to revelatory effect.<ref name=Potter/>{{rp|111f}}
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