Editing Process music

{{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}}

==History==
Although today often used synonymously with [[minimal music|minimalism]], the term predates the appearance of this style by at least twenty years. [[Elliott Carter]], for example, used the word "process" to describe the complex compositional shapes he began using around 1944,{{sfn|Edwards|1971|loc=90–91}}{{sfn|Brandt|1974|loc=27–28}} with works like the Piano Sonata and First String Quartet, and continued to use throughout his life. Carter came to his conception of music as process from [[Alfred North Whitehead]]'s "principle of organism", and particularly from his 1929 book, ''[[Process and Reality]]''.{{sfn|Bernard|1995|loc=649–650}}

[[Michael Nyman]] has stated that "the origins of this minimal process music lie in [[serialism]]".{{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=119}} [[Kyle Gann]] also sees many similarities between serialism and minimalism,{{sfn|Gann|1987}} and Herman Sabbe has demonstrated how process music functions in the early serial works of the Belgian composer [[Karel Goeyvaerts]],{{sfn|Sabbe|1977|loc=68–73}} especially in his electronic compositions ''Nr. 4, met dode tonen'' [with dead tones] (1952) and ''[[Nummer 5|Nr. 5, met zuivere tonen]]'' [with pure tones] (1953). Elsewhere, Sabbe makes a similar demonstration for ''[[Kreuzspiel]]'' (1951) by [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]].{{sfn|Sabbe|1981|loc=18–21}}

Beginning in the early 1960s, Stockhausen composed several instrumental works which he called "process compositions", in which symbols including plus, minus, and equal signs are used to indicate successive transformations of sounds which are unspecified or unforeseeable by the composer. They specify "how sounds are to be changed or imitated rather than what they are to be".{{sfn|Griffiths|2001}} In these compositions, "structure is a system of invariants; these invariants are not substances but relations. ... Stockhausen's Process Planning is structural analysis in reversed time-direction. Composition as abstraction, as generalization. Analysis of reality before its entry into existence".{{sfn|Fritsch|1979|loc=114–115}} These works include ''[[Plus-Minus (Stockhausen)|Plus-Minus]]'' (1963), ''[[Prozession]]'' (1967), ''[[Kurzwellen]]'', and ''[[Spiral (Stockhausen)|Spiral]]'' (both 1968), and led to the verbally described processes of the [[intuitive music]] compositions in the cycles ''[[Aus den sieben Tagen]]'' (1968) and ''[[Für kommende Zeiten]]'' (1968–70).{{sfn|Kohl|1978}}{{sfn|Kohl|1981}}{{sfn|Hopp|1998}})

The term ''Process Music'' (in the minimalist sense) was coined by composer Steve Reich in his 1968 manifesto entitled "Music as a Gradual Process" in which he very carefully yet briefly described the entire concept including such definitions as [[phasing]] and the use of [[phrase (music)|phrases]] in composing or creating this music, as well as his ideas as to its purpose and a brief history of his discovery of it.

For Steve Reich it was important that the processes be audible: "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music. ... What I'm interested in is a compositional process and a sounding music that are one and the same thing".{{sfn|Reich|2002|loc=34}} This has not necessarily been the case for other composers, however. Reich himself points to John Cage as an example of a composer who used compositional processes that could not be heard when the piece was performed.{{sfn|Reich|2002|loc=34}} The postminimalist [[David Lang (composer)|David Lang]] is another composer who does not want people to hear the process he uses to build a piece of music.{{sfn|Brown|2010|loc=181}}

==Theory==
Michael Nyman has identified five types of process:{{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=5–8}}
#[[Indeterminacy (music)|Chance determination]] processes, in which the material is not determined by the composer directly, but through a system he or she creates
#People processes, in which performers are allowed to move through given or suggested material, each at his or her own speed
#Contextual processes, in which actions depend on unpredictable conditions and on variables arising from the musical continuity
#[[Repetition (music)|Repetition]] processes, in which movement is generated solely by extended repetition
#[[Electronic music|Electronic]] processes, in which some or all aspects of the music are determined by the use of electronics. These processes take many forms.
The first type is not necessarily confined to what are normally recognised as "chance" compositions, however. For example, in Karel Goeyvaerts's [[Sonata for Two Pianos (Goeyvaerts)|Sonata for Two Pianos]], "registral process created a form that depended neither on conventional models nor ... on the composer's taste and judgment. Given a few simple rules, the music did not need to be 'composed' at all: the notes would be at play of themselves".{{sfn|Griffiths|2011|loc=38}}

Galen H. Brown acknowledges Nyman's five categories and proposes adding a sixth: mathematical process, which includes the manipulation of materials by means of permutation, addition, subtraction, multiplication, changes of rate, and so on.{{sfn|Brown|2010|loc=186}}

Erik Christensen identifies six process categories:{{sfn|Christensen|2004|loc=97}}
#Rule-determined transformation processes
#goal-directed transformation processes
#indeterminate transformation processes
#Rule-determined generative processes
#goal-directed, and generative processes
#indeterminate generative processes
He describes Reich's ''Piano Phase'' (1966) as rule-determined transformation process, Cage's ''[[Variations (Cage)|Variations II]]'' (1961) as an indeterminate generative process, Ligeti's ''In zart fliessender Bewegung'' (1976) as a goal-directed transformation process containing a number of evolution processes,{{sfn|Christensen|2004|loc=116}} and [[Per Nørgård]]'s ''Second Symphony'' (1970) as containing a rule-determined [[generative music|generative]] process of a fractal nature.{{sfn|Christensen|2004|loc=107}}

==Notable works==

*[[John Cage]]
::''[[As Slow as Possible]]'' (1987){{Citation needed|date=June 2016|reason=The Wikipedia article on this piece does not seem to support the idea that it is a process work.}}

*[[Elliott Carter]]
::Sonata for Cello and Piano (1948){{sfn|Brandt|1974|loc=28}}
::[[String Quartet No. 1 (Carter)|String Quartet No. 1]] (1950–51){{sfn|Brandt|1974|loc=28}}{{sfn|Griffiths|2011|loc=62–63}}
::[[String Quartet No. 2 (Carter)|String Quartet No. 2]] (1959){{sfn|Schiff|1998|loc=73}}
::[[Double Concerto (Carter)|Double Concerto for Harpsichord and Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras]] (1959–61){{sfn|Bernard|1995|loc=668}}
::[[Piano Concerto (Carter)|Piano Concerto]] (1964–65){{sfn|Brandt|1974|loc=28}}
::Duo for Violin and Piano (1974){{sfn|Schiff|1998|loc=117–119}}

*[[Morton Feldman]]
::[[Piece for Four Pianos]] (1957){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=5}}

*[[Karel Goeyvaerts]]
::[[Sonata for Two Pianos (Goeyvaerts)|Nr. 1, Sonata for Two Pianos]] (1950–51){{sfn|Griffiths|2011|loc=38}}
::''Nr. 4, met dode tonen'' (1952){{sfn|Sabbe|1977|loc=68–70}}
::''[[Nummer 5|Nr. 5, met zuivere tonen]]'' (1953){{sfn|Sabbe|1977|loc=70–73}}

*[[Annea Lockwood]]
::''Piano Transplant No. 1. Burning Piano''{{sfn|Oteri|2004|ignore-err=yes}}

*[[Alvin Lucier]]
::''[[I Am Sitting in a Room]]''{{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=92}}

*[[Steve Reich]]
::''[[It's Gonna Rain]]'' (1965){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=134}}
::''[[Come Out (Reich)|Come Out]]'' (1966){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=134}}
::''[[Reed Phase]] ''(1966)
::''[[Violin Phase]]'' (1967)
::''[[Piano Phase]]'' (1967){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=133}}
::''Phase Patterns'' (1970){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=132–133}}
::''[[Drumming (Reich)|Drumming]]'' (1971){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=132–133}}

*[[Terry Riley]]
::''[[In C]]'' (1964){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=7}}
::''Keyboard Studies''{{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=7}}

*[[Frederic Rzewski]]
::''Les Moutons de Panurge'' (1969){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=5}}

*[[Karlheinz Stockhausen]]
::''[[Kreuzspiel]]'' (1951){{sfn|Griffiths|2011|loc=40–41}}{{sfn|Sabbe|1981|loc=18–21}}
::''[[Kontakte]]''{{sfn|Griffiths|2011|loc=160–162}}
::''[[Plus-Minus (Stockhausen)|Plus-Minus]]'' (1963){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192}}
::''[[Mikrophonie (Stockhausen)|Mikrophonie I]]'' (1964){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192}}
::''[[Solo (Stockhausen)|Solo]]'' (1965–66){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192}}
::''[[Prozession]]'' (1967){{sfn|Fritsch|1979}}{{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192}}
::''[[Kurzwellen]]'' (1968){{sfn|Hopp|1998|loc=''passim''}}{{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192–226}}{{sfn|Kohl|2010|loc=137}}
::''[[Aus den sieben Tagen]]'' (1968){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=227–252}}
::''[[Spiral (Stockhausen)|Spiral]]'' (1968){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192–193}}
::''[[Pole (Stockhausen)|Pole]]'' (1969–70){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192–193}}{{sfn|Kohl|2010|loc=138}}
::''[[Expo (Stockhausen)|Expo]]'' (1969–70){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=192–93}}
::''[[Aus den sieben Tagen|Für kommende Zeiten]]'' (1968–70){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=227–232}}
::''[[Ylem (Stockhausen)|Ylem]]'' (1972){{sfn|Kohl|1981|loc=232}}
::''Michaelion'', scene 4 of ''[[Mittwoch aus Licht]]'' (1997){{sfn|Kohl|2010|loc=139}}
*[[James Tenney]]{{sfn|Wannamaker|2021|pp=110–134}}
::''[[For Ann (rising)]]'' (1969)
::''Postal Pieces'' (1965–71)
::''Clang'' (1972)
::''Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow'' (1974)
::Three Pieces for Drum Quartet (1975)
::''Chromatic Canon'' (1980)
::''Glissade'' (1982)
::''Koan for String Quartet'' (1984)

*[[La Monte Young]]
::''Poem'' (1960){{sfn|Nyman|1974|loc=5}}

{{inc-musong|date=October 2021}}

==See also==
*[[Tom Johnson (composer)|Tom Johnson]]
*[[Conlon Nancarrow]]
*[[Indeterminacy (music)]]
*[[:Category:Process music pieces]]

==References==
{{reflist|19em}}

===Sources===
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Bernard|1995}}|reference=Bernard, Jonathan. 1995. "Carter and the Modern Meaning of Time". ''[[The Musical Quarterly]]'' 79, no. 4 (Winter): 644–682.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Brandt|1974}}|reference=Brandt, William E. 1974. "The Music of Elliott Carter: Simultaneity and Complexity". ''[[Music Educators Journal]]'' 60, no. 9 (May): 24–32.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Brown|2010}}|reference=Brown, Galen H. 2010. "Process as Means and Ends in Minimalist and Postminimalist Music". ''[[Perspectives of New Music]]'' 48, no. 2 (Summer): 180–192.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Christensen|2004}}|reference=Christensen, Erik. 2004. "Overt and Hidden Processes in 20th Century Music", in ''Process Theories: Crossdisciplinary Studies in Dynamic Categories'', edited by Johanna Seibt, 97–117. Dordrecht and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {{ISBN|1-4020-1751-0}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Edwards|1971}}|reference=Edwards, Allen. 1971. ''Flawed Words and Stubborn Sounds: A Conversation with Elliott Carter''. New York: W. W. Norton.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Fritsch|1979}}|reference=[[Johannes Fritsch|Fritsch, Johannes]]. 1979. "Prozeßplanung". In ''Improvisation und neue Musik'', Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt 20, edited by [[Reinhold Brinkmann]], 108–117. Mainz: B. Schott's Söhne.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Gann|1987}}|reference=[[Kyle Gann|Gann, Kyle]]. 1987. "Let X = X: Minimalism vs. Serialism". ''[[The Village Voice]]'' (24 February): 76.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griffiths|2001}}|reference=[[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Griffiths, Paul]]. 2001. "Aleatory". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', 2nd edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Griffiths|2011}}|reference=Griffiths, Paul. 2011. ''Modern Music and After'', 3rd edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-974050-5}}.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Hopp|1998}}|reference=Hopp, Winrich. 1998. ''Kurzwellen von Karlheinz Stockhausen: Konzeption und musikalische Poiesis''. Kölner Schriften zur neuen Musik 6. Mainz; New York: Schott.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Kohl|1978}}|reference=[[Kohl, Jerome]]. 1978. "[http://www20.brinkster.com/improarchive/jk_7t.htm Intuitive Music and Serial Determinism: An Analysis of Stockhausen's ''Aus den sieben Tagen'']." ''[[In Theory Only]]'' 3, no. 2 (March): 7–19.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Kohl|1981}}|reference=Kohl, Jerome. 1981. ''Serial and Non-Serial Techniques in the Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1962–1968.'' Ph.D. diss., Seattle: University of Washington.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Kohl|2010}}|reference=Kohl, Jerome. 2010. "A Child of the Radio Age". In ''Cut & Splice: Transmission'', edited by Daniela Cascella and Lucia Farinati, 135–139. London: Sound and Music. {{ISBN|978-1-907378-03-4}}.}}
* {{NewMusicBox|id=annea-lockwood-beside-the-hudson-river|title=Annea Lockwood Beside the Hudson River|composer-link=Annea Lockwood|composer=Annea Lockwood|author=[[Frank J. Oteri|Oteri, Frank J.]]|conducted=November 11, 2003|published=January 1, 2004|ref={{harvid|Oteri|2004}}}} [https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/annea-lockwood-beside-the-hudson-river/7/ ''Piano Transplants'']
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Nyman|1974}}|reference=[[Michael Nyman|Nyman, Michael]]. 1974. ''Experimental Music. Cage and Beyond''. London: Studio Vista. {{ISBN|0-289-70182-1}} (2nd Edition, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-521-65297-9}} (cloth); {{ISBN|0-521-65383-5}} (pbk)).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Reich|2002}}|reference=[[Steve Reich|Reich, Steve]]. 2002. "[http://www.columbia.edu/ccnmtl/draft/ben/feld/mod1/readings/reich.html Music as a Gradual Process (1968)]". In his ''Writings about Music, 1965–2000'', edited with an introduction by [[Paul Hillier]], 9–11. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511171-2}} (cloth); {{ISBN|978-0-19-515115-2}} (pbk).}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sabbe|1977}}|reference={{ill|Herman Sabbe|nl|lt=Sabbe, Herman}}. 1977. ''Het muzikale serialisme als techniek en als denkmethode: Een onderzoek naar de logische en historische samenhang van de onderscheiden toepassingen van het seriërend beginsel in de muziek van de periode 1950–1975'' [Musical Serialism as a Technique and as a Method of Thinking: A Study of the Logical and Historical Interconnections Between the Different Applications of the Serial Principle from the Period 1950–1975]. Ghent: Rijksuniversiteit te Gent.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sabbe|1981}}|reference=Sabbe, Herman. 1981. "Die Einheit der Stockhausen-Zeit ...: Neue Erkenntnismöglichkeiten der seriellen Entwicklung anhand des frühen Wirkens von Stockhausen und Goeyvaerts. Dargestellt aufgrund der Briefe Stockhausens an Goeyvaerts". In ''Musik-Konzepte 19: Karlheinz Stockhausen: ... wie die Zeit verging ...'', edited by [[Heinz-Klaus Metzger]] and [[Rainer Riehn]], 5–96. Munich: Edition Text + Kritik.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Schiff|1998}}|reference=[[David Schiff|Schiff, David]]. 1998. ''The Music of Elliott Carter'', second edition. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Seibt|2004}}|reference=Seibt, Johanna (ed.). 2004. ''Process Theories: Crossdisciplinary Studies in Dynamic Categories''. Dordrecht and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-4020-1751-3}}.}}
* {{cite book|last=Wannamaker|first=Robert|url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c043673|title=The Music of James Tenney|volume=1: Contexts and Paradigms|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0-252-04367-3}}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
* Mooney, James. 2016. "Technology, Process and Musical Personality in the Music of Stockhausen, Hugh Davies and Gentle Fire". In ''The Musical Legacy of Karlheinz Stockhausen: Looking Back and Forward'', edited by M. J. Grant and Imke Misch, 102–115. Hofheim: Wolke Verlag. {{ISBN|978-3-95593-068-4}}.
* Quinn, Ian. 2006. "Minimal Challenges: Process Music and the Uses of Formalist Analysis". ''Contemporary Music Review'' 25, no. 3:283–294.
* [[Karlheinz Stockhausen|Stockhausen, Karlheinz]]. 1989. "Musik als Prozeß (Gespräch mit Rudolf Frisius am 25. August 1982 in Kürten)", in his ''Texte zur Musik'' 6, edited by [[Christoph von Blumröder]], 399–426. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. {{ISBN|3-7701-2249-6}}.

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