Performing minimalist compositions

I would think along with your rhythm and stong hands, overall endurance would be key. That, and being able to keep your place in the piece. I can't imagine how those saxophone players could play Glass' Einstein on the Beach -- playing those patterns over and over had to have killed them, physically.

I'm pretty much a neophyte when it comes to contemporary composition -- but I listened to a remarkable piece by Charlemagne Palestine yesterday ("Duo Strumming for Two Harpsichords") -- and endurance was the first thought I had. That kindaq seems like the fun part, though.

the key is to do as little as possible

I play only a tiny bit of piano but I have to think "Piano Phase" is very difficult. Because the timing vis a vis the other piano is so important.

Yeah, that's what I'm really asking about -- I'd love to hear from anyone who's actually played this stuff, even in private/at home -- just to know what it's like.

(He said nervously)

Have you heard a recording of it?

Nah, I'm gonna pick it up on my lunch break today. Which I predict will last about two hours, as I browse endlessly through Other Music trying to keep myself in check...

I played the piano ostinato in a performance of Riley's "In C" , which required about 80 minutes of continual repetitive playing. I've also performed on an Andriessen piece which is closer to the requirements of "Piano Phase" as far as the polyrhythmic element.

Howard's advice is sound -- "do as little as possible" -- in the physical sense. It's important to relax so that you're not using any extra muscle power or energy above what's needed to play your part. It's also particularly important to keep all of your muscles as free from tension as possible, especially arms and wrists -- this will tire you more quickly. Warm up before the performance by doing some gentle arm/wrist/hand stretches and flexes. If you have time (eg: a few weeks) before the performance, a good exercise to build up hand and wrist strength is to get a rubber ball and periodically squeeze it hard and release it. Any way you slice it, especially if you're not in the habit of playing this stuff, your wrists and the muscles on the backs of your hands will get tired from playing the piece.

Although you mention having no "classical chops" (and none are "necessary" for the Reich piece -- the parts you'll be playing aren't very hard from a technical standpoint), using good technique will also reduce your fatigue -- good posture, not letting your elbows fall too low (increases strain on your arms), shoulders held back, head held up straight.

The biggest challenge in this sort of playing is actually not the physical fatigue, but the mental -- getting so caught up in playing a repetitive part that your concentration drifts, or listening too much to the other parts and risking getting off rhythm, especially at the points where it "phases".

I know this isn't much help, but maybe it's a start.

How do the instructions of the score work on Piano Phase? Isn't one player supposed to slow down slightly so he or she falls behind the other, thus creating the phase shift? That's what seems hard to me, altering the timing ever-so-slightly (though again I can't play piano really & my comments should be discounted completely.)

Thanks a million to Nom de Plume (can I call you Nom? heh) -- that's all excellent advice! I can see I better start the heavy lifting program.

Mark, from what I understand that is the basic premise to "Piano Phase" -- the score is being handed to me on Sunday so I won't know till then. I also don't know if I'm to be playing the static part or the shifting part. Hoping for the former -- I'm pretty good at performing in a trance state, under self-hypnosis kinda, and I imagine that would work well for this.

You're welcome, Hurlothrumbo. And Mark, I haven't seen the score to "Piano Phase" either, but if it works like a lot of other Reich pieces the "phasing" effect is created by two players repeating a unison part; one then remains static while the other's diverges by substituting rests for notes (eg: six 8th notes and a whole rest for 12 bars -- seven 8th notes and an 8th rest for 12 bars -- eight 8th notes for 12 bars -- an 8th rest and seven 8th notes for 12 bars, etc. ). You're correct in that if an actual tempo change by one of the players was involved, it'd be fiendishly difficult.

If it's a matter of substituting rests for notes, I'll be a lot less intimidated than if it's a true tempo-change.

Ah.

"The two pianists begin by playing a rapid twelve note melodic figure over and over again in unison. After a while, one of the pianists begins to play their part slightly faster than the other. When they are playing the second note of the figure at the same time the other pianist is playing the first note, the two pianists begin to play at the same tempo again. They are therefore playing notes at exactly the same time, but they are not the same notes, as they were at the start of the piece. The process is repeated, so that the second pianist plays the third note as the first pianist is playing the first, then the fourth, and so on until the process has gone full circle, and the two pianists are playing in perfect unison again. The piece ends with a few more repetitions of the original figure in unison."

Oh, bloody 'ell -- that does sound quite a bit more difficult. Good luck with it!

Maybe you can convince them to play "Music for 18" instead....

I think that would be easier than it reads, because you only have to speed up once in order to position yourself in the right place, and then you go back to playing at the same speed as your partner. My question is how long do you continue playing together until you speed up again, and are on the 3rd note? Does this piece allow you guys to figure it out for yourselves, or do you have to make these changes at specified times?

Yeah, and hide behind the other 17!

Actually, I'm looking forward to it. I think gradually speeding up until you catch up to the next note is probably easier than slightly changing tempo and *maintaining* that accelerated relationship.

(x-post)

dleone, I'll know that when I see the score -- it seems (perhaps in keeping with some minimalist philosophy) that precise instructions might be omitted, or sparse. That's just judging by what I can find on the web, though.

...alternately, you could stay in tempo the whole time, and just decide to omit the first note on the turn where your second (and so forth, throughout the sequence) one lines up with your partner's first, and play it normally from there -- this is cheating of course, but no one gets hurt!

but the fun part is when things get chaotic and start phasing during the shift

Except the phasing that occurs through the tempo change is the meat of the piece, as I understand it. That's some of what I was hearing in The Palestine harpsichord piece -- phase changes create a huge variety of overtones; it's like ghostly, high singing that you think you're imagining -- very beautiful stuff.

(x-post again)

dleone, your comment reminds me of a story that I heard about the trombonist Paul Rudolph -- he was performing Berio's "Sequenza" for solo trombone and decided for whatever reason (certainly not lack of ability) to play the first few bars as written and then just improvise the rest. He only let on what he'd done after his performance was praised in print, and were the avant snobs ever PISSED.

It might be a bit harder to get away with fudging in a Reich piece, but I'm intrigued by the cheat that you suggest.

well then, I guess it's time to start timing your 11-tuplets, or however many notes are in the figure! (even this is easier than it reads; we used to make up stupid phrases to say when this came up, like saying "I-L-X-is-the-best-place-to-learn-mu-sic" in the space where only 10 notes should fit, to line up our notes)

(x-post)

Whoops, looks like the paragraph got cut off where I added that I basically agree with the statements that cheating like this robs the piece of the interesting tense bits where things are going out of phase -- so Hurlothrumbo, play it straight!

I'm thinking it doesn't have to be timed -- it's just a gradual acceleration until reaching the next note. It could be trouble if there were supposed to be a precise number of cycles, but I'm getting the feeling that it's variable according to the performance.

NDP, I will do my damnedest...

Oh by the way, I meant Paul Rutherford on that earlier anecdote. Whew, long day....

Someone needs to invite me to perform piano on a Steve Reich piece so I can alternate cheating and playing perfectly timed accelerations. If anyone looks at me funny, I will give them a confused expression, while secretly pointing to the other piano player.

Even better, just shoot obviously exasperated and disgusted looks at the other player as he/she concentrates on the work at hand, heh heh.

Or utilize pyrotechnics. Unless you're performing in Rhode Island -- they're sensitive about that sort of thing there.

Perhaps two steadily-regulated string of Black Cats, one slowly accelerating in relation to the other?

Good luck! And let us know how it turns out, please.

I will. I bought and listened to the piece yesterday -- it's SO FUCKING GREAT. I really didn't think it would be as interesting as it is; the phase shifting creates palpable, fascinating melodies as it progresses. Now I'm all excited.

Yeah I love it too -- amazing to think that those sounds are coming from two pianos.