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Terry Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school.
Born in Colfax, California, Riley studied at Shasta College, San Francisco State University, and theSan Francisco Conservatory before
earningan MA in composition at the University of California,Berkeley, studying with Seymour Shifrin and Robert Erickson. He was involved in
theexperimentalSan Francisco Tape Music Center working with Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros,and Ramon Sender. His
mostinfluential teacher, however, was Pandit Pran Nath (1918–1996), amaster of Indian cla ...read more
Terry Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school.
Born in Colfax, California, Riley studied at Shasta College, San Francisco State University, and theSan Francisco Conservatory before
earningan MA in composition at the University of California,Berkeley, studying with Seymour Shifrin and Robert Erickson. He was involved in
theexperimentalSan Francisco Tape Music Center working with Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros,and Ramon Sender. His
mostinfluential teacher, however, was Pandit Pran Nath (1918–1996), amaster of Indian classical voice, who also taught La Monte Young
andMarian Zazeela. Riley madenumerous trips to India over the course of their association to study and to accompany him ontabla, tambura,
andvoice. Throughout the 1960s he traveled frequently around Europe as well,taking in musical influences and supporting himself by playing
inpiano bars, until he joined the MillsCollege faculty in 1971 to teach Indian classical music. Riley was awarded an Honorary DoctorateDegree
inMusic at Chapman University in 2007.
While his early endeavours were influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Riley changed direction afterfirst encountering La Monte Young,
inwhose Theater of Eternal Music he later performed from1965-66. The String Quartet (1960) was Riley’s first work in this new style; it
wasfollowed shortlyafter by a string trio, in which he first employed the repetitive short phrases that he (andminimalism) are now known for.
His music is usually based on improvising through a series of modal figures of different lengths,such as in In C and the Keyboard Studies. In
C(1964) is probably Riley’s best-known work and onethat brought the minimalist music movement to prominence. Its first performance
wasgiven bySteve Reich, Jon Gibson, Pauline Oliveros, and Morton Subotnick, among others, and it hasinfluenced their work and that of
manyothers, including John Adams, Roberto Carnevale, and PhilipGlass. Its form was an innovation: the piece consists of 53 separate modules
ofroughly onemeasure apiece, each containing a different musical pattern but each, as the title implies, in C. Oneperformer beats a
steadypulse of Cs on the piano to keep tempo. The others, in any number and onany instrument, perform these musical modules following a
fewloose guidelines, with the differentmusical modules interlocking in various ways as time goes on. The Keyboard Studies are
similarlystructured– a single-performer version of the same concept.
In the 1950s he was already working with tape loops, a technology then in its infancy, and he hascontinued manipulating tapes to
musicaleffect, both in the studio and in live performance,throughout his career. He has composed in just intonation as well as microtonal
pieces.
Riley’s collaborators include the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Pauline Oliveros, and, as mentioned,the Kronos Quartet.
He has also had a notable collaboration with Beat poet Michael McClure, with whom he has releasedseveral CDs and most recently
contributedmusic to a London revival of his play The Beard.
A Rainbow In Curved Air inspired Pete Townshend’s synthesizer parts on The Who’s “Won’t GetFooled Again” and “Baba O’Riley”, the
latternamed in tribute to Riley as well as to Meher Baba.Also during the 1960s were the famous “All-Night Concerts”, during which Riley
performedmostlyimprovised music from evening until sunrise, using an old organ harmonium (“with a vacuum cleanermotor blower blowing
into theballasts”) and tape-delayed saxophone. When he finally wanted abreak, after hours of playing, he played back looped saxophone
fragmentsrecorded throughout theevening. For several years he continued to put on these concerts, to which people came withsleeping
bags,hammocks, and their whole families.
Riley began his long-lasting association with the Kronos Quartet by meeting its founder, DavidHarrington, while at Mills. Over the course ofhis
career Riley has composed 13 string quartets forthe ensemble, in addition to other works. He wrote his first orchestral piece, Jade Palace,in
1991,and has continued to pursue that avenue, with several commissioned orchestral compositionsfollowing. Riley is also currentlyperforming
and teaching both as an Indian raga vocalist and as asolo pianist. « hide |
Similar Bands: La Monte Young, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Telectu Contributors: Zig, federicogambato, liledman, Seek and Destroy, Doppelganger, someone, SASSSGOOD, Jom, NeroCorleone80,
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