Systems music is music with sound continua which evolve gradually, often over very long periods of time. Historically, the American
minimalists Steve Reich,
La Monte Young and
Philip Glass are considered the principal proponents of this compositional approach. Works by this group of composers are often characterized by features such as
stasis or repetitiveness.
A number of English experimental composers have also developed systems based music particularly
Michael Parsons,
Howard Skempton,
John White, and
Michael Nyman.
In the realm of
computer music
Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...
, "systems music" refers to
fractal-based, computer-assisted composition, and in particular
iterated function systems music, in which a function "is applied repeatedly, each time taking as argument its value at the previous application",
References
Sources
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Further reading
* Anderson, Virginia (2013a). "Systems and Other Minimalism in Britain". In ''The Ashgate Research Companion to Minimalist and Postminimalist Music'', edited by Keith Potter,
Kyle Gann
Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) an ...
, and Pwyll ap Siôn, 87–106. London and New York: Routledge. .
* Anderson, Virginia (2013b). "Whatever Remains, However Improbable". In ''Experimental Systems: Future Knowledge in Artistic Research'', edited by Michael Schwab, 55–67. Leuven: Leuven University Press. .
*
Dennis, Brian (1974). "Repetitive and Systemic Music". ''
The Musical Times
''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country.
It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...
'' 115, no. 1582 (December), pp. 1036–1038.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Systems Music
Contemporary classical music
Experimental music genres