Lesson 46 - Minimalism and Rhythmic Techniques
Part I - Minimalism
Minimalism is a technique inspired by the techniques of Indian music. Composers if the latter half of the twentieth century developed a style of music that uses a very limited rhythmic source material. Minimalist music takes a brief melodic motif. Often only three or four measures in length as its starting point. Over time, the composition takes this brief rhythmic motif and gradually evolves and modulates it over time.
Part II - Twentieth Century Rhythmic Techniques
Composers of the Twentieth Century developed a wide variety of techniques dealing with the element of rhythm. They did so by using irregular meters, multiple simultaneous meters, frequent changing meters, or even use of no meter at all.
Part III - Metric Modulation
This process creates the illusion of tempo changes through the use of meter change, or which subdivision of the beat gets the downbeat.
