Electric Counterpoint: Movement III (1987)

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Electric Counterpoint Movement III (1987) Steve
Reich CONTEXT
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Minimalism context

• Throughout 20th century composers tried to push
  music in new and exciting directions
• Schoenberg pushed the boundaries of tonality by
  abandoning keys and developing the style we now
  know as expressionism.
• Expressionism led into serialism
• Serialism is a tightly controlled way of writing
  music tone rows very detailed
• Every note would have a different dynamic and
  articulation marking
• Some composers felt restricted and went in the
  opposite direction sometimes the performers
  were like composers, as many of the scores used
  symbols which were open to interpretation.
• Experimental scores no detail staff notation
  replaced by written direction (text-based) staff
  notation replaced by symbols and pictures
  (graphic scores)

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Minimalism context

• Minimalist composers La Monte Young and Terry
  Riley fascinated with DRONES and REPETITION
• Young based entire pieces on one very long
  extended note, played loudly, with harmonics
  added
• Much of Youngs music did not contain many
  different musical ideas and made use of minimal
  resources led to minimalism.
• Rileys most important piece which brought
  minimalism to the forefront was In C, focuses
  on short musical fragments Steve Reich played
  in the ensemble.
• Minimalist music used in film soundtracks and tv
  programmes influenced many rock and electronic
  pop music.
• Minimalist music is always in constant state of
  change but the process is organic rather than
  dramatic.

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STEVE REICH

• Electric Counterpoint III (3rd Movement)

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Steve reich south bank show interview Part 1
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Steve reich south bank show interview Part 2
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Electric Counterpoint

• Electric Counterpoint last in a series of 3
  pieces for soloists playing along with
  pre-recorded tracks
• Other 2 pieces are Vermont Counterpoint (1982)
  and New York Counterpoint (1985)
• Electric Counterpoint was commissioned for jazz
  guitarist Pat Metheny to perform at Brooklyn
  Academy of Musics Next Wave festival
• Metheny recorded all instrumental parts (12
  guitar and 2 bass) under Reich and would be used
  as a stereo backing track he would play the
  live part over this.

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Electric Counterpoint

• Not just a backing track an opportunity for the
  performer to perform in an ensemble with himself.
• Must be very precise.
• The piece is different to PHASING loops, but was
  composed/recorded to sound like a loop that
  develops. Multi-tracking the performer allows
  NOTE ADDITION and other development techniques to
  take place that otherwise would not be possible
  with a fixed loop.
• The sounds are all coming from one source the
  guitarists fingers and guitar.

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PARTS LAYERS
Electric Counterpoint Movement III (1987) Steve
Reich
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Electric Counterpoint

• PARTS, LAYERS KEY FEATURES
• Like most minimalist music, Electric Counterpoint
  is built up in layers
• It is entirely diatonic at the start
• There are no chord progressions (STATIC HARMONY)
  and little variety in instrumentation for the
  first 24 bars
• The movement is constructed in layers, starting
  with a MONOPHONIC texture that builds up to a
  four part canon (decorated by the live guitar)
• Several of these layers feature NOTE ADDITION

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Electric Counterpoint

• PARTS, LAYERS KEY FEATURES
• Movement 3 has 7 pre-recorded electric guitar
  parts and two bass guitars. The live guitar is
  performed along with the recorded parts (show
  video)
• The piece is divided into two main sections and a
  coda SECTION A, SECTION B and CODA.
• Each of the main sections is subdivided into four
  smaller sections, each of which is defined by a
  change in key and texture.

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Electric Counterpoint

• PARTS, LAYERS KEY FEATURES
• The texture builds up gradually in section A with
  the guitar parts entering as follows
• GUITAR 1
• LIVE GUITAR
• GUITAR 2
• GUITAR 3
• GUITAR 4
• BASS GUITARS 1 and 2
• GUITAR 5
• GUITAR 6
• GUITAR 7

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Electric Counterpoint

• PARTS, LAYERS KEY FEATURES
• The speed is 192 crotchets a minute (roughly
  three crotchets a second), which is a very fast
  tempo.
• The time signature is 3/2, 3 minims per bar,
  which is a clear Triple Meter. However, Reich
  splits each minim into 4 quavers so there are 12
  quavers a bar, felt as 3 groups of 4 quavers. The
  quavers a beamed in groups of 4 even when there
  are rests.
• Apart from dynamics and a pause sign on the last
  note, there are no other performing directions.
• Reich lets his performer interpret how the music
  should be played (almost like Baroque composers).
• Guitar and bass notation is written an octave
  higher than it actually sounds, so the score
  actually sounds an octave lower than written.

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Electric Counterpoint Movement III (1987) Steve
Reich SECTION A
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Electric Counterpoint

• SECTION A
• Part 1 - Bars 1-23
• The opening builds up in layers.
• Notes are all in the high register (tessitura) of
  the guitar.
• The piece begins with guitar 1 repeating a one
  bar syncopated ostinato
• This ostinato is HEXATONIC (G, A, B, D, E, F)
  the missing pitch C does not appear until bar 24.
• Live guitar starts with 3 notes of ostinato 1,
  building up to full ostinato by bar 6 using NOTE
  ADDITION.
• Guitar 2 enters in bar 7 playing ostinato 1 but 1
  crotchet later

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Electric Counterpoint

• Guitar 3 enters in bar 10, building up to
  ostinato 1 using NOTE ADDITION but in a different
  way to the live guitar. Guitar 3 ostinato
  displaced by 5 and a half crotchets.
• Guitar 4 enters in bar 16 playing ostinato 1,
  displaced by 2 and a half crotchets.
• Reich calls this a four-part guitar canon as
  guitar 4 doubles the live guitar part.
• When all parts have entered (bar 17) the live
  guitar starts to play the RESULTANT MELODY
  (pupils to spot doubled notes on score).
• Each guitar part is playing the same ostinato but
  starting at different parts of the bar this is
  known as METRICAL DISPLACEMENT.
• The key is hinting at E minor, but this is not
  yet clear.

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Electric Counterpoint

• Part 2 - Bars 24-35
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• Bass guitars enter, first playing in alternate
  bars and then continuously.
• A two bar bass guitar ostinato is introduced
  gradually starting with the first bar and then
  adding notes until we hear the full 2 bar
  ostinato at bar 33.
• E minor key becomes definite at bar 33.
• One bass is panned to the left speaker, the other
  to the right speaker.
• Live guitar continues to play the resultant
  melody.

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Electric Counterpoint

• Part 3 - Bars 36-66
• Strummed live guitar chords appear, with falling
  patterns that later become rising patterns.
• This changes the texture dramatically as we now
  have a percussive sound that cuts across the
  other parts.
• Guitar 5 chord sequence at bar 40 C, Bm, E5
• Guitar 6 chord sequence at bar 52 C, D, Em
• Guitar 7 chord sequence at bar 64 C, D, Bm

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Electric Counterpoint

• Guitars 5 and 7 play at the same time but because
  the chords are played at different times in the
  bar, there is a new and interesting rhythmic
  counterpoint introduced.
• Although the chords are heard on their own, they
  also overlap one some beats to create more
  complex chords.
• The live guitar part continues to play chords in
  this section, interweaving with chord rhythms of
  guitars 5 and 7.
• Part 4 - Bars 67-73
• Strummed guitar counterpoint completed and live
  guitar part returns to playing melody this is
  only obvious as they melody gets slightly louder.

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Electric Counterpoint Movement III (1987) Steve
Reich SECTION B
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C Major
T
T
ST
T
ST
T
T

D Major

T
T
ST
T
ST
T
T
Dorian Mode
T
T
ST
T
T
ST
T
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Dorian Mode Starts on D (think D for Dorian)
and uses all the WHITE notes like C Major.
However, because it starts on D instead of C
the order of the intervals is different to C
Major. The order of the intervals in the Dorian
Mode is T-ST-T-T-T-ST-T
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Electric Counterpoint Movement III (1987) Steve
Reich