Minimalist Music

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A01=George Grella
art music
Author_George Grella
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Category=AVC
Category=AVL
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experimental music
La Monte Young
minimalism
Moondog
musical repetition
phase music
Philip Glass
process music
Steve Reich
Terry Riley

Product details

  • ISBN 9798765123447
  • Weight: 191g
  • Dimensions: 126 x 196mm
  • Publication Date: 30 Apr 2026
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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Minimalist Music looks critically into the music’s past, shows how the genre thrives across styles, and points the way toward minimalism’s ongoing future.

Minimalism as a genre is best defined not by any style or flavor but by its means. Certain rhythms and chords in other music may identify things like jazz or bossa nova or reggae; take those same elements and put them through the processes of minimalism and you have minimalism with the hues of other musics.

A still young genre with ancient roots, minimalism is much less any kind of style than a practice, a manner of making music. Reviving those means and applying them to contemporary sounds and experiences, the pioneers of minimalism created a new and avant-garde music that immediately communicated its power to listeners of all kinds. The global appeal of minimalism and the way the methods adapt to myriad styles open up a view into how music actually works as an art and an experience, how through time it connects in a fundamental way to how we as humans listen.

Minimalist Music is also available in audiobook format from audiobook retailers.

George Grella, Jr. has written about music and culture for over thirty years for print and online publications, and has contributed to the Grove Dictionary of Music and the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. He is Music Editor at The Brooklyn Rail, publishes the Kill Yr Idols newsletter, and is the author of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Bloomsbury 2015). He has played jazz, classical, and improvised music from CBGB to Carnegie Hall.

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