Minimalism

Minimalist music employs the minimum number of musical elements and builds up the whole piece using the very limited inventory. It is often said that what's interesting here is that what appears to be repetitive actually sounds very different every time you listen. I don't see that. I think it's interesting to manipulate a small amount of parameters to shift very gradually in a low rate. It's kind of like a linguistic continuum:Before you realize it its already so different that you cannot recognize it.

It would be very intriguing to look at the semantic/emotional response out of the minimalist music. It's not cyclical in the sense of gamelan; when I listen to this I think it has the power to freeze my mind, like I'm thinking deeply into something or a memory. When I'm in this state of mind I might also produce such music.What is the link here?

Another point we recently talked about often is that there are so many parameters in music that can actually play a role in the perception of the semantics of the music--or emotional response. No one parameter (such as pitch in major and minor) can do all the trick. The rich relationship here is worth exploring.