Proper Essay Example About Exploring The Limilimits Of Music

The limits of what music is have long been contested. Terry Riley’s “You’re No Good” and Steve Reich’s “Come Out” are great examples of this. Basically, they both attempt to examine the repetition of the same exact bit of music once and again. Even though this had been attempted before in forms such as cannons and the whole play in the form of motifs, for example, their use of technology allows them to be even more exhaustive in their presentations. For instance, they both have a significant portion of the piece of music be a direct repetition with two playbacks at the same time.
Terry Riley’s “You’re No Good” becomes an interesting mess due to the repetition that the original song has. If The Harvey Averne Dozen’s song “You’re No Good” were not so monotonous, Riley would not have been able to establish this same harmony between both of the loops. The female back-up singers’ constant repetition of “No good” creates an interesting backdrop that anchors the song, against the lead singer’s echoing voice.
At around 13:44, a strange beeping beings, and the listener is reminded that he or she is listening to an experimental song, one that seeks to be avant garde on purpose. The differed playback could have become somewhat aesthetically pleasing, with the perceiver being accustomed and enchanted by its repetition. Nevertheless, at this point, Terry Riley makes sure that one is disoriented again. He does not completely do away with the original song, but merely breaks the pattern that had been established before. Nevertheless, at 17:29, the lyrical lead is taken again, and the listener is led towards a more easy-to-digest finale. However, this is misleading, as the lyrical progression breaks down only a couple of minutes later, ending in recorded loops.
On the other hand, even though Steve Reich, in “Come Out”, explores this bit of audio in a more rhythmical manner through its repetition. “Come out to show them” completely loses its intended meaning through the constant repetition; after doing this, the merely rhythmical intentions are revealed. This is reinforced by the slightly-delayed repetition. Contrary to Riley’s “You’re No Good”, here, the two playbacks are modified more frequently. Reich does not allow the listener to settle on just one form of repetition by constantly varying the relationship between the two lines of music.
This piece of music is much less melodic than Riley’s, as “Come Out” is basically an exploration of rhythm. In this sense, he begins with the original voice recording, yet extracts the bits of sound that he finds most interesting and rhythmical. At the end, no words are discernible at all; there is only a wave-like sound and the “sh” sound, which sounds like a snare drum being brushed. In this sense, he deconstructs something as simple and everyday as the spoken word and builds a musical statement from it.
Even though they both constantly repeat the sounds they are studying, Riley’s piece attempts to study the effects that this has on the melody of a repetitive pop song. On the other hand, Reich takes a piece of the spoken word and deconstructs it in a rhythmical way. In fact, some could argue that challenging pre-established conceptions is what art is all about, and music would be no exception to this.