Process music

Basic rhythm from Clapping Music by Steve Reich, which is played against itself. First in rhythmic unison, then with one part moved ahead by an eighth note, then another, and so on, till they are back together—an example of Nyman's process-type 4.
First two patterns, abbreviated

Process music is music that arises from a process. It may make that process audible to the listener, or the process may be concealed.

Primarily begun in the 1960s, diverse composers have employed divergent methods and styles of process. "A 'musical process' as Christensen defines it is a highly complex dynamic phenomenon involving audible structures that evolve in the course of the musical performance ... 2nd order audible developments, i.e., audible developments within audible developments".[1] These processes may involve specific systems of choosing and arranging notes through pitch and time, often involving a long term change with a limited amount of musical material, or transformations of musical events that are already relatively complex in themselves.

Steve Reich defines process music not as, "the process of composition but rather pieces of music that are, literally, processes. The distinctive thing about musical processes is that they determine all the note-to-note (sound-to-sound) details and the overall form simultaneously. (Think of a round or infinite canon.)"[2]

  1. ^ Seibt 2004, xiii.
  2. ^ Reich 2002, 34.