''Pendulum Music'' (For Microphones, Amplifiers Speakers and Performers) Reich, S. (1974). "''Pendulum Music''". In ''

Writings About Music Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

'' (pp. 12–13). The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Co-published by: New York University Press). is the name of a work by

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

, involving suspended microphones and speakers, creating phasing

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

tones. The piece was composed in August 1968 and revised in May 1973, and is an example of process music.

Overview

Reich came up with the concept while working at the University of Colorado. He was swinging a live microphone in the style of the cowboy's lasso, and noting the produced feedback, he composed for an "orchestra" of microphones.Steve Reich on "Pendulum Music"
/ref> Three or more microphones are suspended above the speakers by means of a cable and stand. The microphones are pulled back, switched on, and released over the speaker, and gravity causes them to swing back and forth as pendulums. As the microphone nears the speaker, a feedback tone is created. Different lengths of cable will swing at different speeds, creating an overlapping series of feedback squeals. The music created is thus the result of the ''process'' of the swinging microphones. According to Reich, "The piece is ended sometime shortly after all mikes have come to rest and are feeding back a continuous tone by performers pulling the power cords of the amplifiers". He also added: "If it's done right, it's kind of funny". Reich's 1974 book ''Writings About Music'' contains the hand-written (1973 revision) description of how to perform the piece. ''Writings About Music'' contains a photo of a performance at the Whitney Museum of American Art on May 27, 1969. The performers there were Richard Serra, James Tenney, Bruce Nauman and Michael Snow.

Notable recordings

Experimental rock group

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

recorded the piece on its 1999 album '' SYR4: Goodbye 20th Century''. The Avant-Garde Ensemble recorded three different versions of "Pendulum Music". In 2014, composer

Daniel Fishkin Daniel Fishkin is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and instrument designer, most notable for his installation Composing the Tinnitus Suites. Fishkin's music career first started with building a daxophone, composing the album You're A Strong O ...

created a new transcription of the piece, in which, instead of using audio feedback, the feedback takes place in the domain of light, using solar cells and oscilloscopes instead of microphones and loudspeakers.Pendulum Music (transcribed for oscilloscope and photodiode)
/ref> In 2012,

Richard D James Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...

performed a version of the piece using lasers reflected off of giant Newton's cradles.

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Steve Reich 1968 compositions Process music pieces