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Tom Woodling: Steve Reich

Tom Woodling
Time and Interactivity
Artists Presentation: Steve Reich



Why I am attracted to Steve Reich:

Besides his physical beauty, I am truly appreciative of his work. For a musician in my generation, it is pretty incredible to be living at the same time as Steve Reich. I can see the affect that his work has had on music, especially when it comes to Jazz, Electronica, Techno and Turntableism. Where John Cage left off with challenging the definition of music, Steve Reich picked up and challenged it in his own style. The first piece that I ever saw/heard by Reich was the Piano Phase piece. The phenomenon of how two machines can remain out of rhythm and go in and out of sync, was mind blowing to me. His work has heightened my awareness of unnatural rhythms and polyrhythms and that has helped me to become a better musician.


The piece that really put Reich on the map was It's Gonna Rain (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x90h1r_steve-reich-its-gonna-rain-part-1_music)

This piece was the start of an exploration of the effects of looping short recordings and playing with the affect of off-setting two loops to create rhythmic variation.

Another piece that is somewhat similar to It's Gonna Rain, was Clapping Music

Another prime example of Reich's use of Polyrhythms. This time, taking a more musical approach.

Both pieces show strongly what Reich's focus on Polyrhythmic structure and the rhythmic nature of machines. They also both challenge what the general public considers music and explores the avante-garde.

Other Artist:

An artist that goes by the name XXXchange has obviously been inspired by Steve Reich. His work incorporates the method of looping voice to create rhythms. Also similar to Steve Reich is his use of video to accompany the looping of music. While Reich didn't actually create the videos that went along with his music, collaborating with video artists is something that both XXXchange and Steve Reich do well.


Steve Reich's work has made me more aware musician and artists. His attention to rhythm and awareness of the music in everyday situations is something that I try to utilize. For example, when doing my How To video project, I paid special attention to the sounds that were captured while filming and I tried to augment the video so that some more auditory interest would be created.

