Steve Reich Composed Come Out Analysis

One of the most admired minimalist composers of our time, Steve Reich, was born in New York City in 1936. His interest in music began when he was a teenager, starting with the piano and then switching to percussion after some time. He later formed a band with a friend during these early years. Reich’s passion for music continued to grow. He eventually attended Julliard, where he began listening to one of the greatest influences on his music—John Coltrane. Although Reich soon realized that he would not become a jazz musician, he did not abandon jazz music all together; the drums used in his later works were profoundly affected by this period in his life.
Reich’s career as a composer was enhanced by the fact that it took place during a time of …show more content…
For this arrangement, Reich once again looped two fragments of spoken words in unison at different speeds, where they eventually get to the point of almost echoing each other. Reich also integrated an important historical moment in this piece; in 1965, a group of six men known as the Harlem Six were wrongly sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Jewish man. For Come Out, Reich looped one of the mistakenly suspected Harlem Six, Daniel Hamm, saying, “Come out to show them” ("A Brief History of Minimalism"). Once again, Reich took a current event and used his methods of looping and phasing to create a masterpiece that changed …show more content…
A sound is anything that can be heard, but music is a specific compilation of these sounds. Music is typically made with a purpose in mind, while not every sound is. Sounds may not even be manmade at all, much of it occurring naturally, while we think of music in general as something created by musicians. Not all sounds are music; some sounds are just random noises. We use sounds to speak, and we all speak a language, or languages, that can be understood by others that share our culture, nationality, etc. Music is commonly referred to as the universal language and can be understood by everyone. It is, however, subjective. Although everyone understands it, all interpret it differently. My personal philosophy on music would be that it should manipulate sounds in a creative and inspiring way, which I feel Reich accomplishes in all of his works. He makes a point to infuse his songs with ideas, reactions, critiques, judgments, and solutions to matters that are already being discussed all around him. In this way, he forces people to really reflect on these subjects that require such reflection in an effort to begin working towards common