Best of "Part 10" in 7min

Philip Glass is a composer and pianist who is not only famous in the world of minimal music, but also in the rock and jazz genre. He composed soundtracks for movies and gained popularity for his repetitions and usage of shifting layers. Music in Twelve Parts is, as the name suggests, a piece that contains twelve parts composed over three years. It was originally thought to be a song by itself but was later turned into a set of twelve separate pieces.

In comparison to Reich, who used his repetitions to tell stories, Glass repeats to bring attention to those repetitions and the slight changes that occur in them over time. Casual listeners of Music in Twelve Parts would not immediately catch some of those alterations, only noticing at certain points that the piece has subtly changed. “Part 10”, however, is also interesting for casual listeners since the fast-paced rhythm of the song catches one’s attention from the very beginning. The loops give a sense of security, of knowing what to expect next, allowing the listener’s head to move along to the rhythm – only to stop when the first minimal change happens. That is when the listening experience changes from casualness to attentiveness even for the most detached listeners.

As mentioned, “Part 10” is an intense piece and a very fast-paced song. Due to the changes in the loops, the listener is somewhat forced to pay attention. Even if the focus might drift off at some point, these alterations bring it back to Glass’ work. It seems somewhat unnecessary though to have this piece be 17 minutes long. It would have been fine being seven minutes long because, after a while, the game of ‘detect the minimal changes’ is not as interesting as in the beginning. It is a beautiful piece nonetheless; personally, I might just stop the recording a few minutes short to have the best listening experience for myself.