Steve Reich - Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organs
Finally some change

The first impression I got of this song was: This is an actual song that people might listen to. And with people I do not mean mean Steve Reich's fanbase but outsiders who just so randomly find this song and automatically start to like it. That is because, although the voices in the song do not sing words or sentences, we still have the typical attributes of today's music: intsruments, voice and a clear rhythm. That is what makes this song more accessible, to me at least. 

The instruments and the voices fit together in a very harmonical way because they both produce a similiar rhythm and the pitch is also assimilated in both tools. Therefore, the harmony is created through the voices and the instruments working well together.

The song is constructed through repetitions of sound units in both voices and instruments. However, with a proceeding repetition the rhythm starts to change. Sometimes it is the voice that preceeds the change and the instruments adjust to this and on other time the instruments preceed a change in rhythm and the voices adjust to that. However, both parts do not play the same tones/sounds, it is just that they work with each other and adjust their sound units.

The voices eminate a calming sound because the duration of the sounds sung is longer than the duration of the sounds played by the instruments. However, there is also variation in this. In general the sung sounds are rather high pitched which is why I find it hard to listen to this music as background music. The same goes for the instruments, they are also high pitched and their rhythm is also quite fast, as well es the duration of the notes played on the instruments is rather short. Hence, the song is not one to keep me calm but one that attracts my attention and has me attentively listen to it. At least for a while, because at some point of the song, somewhere in the middle of it, my mind started to drift off. This is because of the repetition, hamonization and the slight changes that happen very naturally and calmly. 

It appears as if that song could go on and on with many more slight changes and while one listens to it the changes are not all too noticeable. If only the beginning of the song and the end is listened to, then one can identify how deeply the song has actually changed (within its process of the slight changes, though). That is also what Steve Reich's music was about: music as a neverending process. Hence, it is not about the end-point of the song but rather about the process of changing and adapting within the song.

I imagine that it can be very difficult to keep up with the same rhythm and looping of notes as a performr and to then adapt in the process of performing. There was probably a lot of training and adaption before the performance because all the performers had to work together, adjust to each other, harmonize their own work and at the same time be in sync with their co-workers. But then again, this is also what the song is about,

This song is one of the songs that I personally experience as actual music, according to what I usually listen to. Although the song is not one I would listen to in my free time it is still not one where I would feel the deep urge to switch to another one for the sake of my sanity if it was played on the radio (although I would probably still switch the song).