Philip Glass: Part 10 of Music in Twelve Parts – Endless Looping

Philip Glass’ part ten of “Music in Twelve Parts” is part of the minimalist music approach in which Glass is one of the most remarkable composers. Minimalist music is known for its repeated patterns with only small variations. Loops play an important role in minimalist music which can also be seen in part ten of “Music in Twelve Parts”.

First of all, the beginning of the piece is quite strong but also confusing. There is no real introduction but the piece starts directly in its full power. For me, it felt like I was right in the middle of the piece and something must have happened before. This loop structure continues throughout the piece. The first thought that came to my mind was that the sounds reminded me of mosquitos flying around in your room when you are trying to sleep. This is why the melody felt kind of annoying to me. Moreover, the piece was stressing me out more and more as long as the melody was playing. It felt like a dream I could not escape, but rather a nightmare than a positive one. This feeling of being stuck lasted on me for 17 minutes which is the length of the piece.

Around 2:00, the melody changes. The loops get shorter which made it even more stressful for me to listen to it. Around 3:00, another melody “joins” the already existing one. In my opinion, this additional melody fits well since it creates a clearer image of the whole construction. At this point, the loop structure was not that present anymore which is why I found it easier and more pleasant to listen to it. However, at some points it sounded like a CD getting stuck which, in my opinion, felt like it did not belong there.

After a while, the loop had several variations which were still very stressful to me. Another association I had at this point was a clown show in a circus or a bad dream with clowns and a lot of accordions. Since the melody was getting faster, I really had the urge to stop listening to the piece because it was stressing me out a lot. Listening to the piece was similar to what I see when having a migraine. After I felt like there was one sound interfering which created a rhythm, the piece got out of control again and it felt like endless looping.

All in all, listening to part ten of “Music in Twelve Parts” was a rather stressful experience for me. I felt like 17 minutes were just too long to listen to loops that seem like they had no ending and could go on for hours. The music put in a feeling of trance but in a negative way since it was just too fast and hectic for me.