When Steve Reich wrote Music for 18 Musicians in 1976, the Western music world was abuzz with a new musical style, Minimalism. Minimalism originally came about as a rebellion against Modernism, which essentially had no formal structure or regularity. Steve Reich was one of the pioneering composers Minimalism, and Music for 18 Musicians was his foray into minimalist composing for large ensembles. Although it may not seem to be interesting upon first listening, it is harmonically complex and exciting.
Reich’s earlier pieces had all been centered on melodies and how to subtly alter them to make music through rhythms, but for Music for 18 Musicians he started with chords. According to Reich, “There is more harmonic movement in the first five minutes of ‘Music for 18 Musicians’ than in any other complete work of mine to date.” The piece is divided up into 13 sections, each based on one chord except the first and last sections (named Pulses), which contain all the chords used in the piece. The overall form of the piece is A B C D C B A, but its harmonic movement is very slow. There is no conductor for this piece, so the vibraphone and bass clarinet parts trigger key changes in the harmonies and melodies throughout the work.
Listening to Music for 18 Musicians needs to be done in one sitting, or else the musical drama will not be clear. If one simply listens to several sections, they will not make sense because they will have no context. Since the piece is so long, it can be difficult to listen to in its entirety. Music for 18 Musicians challenges the listener, but is ultimately rewarding in the end because of its unique and refreshing sonic experience.
The melodies are fragments that repeat in an ostinato-like manner over the rest of the ensemble repeating the chords as eighth notes. The accompaniment’s orchestration and voicing changes underneath the melody, however, to emphasize different parts of the chord. This use of orchestration and repetition is very effective at creating tension and release throughout the hour-long piece.
The unusual instrumentation of the ensemble gives this work a unique sound and timbre. The score contains parts for violin, cello, three female voices, two pianos, one piano doubling maracas, marimba doubling maracas, three marimbas doubling xylophone, vibraphone doubling piano, piano doubling marimba, marimba doubling on xylophone and piano, two clarinets doubling bass clarinet, and female voice doubling piano. This unique ensemble ensures that a lot of emphasis is placed on the middle register, instead of the bass, creating vibrant colors in the music. Although the score calls for 18 musicians, and the title of the piece is Music for 18 Musicians, Steve Reich admits that 18 is the minimum it can be performed with, “The title says it’s music for eighteen musicians, and we [Steve Reich and Musicians] play it with eighteen, but no other ensemble plays it this way.”
Music for 18 Musicians was the start of a new chapter for Steve Reich. He stopped writing phase music and began using harmonies as his basis for pieces instead of rhythm. Reich also began composing for larger ensembles, which has opened up new musical possibilities in his music. This is an important work that helped define a genre and pioneered a style of music that, while young, has proven to be an influential and popular style.

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Wim, Mertens. American Minimal Music: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. London: Kahn & Averill, 1983.

Johnson, Timothy A. “Minimalism: Aesthetic, Style, or Technique?” The Musical Quarterly 78/4 (1994): 742-773.

Ashby, Arved. The Pleasure of Modernist Music. New York: The University of Rochester Press, 2004.

Reich, Steve, director. The Steve Reich Website. http://www.stevereich.com/