Steve Reich is one of the composers whose musical style
is known as Minimalist. The first minimalist composer to become very
well known was Philip Glass when his music was featured in a movie called
Koyaanisqatsi, a film that had no dialogue whatsoever, just breathtaking
visual imagery coupled with Glass's incredibly, mezmerizing music.
I totally feel in love with Philip Glass's music after seeing that movie
and then sought out music by other minimalist composers. The other
most well known American minimalist composers are Steve Reich, John Adams,
La Monte Young and Terry Riley.
There is one section of the Koyaanisqati soundtrack, that Philip Glass wrote,
that i would probably consider to be the most inspiring and uplifting
piece of music that i have ever heard in my entire life! It is a piece of
music that consists entirely of vocals without any instruments.
Philip Glass even did an album in which he collaborated with pop
songwriters such as Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega and David Byrne,
although i will admit i did not like that album as much as his
instrumental only albums. Glass also did 2 albums based on themes
from 2 David Bowie albums.
It is nice to see, on this forum, occasional departures from the usual
pop and country discussions that seem to be the only type of
songwriting discussions you will find on most songwriting forums.
Here is a link to the section of Koyaanisqatsi that i mentioned that is vocals only and so uplifting. The vocals only section lasts for about 3 and a half minutes:
Koyaanisqatsi Vocals Only Section
