Minimalism Scheme

In this resource, students get a broad overview of Minimalism with background and context exploration, a case study on Tubular Bells, a composition exercise, and a theory-based assessment.

In slides 1-2, students learn about Tubular Bells and how Mike Oldfield used layering, rhythmic displacement and cellular movement to develop several motifs and sections within his music. Students have the option of learning this on the piano or guitar. These slides may extend beyond 2 lessons depending on the progress of your class, and performances can be used as a formative assessment.

In slides 3-5, students explore the music of Steve Reich and understand how Gamelan shaped his musical identity and the music that he composed. From this, they move onto a compositional exercise, developing tone rows that form the basis of their compositions. Again, this could take you much longer than two lessons (it took me a whole month with my class!)

In slide 6, the students sit an assessment on Minimalism, reflecting on key terms (augmentation/diminution, addition/subtraction, rhythmic displacement, layering, instrumentation, cells/ostinato, transformation, etc.) This will take the whole lesson and is accessible via a Microsoft Form, which can be duplicated and used as formative data.