Music in Similar Motion (Ensemble Klang X HIIIT)

Music in Similar Motion is one of Philip Glass’ early minimalist works written in 1969 for the Philip Glass Ensemble. The title Music in Similar Motion describes exactly what happens in the piece: musical lines always move in the same melodic direction although not always in parallel intervals. The melodies are constructed as cells that are repeated ad lib until one of the musicians gives a small cue to move onto the next cell.

The constant repetitive and static nature of the harmony, colour, dynamics and tempo draws the listeners’ attention to what does change in the work: rhythm. Glass’ approach to rhythmic processes stemmed from an interest in Indian music. Instead of rhythms that emerge out of regular patterns of repeating accents, such as are found in European-derived classical and popular music, Glass builds his piece from short rhythmic units which are added to each other.

As he says, “in western music we divide time, as you slice a loaf of bread. Indian music takes small units, or ‘beats’ and strings them together to make up larger time values.”