The Role of Minimalism in the Evolution of Music

    I first heard about post-rock minimalism during the last spring semester. I had a ton of exams to study for, and one of my friends had reccomended that simple music is a great way to help your focus. He directed me to Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" on Pandora Radio. Of course, this album was more ambient than minimalist. Pandora eventually began to branch out into the works of Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, and La Monte Young. Normally, I would have never listened to this type of music, however, by using it to study, I began to pick up on the subtle nuances of the works, and stuff like Terry Riley's "Rainbow in Curved Air" became my background music of choice when trying to focus on something important.
    Now that I've done some reading on these people, I find it interesting how the post-rock school of music has evolved over time.  The fact that tribal drumming in Ghana could inspire Steve Reich, who would in turn inspire other artists to start experimenting with looping and phasing, is awesome. It's proof that music is a very universal language, and in many ways, can be stronger than even language. By listening to the tracks this class reccomended, I'm now getting used to detecting phasing in other songs, including stuff from Pink Floyd, as well as a lot of modern electronica like Aphex Twin. To see one idea grow and expand into to all forms of music is fascinating to me.