Defining my next chapter: Value metrics and Terry Riley’s “In C”

Terry Riley’s “In C” performed at CEU in Budapest. January 31st, 2020.

I’ve been going through a bit of a reckoning as of late. Thinking a for long time about making changes that from the outside, will feel fast. The fuel for my changes can be easily explained with two pillars.

  1. “The most important models, metrics, and units of value for the 21st century may not have been invented yet.” – A quote by Yancey Strickler, the founder of Kickstarter
  2. “In C” by Terry Riley (the piece that kickstarted musical minimalism)

Why the Yancey Strickler quote matters to me

We may live in a polycrisis world, but I am not pessimistic. The present equips us with technologies and tools that make us more capable of solving problems than ever before. To shape the future, we’ll need to invent and rewrite some of our core and operating systems.

Why “In C” is my guidebook

For those unfamiliar with “In C,” Riley’s piece is a flexible composition that can be played by any number of musicians (and an optional vocalist). It’s typically performed in 40 to 90 minutes with 20 – 40 musicians, and every time it’s played the sound and texture is different.

The score for this piece exists on a single page. The page consists of 53 musical fragments, and no instruments are specified. riley accompanies the music with two pages of guidance for playing the piece.

“In C” works because each musician locks into the same tempo and underlying pulse.

“In C” is the perfect illustration for what we need in the future:

  • Riley gives the musicians co-ownership. Performers play each phrase in sequence, and they can choose how many times they repeat each one before moving on to the next. This creates a living, breathing piece that relies on thoughtful collaboration, expertise, and shared creation.
  • The single page score has economy and efficiency. It taps into pleasing patterns that work because they can be reused, restructured, and remixed.

“In C” is the perfect example of a simple and flexible guidebook for writing the future. It’s flexibility and trust in the player gives it the kind of resilience we need for our dramatically changing world. “In C” is a guide for restructuring convention. A template for rewriting our world in other mediums.