Process Music

Process music is composition in which the work is generated by a predetermined, audible procedure — phasing patterns, additive accumulation, gradual tape deterioration or a text instruction — that, once set in motion, unfolds without further intervention. The approach was named by *Steve Reich* in his 1968 essay "Music as a Gradual Process" and underlies his phasing pieces and *Terry Riley*'s modular "In C", as well as later works by *Gavin Bryars* and *Julius Eastman*. Because the mechanism is meant to be heard, process pieces make their own construction their subject, aligning them with minimalism while emphasizing system over surface pattern.