Editing Steve Reich (section)

== Early life ==

Reich was born in New York City to Jewish parents, the Broadway lyricist [[June Carroll|June Sillman]] and Leonard Reich. When he was one year old, his parents divorced, and Reich divided his time between New York and California. He is the half-brother of writer [[Jonathan Carroll]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jonathancarroll.com/interviews/publishersweekly.html|title=Jonathan Carroll {{!}} Publishers Weekly Interview|last=Lightcage|website=www.jonathancarroll.com|date=December 25, 2014 |access-date=August 11, 2016}}</ref> He was given piano lessons as a child and describes growing up with the "middle-class favorites", having no exposure to music written before 1750 or after 1900. At the age of 14 he began to study music in earnest, after hearing music from the [[Baroque music|Baroque period]] and earlier, as well as music of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|title=Steve Reich – Composer|url=http://www.famouscomposers.net/steve-reich|website=Famous Composers}}</ref> Reich studied drums with [[Roland Kohloff]] in order to play [[jazz]]. While attending [[Cornell University]], he minored in music and graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in Philosophy.<ref>[[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Paul Griffiths]], "Reich, Steve [Stephen] (Michael)", ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan, 2001).</ref> Reich's B.A. thesis was on [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]];<ref>{{cite web|url=https://stevereich.com/articles/Jonathan_Cott_interview.html|title=Interview with Steve Reich|first=Jonathan|last=Cott|authorlink=Jonathan Cott|date=1996|website=The Steve Reich Website|quote=Actually, I wrote a thesis criticizing [[Gilbert Ryle]] for criticizing Wittgenstein.|access-date=March 28, 2022|archive-date=May 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509144404/http://www.stevereich.com/articles/Jonathan_Cott_interview.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> later he would set texts by that philosopher to music in ''[[Proverb (Reich)|Proverb]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cave |first1=Peter |title=How to Think Like a Philosopher Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How to Live |date=2023 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=278}}</ref> (1995) and ''You Are (variations)'' (2006).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=LaRocca |editor1-first=David |title=Music with Stanley Cavell in Mind 2024 |date=2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=11}}</ref>

For a year following graduation, Reich studied composition privately with [[Hall Overton]] before he enrolled at [[Juilliard School|Juilliard]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Steve Reich {{!}} American composer|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Steve-Reich|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=February 26, 2018}}</ref> to work with [[William Bergsma]] and [[Vincent Persichetti]] (1958–1961). Subsequently, he attended [[Mills College]] in [[Oakland, California]], where he studied with [[Luciano Berio]] and [[Darius Milhaud]] (1961–1963) and earned a master's degree in composition. At Mills, Reich composed ''Melodica'' for [[melodica]] and [[tape recorder|tape]], which appeared in 1986 on the three-LP release ''Music from Mills''.<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r202182|pure_url=yes}} Music from Mills] at [[AllMusic]]</ref>

Reich worked with the [[San Francisco Tape Music Center]] along with [[Pauline Oliveros]], [[Ramón Sender (composer)|Ramon Sender]], [[Morton Subotnick]], [[Phil Lesh]] and [[Terry Riley]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=David|title=The San Francisco Tape Music Center|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24892-2}}</ref> He was involved with the premiere of Riley's ''[[In C]]'' and suggested the use of the eighth note pulse, which is now standard in performance of the piece.