Editing Terry Riley (section)

==Techniques==
Riley's music is usually based on improvising through a series of [[musical mode|modal]] figures of [[phasing|different lengths]]. Works such as ''[[In C]]'' (1964) and the ''Keyboard Studies'' (1964–1966) demonstrate this technique. The first performance of ''In C'' was given by [[Steve Reich]], [[Jon Gibson (minimalist musician)|Jon Gibson]], [[Pauline Oliveros]] and [[Morton Subotnick]]. Its form was an innovation: The piece consists of 53 separate modules of roughly one measure apiece, each containing a different musical pattern but each, as the title implies, in the key of C.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Honigmann|first1=David|title=In C, Barbican, London – review|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8959b73a-2f30-11e3-ae87-00144feab7de.html |newspaper=[[Financial Times]]|access-date=28 August 2016}}</ref> One performer beats a steady pulse of ''C''s on the piano to keep tempo. The others, in any number and on any instrument, perform these musical modules following a few loose guidelines, with the different musical modules interlocking in various ways as time goes on.

In the 1950s Riley was already working with [[tape loop]]s, a technology still in its infancy at the time; he would later, with the help of a sound engineer, create what he called a "time-lag accumulator".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=A History of Video Art|last=Meigh-Andrews|first=Chris|publisher=Berg (Oxford International Publishers)|year=2006|isbn=978-1-84520-219-4|location=New York, NY and Oxford, UK|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofvideoar0000meig/page/94 94–95]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvideoar0000meig/page/94}}</ref> He has continued manipulating tapes to musical effect, in the studio and in live performances throughout his career. An early tape loop piece titled ''Music for the Gift'' (1963) featured the trumpet playing of [[Chet Baker]]. It was during Riley's time in Paris, while composing this piece, that he conceived of and created the time-lag accumulator technique.<ref name=":0" /> Premiered in 1968 in the Magic Theatre Exhibition at the Nelson Atkins Gallery in [[Kansas City]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Geoff |last2=Walker-Smith |first2=Nicola |last3=Ward |first3=Phil |date=March 1993 |title=20th Century Americans - Terry Riley (MT Mar 1993) |url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/20th-century-americans-terry-riley/2458 |journal=Music Technology |issue=Mar 1993 |pages=78–84}}</ref> a new version of the installation was commissioned three decades later by [[Lille 2004]]-[[European Capital of Culture]] and purchased by the [[Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon|Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon]]. A third version was built and presented by the Schauspielhaus in [[Bochum]] in 2019.  He has composed using [[just intonation]] as well as [[microtones]].<ref name="holmes" >Holmes, Thomas B. ''Electronic and Experimental Music'', Taylor & Francis (2008). pp. 132, 362. {{ISBN|978-0-415-95781-6}}.</ref> In New York City in the mid-1960s he played with his longtime friend La Monte Young, as well as with [[John Cale]] and tabla player [[Angus MacLise]], who were founding members of [[The Velvet Underground]]. Riley is credited as inspiring Cale's keyboard part on [[Lou Reed]]'s composition "[[All Tomorrow's Parties]]", which was sung by German actress [[Nico]] and included on the album ''[[The Velvet Underground and Nico]]'', recorded in 1966.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Riley's famous overdubbed electronic album ''[[A Rainbow in Curved Air]]'' (recorded 1968, released 1969) inspired many later developments in electronic music. These include [[Pete Townshend]]'s [[organ (music)|organ]] parts on [[The Who]]'s "[[Won't Get Fooled Again]]" and "[[Baba O'Riley]]", the latter named in tribute to Riley as well as to [[Meher Baba]].<ref>This album also produced the name of psychedelic band [[Curved Air]].
{{cite AV media notes
 |title      = The Who: The Ultimate Collection
 |title-link = The Ultimate_Collection (The_Who_album)
 |author     = The Who
 |year       = 2002
 |pages      = 12
 |publisher  = MCA Records
}}</ref> [[Charles Hazlewood]], in his BBC documentary on Minimalism (Part 1) suggests that the album '[[Tubular Bells]]' by [[Mike Oldfield]] was also inspired by Riley's example.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hazlewood|first1=Charles|title=Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09tbh10/tones-drones-and-arpeggios-the-magic-of-minimalism-series-1-1-california|website=BBC Website|access-date=13 March 2018}}</ref> The English progressive rock group Curved Air, formed in 1970, took its name from the album.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.stewartcopeland.net/works/980/curved-air |title=Curved Air|publisher=StewartCopeland.net|date=5 April 2025}}</ref>

[[File:La música minimalista se adueña del Templete del Retiro 04.jpg|thumb|right|Riley performing in 2018]]

Riley's collaborators have included the [[Rova Saxophone Quartet]], [[Pauline Oliveros]], the [[ARTE Quartett]], and, as mentioned, the Kronos Quartet. His 1995 ''Lisbon Concert'' recording features him in a solo piano format, improvising on his own works. In the liner notes Riley cites [[Art Tatum]], [[Bud Powell]] and [[Bill Evans]] as his piano "heroes", illustrating the importance of jazz to his conceptions.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}