Structural Multistabilities and Listening Experiences in Minimalist Music

Kristen Wallentinsen uses an interdisciplinary theory of multistability to investigate different effects minimalist music has on the listener.

Drawing on theories of multistability from philosophy and psychology, the book builds an analytical framework and typology that demonstrates minimalist music’s reliance on multistable structure for its interpretive flexibility. Through a close analysis of works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Ann Southam, Charlemagne Palestine, and Julius Eastman, the book shows that multistability exists as a through-line across minimalist compositional approaches and can be a valuable way to gain deeper insight into the structures and experiences of minimalist music.

This book will be of primary interest to scholars of music theory and musicology, but will also be of interest to scholars of music cognition, music performance, philosophy, art, and media studies, as well as those interested in twentieth-century culture. It benefits readers by introducing an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of listener experience in music.