Terry Riley: In "C"* Create a Culture that Invites Ideas In* Keep Yourself Loose*

 

In "C" by Terry Riley

(from Mason Currey) “In C” is a musician-led performance that’s different every time it is played. The score is a single sheet of paper showing 53 melodic patterns. The musicians are instructed to work their way through these patterns at whatever pace feels right to them, listening to what their fellow musicians are doing, trying to create something interesting together without trying to predict or control what that might be.

Create a Culture that Invites Ideas In*

Letting go of control is a big theme in Riley work. In 2022, he told the Louisiana Museum:

If you know what you’re doing in the arts, then you’re doing it wrong. That’s a pretty good maxim. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then you’re on the right track, because you’re open to the whole world of possibilities. You don’t want to already have the possibilities in you; you have to invite them in. So as an artist you have to create a culture that invites ideas in.

Keep Yourself Loose*

Interview in Classical Voice site

In introduction: It is impossible to speak of Riley’s music without referencing his energy and world outlook. There’s something unique about the man — a transcendent joy at the wonder with which life constantly unfolds — that infuses his musical explorations. It’s not something you can pin down, but it inevitably brings a smile and sense of affirmation. 

Before I got into raga, which entered my life in 1970, I was already doing concerts where I was pretty much in the moment. Of course, the training in raga trains you for that, because you observe yourself into the ragas and practice them every day, and then whatever happens, happens.

It’s like life. What can you absolutely control in this life? I’ve seen over and over again that whatever I’ve planned out to the nth detail usually collapses along the line and turns into something else. So the best thing I think you can do in your life is keep yourself as loose as you can. It’s a world without time. I really don’t divide my categories up too much like composing and playing. Everything seems to be fuller and richer than ever. 

Well, you know, it’s a world without time. I really don’t divide my categories up too much like composing and playing. Everything seems to be fuller and richer than ever. I’m doing quite a bit of writing; I’m just heading to Japan to play a few concerts. As long as you have your health, that’s the main thing. When the health goes, everything goes. And the mind is definitely a part of health.

But I do see the need for people who want to do the arts to survive in the world, even if they’re doing it totally out of love (and, of course, it has to be that way, because why else would you work yourself 16 hours a day to do something unless you really loved it?). There’s this big Capitalist Monster out there, ready to suck money out of whatever arises. Young and old people do get caught up in it. You have to have some sort of spiritual base to sustain yourself through all that. 

It’s all wrapped up in music for me. To me, music is a complete and total path of spirituality, physical exercise, joy and ecstasy. It’s got everything in it, so I really haven’t branched out into meditation or other adjacent practices that much. From time to time I’ve tried them out, but I find music is a totally satisfying and fulfilling path in life.