Temporality as an analytical approach to minimalist music: Tom Johnson’s An hour for piano

Minimalist compositions thwart most attempts at analysis given their remarkable simplicity; their structure is often deliberately obvious. The experience of a minimalist piece, however, is anything but simple. These compositions encourage the listener to ignore the past and the future, memory and expectation, and explore an extended present. This temporal experience, which Jonathan Kramer describes as vertical time, can create a sense of depth and complexity that is difficult to derive from the score. Previous scholarship has defined this temporality, but the concept of vertical time has only ever been applied in a general way. If an analytical approach to minimalism is to include temporality, which influences greatly the experience of the music, the musical elements that create vertical time must be defined. Too often vertical time is seen merely as the absence of linear elements instead of something that is actively cultivated in a variety of ways. By analysing the creation of vertical time, and by allowing for the inclusion of some linearity, it is possible to explore the temporality of minimalism in a meaningful and specific way. The potential of this analytical technique will be demonstrated through a study of Tom Johnson's An Hour for Piano (1971).