What You Hear is What You Hear: Preparing an Arrangement of Steve Reich’s Nagoya Marimbas for Flute Choir

Visual artist Frank Stella (b. 1936) said about his work, “What you see is what you see.” A member of the visual art movement known as minimalism, he is famed for his repeating black -stripe paintings. There are noticeable parallels between the concept of these visual works and Steve Reich’s (b. 1936) minimalist music, particularly Nagoya Marimbas (1994). This Honors thesis will explore the roots of minimalism in the visual arts and music, Reich’s compositional voice, the repetitive rhythmic components of minimalist music, and the challenges of arranging a percussion piece for a flute ensemble leading up to the final arrangement, Nagoya Flutes