- Shaker Loops
Written in
1978 by the Americancomposer John Adams, "Shaker Loops" was originally written for string septet. The version for string orchestra was written in1983 .The work is in four movements.
*I. Shaking and Trembling
*II. Hymning Slews
*III. Loops and Verses
*IV. A Final ShakingShaker Loops began as a piece called 'Wavemaker' in which Adams tried to emulate the ripple effect of bodies of water in his music. The piece was a failure, but Adams kept the idea of repeating loops of oscillations on string instruments. He retitled the piece 'Shaker Loops,' due to both the 'shaking' of the strings as they oscillate between notes and the idea Adams had of
Shakers dancing to repetitive, energetic music.Appearances in other media
*The first movement of Shaker Loops was featured in the
1987 film Barfly.
*The first three movements are part of the sound track to the video game,Civilization IV .External links
* [http://www.earbox.com/W-shakerloops.html Article on Shaker Loops hosted on John Adams's website]
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