SANTA MONICA—The Santa Monica Public Library will be presenting a community performance of Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ composition on Wednesday, December 21. Starting at 7:30 p.m., the performance, located at the Main Library’s Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, will celebrate the first year of the Soundwaves music series orchestrated by Santa Monica Public Library.

Composed in 1964 and first recorded in 1968, ‘In C’ is a pioneering work of minimalism which became popular with fans of psychedelic rock, and which influenced ambient and other electronic music. Traces of ‘In C’ can be heard from Philip Glass to Aphex Twin, and in The Who’s song ‘Baba O’Riley,’ named in tribute to Terry Riley.

Performances are usually 45 minutes or longer, ‘In C’ is a single page of sheet music: 53 melodic fragments of different lengths which the musicians each repeat as many times as they individually choose, creating ever-changing interlocking patterns.

The materials and rules of ‘In C’ are relatively simple and can be played by any combination of instruments and groups of any size, all interested musicians are invited to participate in this performance. Students and faculty from southland colleges and universities and members of several local orchestras and bands of various styles will be involved. Musicians should download the sheet music from http://imslp.org/wiki/In_C_(Riley,_Terry) and arrive by 6 p.m. on December 21 for a short rehearsal. Participants are asked to bring pitched instruments only; acoustic ones are preferred” states a press release from the city of Santa Monica.

The gathering promises to reflect the depth and diversity of the Los Angeles music scene. A recording of “In C” can be streamed from The Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) which can be accessed through logging in with one’s Santa Monica library card at smpl.org.

The program is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and on a first arrival basis.

For more information, contact Jeff Schwartz, Reference Librarian at (310) 458-8631. The auditorium is wheelchair-accessible. For other disabled services, call Administration at (310) 458-8606 one week ahead.