La Monte Young

Not to be confused with Lamont Young.

La Monte Young
File:Dreamhousely.jpg Cover of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, The Theatre of Eternal Music: Dream House 78' 17" (Shandar, 1974)
Background information
Birth name	La Monte Thornton Young
Born	(1935-10-14) October 14, 1935 Bern, Idaho, U.S.
Genres	Minimalism, experimental, contemporary
Occupation(s)	Composer, artist
Associated acts	Marian Zazeela

La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American avant-garde artist, composer and musician, generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is especially known for his development of drone music. Both his proto-Fluxus and "minimal" compositions question the nature and definition of music and often stress elements of performance art.

Life

Born in Bern, Idaho, Young and his family moved several times in childhood, as his father searched for work before settling in Los Angeles, California. He was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated from John Marshall High School and studied at Los Angeles City College. In the jazz milieu of Los Angeles, Young played with notable musicians including Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgins.

He undertook further studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he received a BA in 1958, then at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1958 to 1960. In 1959 he attended the summer courses at Darmstadt under Karlheinz Stockhausen, and in 1960 relocated to New York in order to study electronic music with Richard Maxfield at the New School for Social Research. His compositions during this period were influenced by Anton Webern, Gregorian chant, Indian classical music, Gagaku, and Indonesian gamelan music.

A number of Young's early works use the twelve-tone technique, which he studied under Leonard Stein at Los Angeles City College. (Stein had served as an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg when Schoenberg, the inventor of the twelve-tone method, taught at UCLA.) Young also studied composition with Robert Stevenson at UCLA and with Seymore Shifrin at UC Berkeley. When Young visited Darmstadt in 1959, he encountered the music and writings of John Cage. There he also met Cage's collaborator, pianist David Tudor, who subsequently gave premières of some of Young's works. At Tudor's suggestion, Young engaged in a correspondence with Cage. Within a few months Young was presenting some of Cage's music on the West Coast. In turn, Cage and Tudor included some of Young's works in performances throughout the U.S. and Europe. By this time Young had taken a turn toward the conceptual, using principles of indeterminacy in his compositions and incorporating non-traditional sounds, noises, and actions.

When Young moved to New York in 1960, he had already established a reputation as an enfant terrible of the avant-garde. He initially developed an artistic relationship with Fluxus founder George Maciunas (who designed the book Young edited An Anthology of Chance Operations) and other members of the nascent movement. Yoko Ono, for example, hosted a series of concerts curated by Young at her loft, and absorbed, it seems, his often parodic and politically charged aesthetic. Young's works of the time, scored as short haiku-like texts, though conceptual and extreme, were not meant to be merely provocative but, rather, dream-like.

His Compositions 1960 includes a number of unusual actions. Some of them are un-performable, but each deliberately examines a certain presupposition about the nature of music and art and carries ideas to an extreme. One instructs: "draw a straight line and follow it" (a directive which he has said has guided his life and work since). Another instructs the performer to build a fire. Another states that "this piece is a little whirlpool out in the middle of the ocean." Another says the performer should release a butterfly into the room. Yet another challenges the performer to push a piano through a wall. Composition 1960 #7 proved especially pertinent to his future endeavors: it consisted of a B, an F#, a perfect fifth, and the instruction: "To be held for a long time."

In 1962 Young wrote The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer. One of The Four Dreams of China, the piece is based on four pitches, which he later gave as the frequency ratios: 36-35-32-24 (G, C, +C#, D), and limits as to which may be combined with any other. Most of his pieces after this point are based on select pitches, played continuously, and a group of long held pitches to be improvised upon. For The Four Dreams of China Young began to plan the "Dream House", a light and sound installation where musicians would live and create music twenty-four hours a day. He formed the Theatre of Eternal Music to realize "Dream House" and other pieces. The group initially included Marian Zazeela (who has provided the light work The Ornamental Lightyears Tracery for all performances since 1965), Angus MacLise, and Billy Name. In 1964 the ensemble comprised Young and Zazeela; John Cale and Tony Conrad, a former Harvard mathematics major, and sometimes Terry Riley (voices). Since 1966 the group has seen many permutations and has included Garrett List, Jon Hassell, Alex Dea, and many others, including members of the 60s groups. Young has realized the "Theatre of Eternal Music" only intermittently, as it requires expensive and exceptional demands of rehearsal and mounting time.

Most realizations of the piece have long titles, such as The Tortoise Recalling the Drone of the Holy Numbers as they were Revealed in the Dreams of the Whirlwind and the Obsidian Gong, Illuminated by the Sawmill, the Green Sawtooth Ocelot and the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer. His works are often extreme in length, conceived by Young as having no beginning and no end, existing before and after any particular performance. In their daily lives, too, Young and Zazeela practice an extended sleep-waking schedule—with "days" longer than twenty-four hours.

Beginning in 1970 interests in Asian classical music and a wish to be able to find the intervals he had been using in his work led Young to pursue studies with Pandit Pran Nath. Fellow students included calligrapher and light artist Marian Zazeela (who married Young in 1963), composers Terry Riley and Yoshi Wada, philosophers Henry Flynt and Catherine Christer Hennix and many others.

Young considers The Well-Tuned Piano—a permuting composition of themes and improvisations for just-intuned solo piano—to be his masterpiece. Performances have exceeded six hours in length, and so far have been documented twice: first on a five-CD set issued by Gramavision, then a later performance on a DVD on Young's own Just Dreams label. One of the defining works of American musical minimalism, it is strongly influenced by mathematical composition as well as Hindustani classical music practice.

Together Young and Zazeela have realized a long series of semi-permanent "Dream House" installations, which combine Young's just-intuned sine waves in elaborate, symmetrical configurations and Zazeela's quasi-calligraphic light sculptures. The effect is rigorous yet sensual, utilizing aspects of the viewer/auditor's perception to create sensory overload within a barely defined physical space. From January through April 19, 2009, "Dream House" was installed in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of The Third Mind exhibition.

Influences

Young's first musical influence came in early childhood in Bern. He relates that "the very first sound that I recall hearing was the sound of wind blowing under the eaves and around the log extensions at the corners of the log cabin". Continuous sounds—human-made as well as natural—fascinated him as a child. The four pitches he later named the "Dream chord", on which he based many of his mature works, came from his early age appreciation of the continuous sound made by the telephone poles in Bern.

Jazz is one of his main influences and until 1956 he planned to devote his career to it. At first, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh influenced his alto saxophone playing style, and later John Coltrane shaped Young's use of the sopranino saxophone. Jazz was, together with Indian music, an important influence on the use of improvisation in his works after 1962. La Monte Young discovered Indian music in 1957 on the campus of UCLA. He cites Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and Chatur Lal (tabla) as particularly significant. The discovery of the tambura, which he learned to play with Pandit Pran Nath, was a decisive influence in his interest in long sustained sounds. Young also acknowledges the influence of Japanese music, especially Gagaku, and Pygmy music.

La Monte Young discovered classical music rather late, thanks to his teachers at university. He cites Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Pérotin, Léonin, Claude Debussy and Organum musical style as important influences, but what made the biggest impact on his compositions was the serialism of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern.

Young was also keen to pursue his musical endeavors with the help of psychedelics. Cannabis, LSD and peyote played an important part in Young's life from mid-1950s onwards, when he was introduced to them by Terry Jennings and Billy Higgins. He said that "everybody [he] knew and worked with was very much into drugs as a creative tool as well as a consciousness-expanding tool". This was the case with the musicians of the Theatre of Eternal Music, with whom he "got high for every concert: the whole group". He considers that the cannabis experience helped him open up to where he went with Trio for Strings, though sometimes it proved a disadvantage when performing anything which required keeping track of the number of elapsed bars. He commented on the subject:

These tools can be used to your advantage if you're a master of [them]... If used wisely — the correct tool for the correct job — they can play an important role... It allows you to go within yourself and focus on certain frequency relationships and memory relationships in a very, very interesting way.

Reputation

La Monte Young's use of long tones and exceptionally high volume has been extremely influential with Young's associates: Tony Conrad, Jon Hassell, Rhys Chatham, Michael Harrison, Henry Flynt, Ben Neill, Charles Curtis, and Catherine Christer Hennix. Young's students include Michael Harrison, Arnold Dreyblatt and Daniel James Wolf. It has also been notably influential on John Cale's contribution to The Velvet Underground's sound; Cale has been quoted as saying "LaMonte [Young] was perhaps the best part of my education and my introduction to musical discipline."

Brian Eno was similarly influenced by Young's use of repetition in music. In 1981, he referred to X for Henry Flynt by saying "It really is a cornerstone of everything I've done since". Eno had himself performed the piece as a student in 1960.

Andy Warhol attended the 1962 première of the static composition by La Monte Young called Trio for Strings and subsequently created his famous series of static films including Kiss, Eat, and Sleep (for which Young was initially commissioned to provide music). Uwe Husslein cites film-maker Jonas Mekas, who accompanied Warhol to the Trio premiere and claims that Warhol's static films were directly inspired by the performance. In 1963 Warhol, Young, and Walter De Maria briefly formulated a musical group, which included lyrics written by Jasper Johns.

The album Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music by the band Spacemen 3 is influenced by La Monte Young's concept of Dream Music, evidenced by their inclusion of his notes on the jacket.

Bowery Electric dedicated the song "Postscript" on the 1996 album Beat to Young and Riley.

Lou Reed's 1975 album Metal Machine Music states "Drone cognizance and harmonic possibilities vis a vis Lamont Young's Dream Music (sic)" among its "Specifications".

Drone rock pioneer Dylan Carlson has stated Young's work as being a major influence to him.

Quotes about Young

• "If you were going across the prairie in a Conestoga wagon, La Monte was the father and he always had a wife and everything was like his scene. Everybody was there playing with him, but he was the hierarchical chief." Billy Name

List of works

• Scherzo in a minor (c. 1953), piano;
• Rondo in d minor (c. 1953), piano;
• Annod (1953–55), dance band or jazz ensemble;
• Wind Quintet (1954);
• Variations (1955), string quartet;
• Young's Blues (c. 1955-59);
• Fugue in d minor (c. 1956), violin, viola, cello;
• Op. 4 (1956), brass, percussion;
• Five Small Pieces for String Quartet, On Remembering A Naiad, 1. A Wisp, 2. A Gnarl, 3. A Leaf, 4. A Twig, 5. A Tooth (1956);
• Canon (1957), any two instruments;
• Fugue in a minor (1957), any four instruments;
• Fugue in c minor (1957), organ or harpsichord;
• Fugue in eb minor (1957), brass or other instruments;
• Fugue in f minor (1957), two pianos;
• Prelude in f minor (1957), piano;
• Variations for Alto Flute, Bassoon, Harp and String Trio (1957);
• for Brass (1957), brass octet;
• for Guitar (1958), guitar;
• Trio for Strings (1958), violin, viola, cello;
• Study (c.1958-59), violin, viola (unfinished);
• Sarabande (1959), keyboard, brass octet, string quartet, orchestra, others;
• Studies I, II, and III (1959), piano;
• Vision (1959), piano, 2 brass, recorder, 4 bassoons, violin, viola, cello, contrabass and making use of a random number book;
• [Untitled] (1959–60), live friction sounds;
• [Untitled] (1959–62), jazz-drone improvisations;
• Poem for Chairs, Tables, Benches, etc. (1960), chairs, tables, benches and unspecified sound sources;
• 2 Sounds (1960), recorded friction sounds;
• Compositions 1960 #s 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15 (1960), performance pieces;
• Piano Pieces for David Tudor #s 1, 2, 3 (1960), performance pieces;
• Invisible Poem Sent to Terry Jennings (1960), performance pieces;
• Piano Pieces for Terry Riley #s 1, 2 (1960), performance pieces;
• Target for Jasper Johns (1960), piano;
• Arabic Numeral (Any Integer) to H.F. (1960), piano(s) or gong(s) or ensembles of at least 45 instruments of the same timbre, or combinations of the above, or orchestra;
• Compositions 1961 #s 1 - 29 (1961), performance pieces;
• Young's Dorian Blues in Bb (c. 1960 or 1961);
• Young's Dorian Blues in G (c. 1960-1961–present);
• Young's Aeolian Blues in Bb (Summer 1961);
• Death Chant (1961), male voices, carillon or large bells;
• Response to Henry Flynt Work Such That No One Knows What's Going On (c. 1962);
• [Improvisations] (1962–64), sopranino saxophone, vocal drones, various instruments. Realizations include: Bb Dorian Blues, The Fifth/Fourth Piece, ABABA, EbDEAD, The Overday, Early Tuesday Morning Blues, and Sunday Morning Blues;
• Poem on Dennis' Birthday (1962), unspecified instruments;
• The Four Dreams of China (The Harmonic Versions) (1962), including The First Dream of China, The First Blossom of Spring, The First Dream of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, The Second Dream of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, tunable, sustaining instruments of like timbre, in multiples of 4;
• Studies in The Bowed Disc (1963), gong;
• Pre-Tortoise Dream Music (1964), sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, vocal drone, violin, viola, sine waves;
• The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys (1964–present), voices, various instruments, sine waves. Realizations include: Prelude to The Tortoise, The Tortoise Droning Selected Pitches from The Holy Numbers for The Two Black Tigers, The Green Tiger and The Hermit, The Tortoise Recalling The Drone of The Holy Numbers as They Were Revealed in The Dreams of The Whirlwind and The Obsidian Gong and Illuminated by The Sawmill, The Green Sawtooth Ocelot and The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer;
• The Well-Tuned Piano (1964–73/81–present). Each realization is a separately titled and independent composition. Over 60 realizations to date. World première: Rome 1974. American première: New York 1975;
• Sunday Morning Dreams (1965), tunable sustaining instruments and/or sine waves;
• Composition 1965 $50 (1965), performance piece;
• Map of 49's Dream The Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (1966–present), voices, various instruments, sine waves;
• Bowed Mortar Relays (1964) (realization of Composition 1960 # 9), Soundtracks for Andy Warhol Films "Eat," "Sleep," "Kiss," "Haircut," tape;
• The Two Systems of Eleven Categories (1966–present), theory work;
• Chords from The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys (1967–present), sine waves. Realizations include: Intervals and Triads from Map of 49's Dream The Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (1967), sound environment;
• Robert C. Scull Commission (1967), sine waves;
• Claes and Patty Oldenburg Commission (1967), sine waves;
• Betty Freeman Commission (1967), sound and light box & sound environment;
• Drift Studies (1967–present), sine waves;
• for Guitar (Just Intonation Version) (1978), guitar;
• for Guitar Prelude and Postlude (1980), one or more guitars;
• The Subsequent Dreams of China (1980), tunable, sustaining instruments of like timbre, in multiples of 8;
• The Gilbert B. Silverman Commission to Write, in Ten Words or Less, a Complete History of Fluxus Including Philosophy, Attitudes, Influences, Purposes (1981);
• Chords from The Well-Tuned Piano (1981–present), sound environments. Includes: The Opening Chord (1981), The Magic Chord (1984), The Magic Opening Chord (1984);
• Trio for Strings (1983) Versions for string quartet, string orchestra, and violin, viola, cello, bass;
• Trio for Strings, trio basso version (1984), viola, cello, bass;
• Trio for Strings, sextet version (1984);
• Trio for Strings, String Octet Version (1984), 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 2 basses;
• Trio for Strings Postlude from The Subsequent Dreams of China (c. 1984), bowed strings;
• The Melodic Versions (1984) of The Four Dreams of China (1962), including The First Dream of China, The First Blossom of Spring, The First Dream of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, The Second Dream of The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, tunable, sustaining instruments of like timbre, in multiples of 4;
• The Melodic Versions (1984) of The Subsequent Dreams of China, (1980) including The High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer's Second Dream of The First Blossom of Spring, tunable, sustaining instruments of like timbre, in multiples of 8;
• The Big Dream (1984), sound environment;
• Orchestral Dreams (1985), orchestra;
• The Big Dream Symmetries #s 1 - 6 (1988), sound environments;
• The Symmetries in Prime Time from 144 to 112 with 119 (1989), including The Close Position Symmetry, The Symmetry Modeled on BDS # 1, The Symmetry Modeled on BDS # 4, The Symmetry Modeled on BDS # 7, The Romantic Symmetry, The Romantic Symmetry (over a 60 cycle base), The Great Romantic Symmetry, sound environments;
• The Lower Map of The Eleven's Division in The Romantic Symmetry (over a 60 cycle base) in Prime Time from 144 to 112 with 119 (1989–1990), unspecified instruments and sound environment;
• The Prime Time Twins (1989–90) including The Prime Time Twins in The Ranges 144 to 112; 72 to 56 and 38 to 28; Including The Special Primes 1 and 2 (1989);
• The Prime Time Twins in The Ranges 576 to 448; 288 to 224; 144 to 112; 72 to 56; 36 to 28; with The Range Limits 576, 448, 288, 224, 144, 56 and 28 (1990), sound environments;
• Chronos Kristalla (1990), string quartet;
• The Young Prime Time Twins (1991), including The Young Prime Time Twins in The Ranges 2304 to 1792; 1152 to 896; 576 to 448; 288 to 224; 144 to 112; 72 to 56; 36 to 28; Including or Excluding The Range Limits 2304, 1792, 1152, 576, 448, 288, 224, 56 and 28 (1991),
• The Young Prime Time Twins in The Ranges 2304 to 1792; 1152 to 896; 576 to 448; 288 to 224; 144 to 112; 72 to 56; 36 to 28; 18 to 14; Including or Excluding The Range Limits 2304, 1792, 1152, 576, 448, 288, 224, 56, 28 and 18; and Including The Special Young Prime Twins Straddling The Range Limits 1152, 72 and 18 (1991),
• The Young Prime Time Twins in The Ranges 1152 to 896; 576 to 448; 288 to 224; 144 to 112; 72 to 56; 36 to 28; Including or Excluding The Range Limits 1152, 576, 448, 288, 224, 56 and 28; with One of The Inclusory Optional Bases: 7; 8; 14:8; 18:14:8; 18:16:14; 18:16:14:8; 9:7:4; or The Empty Base (1991), sound environments;
• The Symmetries in Prime Time from 288 to 224 with 279, 261 and 2 X 119 with One of The Inclusory Optional Bases: 7; 8; 14:8; 18:14:8; 18:16:14; 18:16:14:8; 9:7:4; or The Empty Base (1991–present), including The Symmetries in Prime Time When Centered above and below The Lowest Term Primes in The Range 288 to 224 with The Addition of 279 and 261 in Which The Half of The Symmetric Division Mapped above and Including 288 Consists of The Powers of 2 Multiplied by The Primes within The Ranges of 144 to 128, 72 to 64 and 36 to 32 Which Are Symmetrical to Those Primes in Lowest Terms in The Half of The Symmetric Division Mapped below and Including 224 within The Ranges 126 to 112, 63 to 56 and 31.5 to 28 with The Addition of 119 and with One of The Inclusory Optional Bases: 7; 8; 14:8; 18:14:8; 18:16:14; 18:16:14:8; 9:7:4; or The Empty Base (1991), sound environments;
• Annod (1953–55) 92 X 19 Version for Zeitgeist (1992), alto saxophone, vibraphone, piano, bass, drums, including 92 XII 22 Two-Part Harmony and The 1992 XII Annod Backup Riffs;
• Just Charles & Cello in The Romantic Chord (2002–2003), cello, pre-recorded cello drones and light design;
• Raga Sundara, vilampit khayal set in Raga Yaman Kalyan (2002–present), voices, various instruments, tambura drone;
• Trio for Strings (1958) Just Intonation Version (1984-2001-2005), 2 cellos, 2 violins, 2 violas;

Discography

• Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume One: Day of Niagara with John Cale, Tony Conrad, Marian Zazeela, and Angus MacLise [Recorded 1965] (Table of the Elements, 2000. Bootleg recording of dubious title, credits, and quality Not authorized by La Monte Young)
• 31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM Munich from Map of 49's Dream The Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery; 23 VIII 64 2:50:45-3:11 AM the Volga Delta from Studies in The Bowed Disc [a.k.a. The Black Record] (Edition X, West Germany, 1969)
• La Monte Young Marian Zazeela The Theatre of Eternal Music - Dream House 78' 17" (Shandar, 1974)
• The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25 (6:17.50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC) (Gramavision, 1988)
• 90 XII C. 9:35-10:52 PM NYC, The Melodic Version (1984) of The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer From the Four Dreams of China (Gramavision, 1991)
• Just Stompin': Live at The Kitchen (Gramavision, 1993)
• The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath" (82 V11 15 c. 6:35 - c.7:35 PM + c.6:37-6:52:30 PM NYC) (Just Dreams JD001) 1999
• The Well-Tuned Piano in The Magenta Lights (87 V 10 6:43:00 PM 87 V 11 01:07:45 AM NYC) (Just Dreams, DVD-9, 2000)

Compilations

• Small Pieces (5) for String Quartet ("On Remembering a Naiad") (1956) [included on Arditti String Quartet Edition, No. 15: U.S.A. (Disques Montaigne, 1993)]
• Sarabande for any instruments (1959) [included on Just West Coast (Bridge, 1993)]
• "89 VI 8 c. 1:45-1:52 AM Paris Encore" from Poem for Tables, Chairs and Benches, etc. (1960) [included on Flux: Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine #24]
• Excerpt "31 I 69 c. 12:17:33-12:24:33 PM NYC" [included on Aspen #8's flexi-disc (1970)] from Drift Study; "31 I 69 c. 12:17:33-12:49:58 PM NYC" from Map of 49's Dream The Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals (1969) [included on Ohm and Ohm+ (Ellipsis Arts, 2000 & 2005)]
• 566 for Henry Flynt [included on Music in Germany 1950–2000: Experimental Music Theatre (Eurodisc 173675, 7-CD set, 2004)]

References

• Duckworth, William. 1995. Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice-Hall International. ISBN 0-02-870823-7 Reprinted 1999, New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80893-5
• Eno, Brian, and Russell Mills. 1986. More Dark than Shark. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-13883-7
• Grimshaw, Jeremy. 2005. "Music of a 'More Exalted Sphere': Compositional Practice, Biography, and Cosmology in the Music of La Monte Young." Doctoral dissertation, Eastman School of Music. Ann Arbor: UMI/ProQuest.
• Herzfeld, Gregor. 2007. Zeit als Prozess und Epiphanie in der experimentellen amerikanischen Musik. Charles Ives bis La Monte Young. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 285-341. ISBN 978-3-515-09033-9
• Howard, Ed. 2003. "The Dream House". Stylus (online magazine, 17 November).
• Husslein, Uwe (ed.). 1990. Pop Goes Art: Andy Warhol & Velvet Underground: anläßlich der gleichnamigen Ausstellung in der Hamburger Kunsthalle, 30.11.1990–3.2. 1991. Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Popkultur 1. Wuppertal: Institut für Popkultur.
• LaBelle, Brandon. 2006. Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art. New York and London: Continuum International Publishing.
• Potter, Keith. 2000. Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Music in the Twentieth Century series. Cambridge, UK; New York, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Scherman, Tony, and David Dalton. 2009. POP: The Genius of Andy Warhol. New York: Harper Collins.
• Journal of Experimental Music Studies (21 June)Dave Smith. 2004. "Following a Straight Line: La Monte Young." Updated reprint of Contact 18 (1977–78), 4-9.
• Solare, Juan María. 2006. "El Trío serial de La Monte Young". [About Young's Trio for Strings (1958)]. Doce Notas Preliminares, no. 17:112–42.
• Strickland, Edward. 2001. "Young, La Monte". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
• Watson, Steven. 2003. Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-42372-9
• Young, Logan K. 2014. "1,000 Anagrams for La Monte Young". New York: Peanut Gallery Press.
• [1] Ghosn, Joseph. 2010. "La Monte Young". Marseilles, France : Le Mot Et Le Reste.
• [2] Young, La Monte, ed. 1963. An Anthology of Chance Operations. New York: La Monte Young & Jackson Mac Low.

External links

• La Monte Young page on Mela Foundation
• La Monte Young page on Other Minds
• La Monte Young page on UbuWeb
• La Monte Young biography at Kunst im Regenbogenstadl
• La Monte Young on Record from The Wire magazine
• Farley, William (Dir.). In Between the Notes: A Portrait of Pandit Pran Nath, Master Indian Musician. Video documentary produced by Other Minds.
• Gann, Kyle. “La Monte Young.”
• Young, La Monte (Ed.). “An Anthology of Chance Operations”. Something Else, 1963. (PDF version of the original publication on UbuWeb)
• Young, La Monte. “Notes on Continuous Periodic Composite Sound Waveform Environment Realizations.” Aspen 8 — The Fluxus Issue, edited by Dan Graham, designed by George Maciunas (1970–71). The issue also features a sound recording of Young’s Drift Study 31 1 69.
• Young, La Monte. 89 VI 8 c. 1:42-1:52 AM Paris Encore (audio duration 10:33). Tellus #24 Flux Tellus, published on the Tellus Audio Cassette Magazine.
• link to page at Guggenheim Museum in New York where Young is represented in the exhibition The Third Mind and during which he will perform on March 14 & 21, 2009.

Interviews

• Golden, Barbara. “Conversation with La Monte Young.” eContact! 12.2 — Interviews (2) (April 2010). Montréal: CEC.
• NewMusicBox: "LaMonte Young and Marian Zazeela at the Dream House" (October 1, 2003). La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in conversation with Oteri, Frank J. on August 13–14, 2003. (includes video)
• La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela on WNYC’s New Sounds #449. Audio of a 1990 radio show featuring an interview and sound recordings.