La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist known as one of the first American minimalist composers and a key figure in post-war avant-garde music. He is best known for using long, continuous sounds, starting with his 1958 piece called Trio for Strings. His compositions have raised questions about what music is and how it is defined, especially in the written instructions of his Compositions 1960. Although few of his recordings are still available, his work has influenced many musicians in different styles, including avant-garde, rock, and ambient music.

Young played jazz saxophone and studied composition in California during the 1950s. In 1960, he moved to New York, where he became a central figure in the downtown music and Fluxus art scenes. He became known for creating early drone music (originally called dream music) with his group called the Theatre of Eternal Music, working with people like Tony Conrad, John Cale, and his wife, the multimedia artist Marian Zazeela. In 1964, he started working on an unfinished piece called The Well-Tuned Piano, which he performed in different versions over the years.

Between 1962 and 2024, Young worked closely with Zazeela. Together, they recorded music, performed live, and created the Dream House sound and light environment. Starting in 1970, Young and Zazeela studied under the Indian singer Pandit Pran Nath. In 2002, Young and Zazeela formed a group called the Just Alap Raga Ensemble with their student, Jung Hee Choi.

Biography

Young was born in a log cabin in Bern, Idaho. As a child, he was influenced by the constant sounds around him, like wind and electrical transformers. During his childhood, Young’s family moved several times before settling in Los Angeles because his father was looking for work. He was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He graduated from John Marshall High School. Young began studying music at Los Angeles City College and later transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1958. In the jazz scene of Los Angeles, Young played with famous musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Eric Dolphy. He also studied at the University of California, Berkeley from 1958 to 1960. In 1959, he attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music in Germany under Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1960, he moved to New York to study electronic music with Richard Maxfield at the New School for Social Research. His music during this time was influenced by composers like Anton Webern, Gregorian chant, Indian classical music, Japanese Gagaku, and Indonesian gamelan music.

Young’s early works used the twelve-tone technique, which he studied under Leonard Stein at Los Angeles City College. Stein had worked with Arnold Schoenberg, the creator of the twelve-tone method, while Schoenberg taught at UCLA. Young also studied composition with Robert Stevenson at UCLA and with Seymore Shifrin at UC Berkeley. In 1958, he created the Trio for Strings, originally written for violin, viola, and cello. This piece is considered an important starting point for minimalism. When Young visited Darmstadt in 1959, he met John Cage, a famous composer, and David Tudor, a pianist who later performed Young’s works. Tudor encouraged Young to communicate with Cage, and soon Young helped share Cage’s music on the West Coast. Cage and Tudor also performed Young’s works in the United States and Europe. Inspired by Cage, Young began using ideas from indeterminacy in his music, including unusual sounds and actions.

In 1960, Young moved to New York City. In 1961, he worked with George Maciunas, the founder of Fluxus, at an electronic music course. Maciunas later created a book called An Anthology of Chance Operations, which included experimental art and music inspired by Cage. Young and Jackson Mac Low co-published the book in 1963. Earlier, in December 1960, Young organized concerts by members of the Fluxus movement at Yoko Ono’s loft in New York. These events included artists, musicians, and performers, and were attended by figures like John Cage, Peggy Guggenheim, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp.

During this time, Young wrote short, poetic scores that resembled haiku. These pieces, like those in Compositions 1960, included unusual instructions, such as “draw a straight line and follow it” or “build a fire.” Some of these works explored ideas from the Dada movement, challenging traditional views of music and art. One piece, Composition 1960 #7, used a B, an F#, and a perfect fifth with the instruction: “To be held for a long time.”

In 1962, Young created The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, based on a set of four musical notes he called his “dream chord.” This piece inspired later works, including The Four Dreams of China, which used specific pitches played continuously. Young also planned Dream House, a sound and light installation meant to be a “living organism” where musicians would create music nonstop. To realize this idea, he formed the group Theatre of Eternal Music, which included Marian Zazeela (his wife), Angus MacLise, Billy Name, John Cale, Tony Conrad, and others.

In 1965, Young conducted the FluxOrchestra at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. The program was folded into paper airplanes and thrown into the audience during the performance.

In 1966, Young and Zazeela created their first continuous sound and light environment in their New York loft. This space, called Dream House, used sine wave generators and light sources to produce floating sculptures and color displays. The installation ran almost nonstop from 1966 to 1970, except for brief breaks to listen to other music. Young and Zazeela lived and worked in this environment, studying its effects on themselves and visitors. Their performances often lasted for very long periods, with no clear beginning or end. In their daily lives, they followed an unusual sleep-wake cycle, with “days” longer than 24 hours.

By 1970, Young was interested in Asian music and met Shyam Batnager, who introduced him to the music of Pandit Pran Nath. Young studied with Pran Nath for the rest of Pran Nath’s life, with support from the Dia Art Foundation. Other students of Pran Nath included Terry Riley, Jon Hassell, and others.

Young considers The Well-Tuned Piano, a solo piano piece using just-intoned scales, to be his masterpiece. He first performed it in Rome in 1974, 10 years after composing it. He later performed it again in New York in 1975.

Influences

Young’s first musical influence began in early childhood in Bern. He said, “the very first sound I remember hearing was the sound of wind blowing under the edges of the roof and around the wooden parts at the corners of the log cabin.” He was fascinated by continuous sounds, both natural and man-made, from a young age. He was especially interested in long, continuous sounds, such as “the sound of the wind blowing,” the “60 cycle per second drone” from electrical transformers on telephone poles, the tanpura drone and alap in Indian classical music, “certain repeated patterns in serialism, like the slow movement of Webern’s Symphony Opus 21,” and Japanese gagaku music, which includes instruments like the Sho that produce long tones. The four musical notes he later called the “Dream chord,” which he used in many of his later works, came from his early appreciation of the continuous sound made by telephone poles in Bern.

Jazz was one of his main influences. Before 1956, he planned to focus his career on it. At first, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh influenced how he played the alto saxophone. Later, John Coltrane shaped his use of the sopranino saxophone. Jazz, along with Indian music, played an important role in how he used improvisation in his works after 1962. He discovered Indian music in 1957 at UCLA. He said Ali Akbar Khan (who plays the sarod) and Chatur Lal (who plays the tabla) were especially important. Learning to play the tanpura with Pandit Pran Nath was a key moment that deepened his interest in long, sustained sounds. He also acknowledged the influence of Japanese gagaku music and Pygmy music.

Young learned about classical music later in life through his university teachers. He said Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Pérotin, Léonin, Claude Debussy, and the Organum musical style were important influences. The serialism of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern had the greatest impact on his work.

Young also used mind-altering drugs to help with his music. Cannabis, LSD, and peyote were important in his life from the mid-1950s onward, after Terry Jennings and Billy Higgins introduced him to them. He said, “everyone I knew and worked with also used drugs as a creative tool and a way to expand their understanding of the mind.” This was true for the musicians in the Theatre of Eternal Music, who “got high for every concert: the whole group.” He said the experience with cannabis helped him create his work Trio for Strings, though it sometimes made it harder to keep track of the number of musical sections during performances.

Legacy

La Monte Young's use of long tones and just intonation has greatly influenced his group of associates, including Tony Conrad, Jon Hassell, Rhys Chatham, Michael Harrison, Henry Flynt, Ben Neill, Charles Curtis, and Catherine Christer Hennix. His work also influenced John Cale's contributions to The Velvet Underground's sound. Cale once said, "LaMonte [Young] was perhaps the best part of my education and my introduction to musical discipline." His work has inspired many musicians across different genres, such as minimalist composer Terry Riley, experimental rock groups The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth, and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno. Eno called him "the daddy of us all." In 1981, Eno referred to X for Henry Flynt by saying, "It really is a cornerstone of everything I've done since."

Andy Warhol attended the 1962 premiere of La Monte Young's static composition called Trio for Strings. Uwe Husslein cites filmmaker Jonas Mekas, who accompanied Warhol to the premiere, stating that Warhol's static films were directly inspired by the performance. In 1963, Young joined Warhol's musical group The Druds, an avant-garde noise music band, but left after the second rehearsal. In 1964, Young created a loud minimalist drone soundtrack for Warhol's static films Kiss, Eat, Haircut, and Sleep when they were shown as small TV-sized projections at the entrance lobby of the third New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center.

According to Seth Colter Walls, writing in The Guardian, while Young has released very little recorded material, much of it is currently out of print, he has had a "very large influence on other artists."

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

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, as shown by their inclusion of his notes on the jacket. In 2018, Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3, along with Etienne Jaumet of Zombie Zombie and Indian dhrupad singer Céline Wadier, released Infinite Music: A Tribute to La Monte Young.

Drone rock musician Dylan Carlson has said Young's work was a major influence on Earth's 1993 studio album Earth 2. In 2015, Stephen O'Malley of the drone metal band Sunn O))) cited Earth 2 and La Monte Young as major influences on his music.

"Postscript," a song on the Bowery Electric album Beat, by the band formed by La Monte Young student Lawrence Chandler, was dedicated to La Monte Young and Terry Riley.

Discography

• Drift Study, recorded from 4:37:40 to 5:09:50 PM on August 5, 1968, in New York City (SMS 4 Limited Edition, 1968)
• Drift Study, recorded from 10:26 to 10:49 PM on July 31, 1969, and from 2:50:45 to 3:11 AM on August 23, 1964, titled The Volga Delta (also known as The Black Record) by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela (Edition X, 1969)
• Dream House 78' 17" by La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and The Theatre of Eternal Music (Shandar, 1974)
• The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer from the Four Dreams of China (Gramavision, 1991)
• The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela (Just Dreams, 1999)
• Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume One: Day of Niagara (1965), performed by John Cale, Tony Conrad, Angus MacLise, La Monte Young, and Marian Zazeela (Table of the Elements, 2000. Not authorized by La Monte Young.)

• The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25, recorded from 6:17.50 to 11:18:59 PM in New York City (Gramavision, 1988)
• Just Stompin': Live at The Kitchen by La Monte Young and the Forever Bad Blues Band (Gramavision, 1993)
• Trio for Strings (1958), performed live at Dia:Chelsea Dream House by The Theatre of Eternal Music String Ensemble, including four discs and a 32-page set of liner notes (Dia Art Foundation, 2022)

• Small Pieces (5) for String Quartet ("On Remembering a Naiad") (1956), included on the 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" 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)

List of works

• Scherzo in a minor (around 1953), piano;
• Rondo in d minor (around 1953), piano;
• Annod (1953–55), dance band or jazz ensemble;
• Wind Quintet (1954);
• Variations (1955), string quartet;
• Young's Blues (around 1955–59);
• Fugue in d minor (around 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 Quartet (1957);
• Vision (1957), string quartet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string quartet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass ensemble;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind ensemble;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion ensemble;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string quintet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass quintet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind quintet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion quintet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano quintet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string sextet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass sextet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind sextet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion sextet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano sextet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string septet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass septet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind septet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion septet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano septet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string octet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass octet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind octet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion octet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano octet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string nonet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass nonet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind nonet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion nonet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano nonet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string decet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass decet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), woodwind decet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), percussion decet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), piano decet;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), string ensemble;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (1957), brass ensemble;
• Young's Prime Time Twins (195