in c is a musical piece composed by terry riley in 1964 for an indefinite number of performers. he suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". a series of short melodic fragments, "in c" is often cited as the first minimalist composition (though la monte young's drone compositions preceded it by several years, "in c" had a greater impact on public consciousness). it was first performed by steve reich, jon gibson, pauline oliveros and morton subotnick at the san francisco tape music center.