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Steve Reich

Steve Reich is an American composer, born in 1936. He wrote some serial music but preferred the diatonic and tonal sound of minimalism. Having been influenced by the compositions of Terry Riley, Reich began composing in the minimalist art form. His influences include jazz, Balinese gamelan, music from sub-Saharan Africa and Middle Eastern singing.

The elements of music to consider

Clapping Music was composed in 1972. The music has been stripped down to the very basics and contains no melody, harmony, instruments or voices.

Melody

The music has no melody as it is composed solely on rhythm.

Instrumentation

The music consists of two performers clapping throughout with no instruments or voices. The two clapping performers can choose whether they want to clap with cupped or flat hands but both performers must do the same.

Tempo, rhythm and metre

The music is based on a version of the traditional African bell rhythm. This has a 12/8 time signature and is in compound time. It has a quick tempo and should be performed around 180 bpm. The music should last around five minutes.

Texture and structure

Each performer begins by clapping their given pattern. They perform the same one-bar rhythm in unison with the number of repeats fixed at 12 repeats per bar.

The performer with clapping rhythm 1 repeats their rhythm continuously without change. The performer clapping rhythm 2 shifts the whole pattern a quaver forward after 12 repetitions. This technique is called phrase shifting. As the phrases move out of sync with one another, a polyrhythmic texture is created. The process continues until both performers are synchronised once more clapping the same rhythm in unison.