Clapping music is a minimalist piece written by Steve Reich in 1972. It is written for two performers and is performed entirely by clapping. This article is about a musical style. ... Steve Reich Steve Reich (born Stephen Michael Reich, October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... A clap is the sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. ...
A development of the phase shifting technique from Reich's earlier works such as piano phase, it was written when Reich wanted to (in his own words) "create a piece of music that needed no instruments beyond the human body". However, he quickly found that the mechnism of phasing slowly in and out of tempo with each other was inappropriate for the simple clapping involved in producing the actual sounds that made the music. This article is about the musical technique. ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ...
Instead of phasing, one performer claps a basic rhythm of 12 quaver beats in length for the entirity of the piece. The other claps the same pattern, but every 12 bars he misses the 12th quaver, so that s/he shifts by a quaver every 12 bars over the first performer's "base" rhythm. Figure 1. ...
The two performers continue this until the second performer has shifted 12 quavers and is hence playing the pattern in unison with the first performer again (as at the beginning), some 144 bars later. UNISON logo UNISON is the largest trade union in the United Kingdom, with over 1. ... 144 is the natural number following 143 and preceding 145. ...
Reich's music explores such ideas in contemporary music as using tape loops to create phasing patterns — amongst Reich's first works, It's Gonna Rain, Come Out, Drumming, and others — and using processes to create and explore concepts in music (Pendulum Music, Four Organs).
He investigated other musical processes such as augmentation (the temporal lengthening of phrases and melodic fragments).
The piece is based around a cycle of eleven chords introduced at the beginning, followed by a small piece of music based around each chord, and finally a return to the original cycle.
The clapping, floor exercises, and moving on the floor exercises in this text develop coordination of body-mind through right-left brain development; the theory of receiving input through the bodily senses—body to mind and then mind to body for action, powered by spirited, enthusiastic energy—is a basis of somatic education.
For example: Those with impaired hearing can feel the vibrations of music in their hands by touching a piano being played or a sound speaker for a radio, tapes, cds, and some musical instruments; even through their feet on a floor that is vibrating from an instrument being played in the room.
Some ideas for moving expressively to music or rhythmic clapping are: feelings of joy; peace; happiness; sadness; birthday and holiday music; nursery rhymes and poems; folk dance music, classical music, etc. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is one way that explores the relationship of music and movement.
Feeds |
Contact