Biography steve reich clapping

Composition by Steve Reich

Clapping Music is a minimalist piece written by American composer Steve Reich in 1972. It is written for two performers and is performed entirely by clapping.

After a concert in Brussels during their 1972 tour of Europe, Reich and his ensemble went to a club to see a performance by two flamenco musicians on the promoter's advice. By Reich's account, the flamenco musicians were "terrible" guitarists and singers, but when they started clapping very loudly, Reich and his group, who were mainly percussionists, joined in.

Biography steve reich clapping music

After the concert, Reich realized that he could use clapping as the basis for a composition which "needed no instruments beyond the human body".^[1]

Clapping Music uses a variation of the phasing technique that Reich had used in earlier compositions such as Piano Phase.

One performer claps a basic rhythm, a variation on an African bell pattern in ¹²
₈ time, for the entirety of the piece. The o