Hallaway 1

Roger Hallaway

Professor Magnussen

Music 410

16 December 2016

Steve Reich’s ​Clapping Music

​
Clapping Music is a piece of music written by American composer Steve Reich. It is

written for two players, and is to be performed wholly through the clapping of hands.

Reich wrote ​C​ lapping Music in 1972 and was largely influenced to do so by his

experiences abroad. The first of these experiences was had during his trip to Ghana two years

prior. Reich had spent five weeks in Ghana, where he had been studying percussion with Gideon

Alorwoyie. Alorwoyie was a revered percussionist and served as the master drummer for the

​ in ​Clapping Music, made evident

Ghana Dance Ensemble. Traces of Ghanaian music can be seen

by the initial rhythm being drawn from an African bell pattern as well as the overall

polyrhythmic nature of the​ piece. ​Clapping Music also owes its existence to Reich’s time in

Brussels, where he witnessed flamenco musicians utilizing syncopated hand-claps as a

foundational musical element.

​
The musical progression of ​Clapping Music is done so through the displacement of a

single rhythmic figure. This rhythm is quite similar to many other African bell patterns, which

can be observed in the meter of the figure, as well as its implied accents.
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Reich takes this rhythm and has both musicians clap it out. After twelve repetitions,

Reich asks for one of the performers to adjust their rhythm. That performer then displaces their

rhythm by shifting their entire pattern by one eighth note to the left.

By taking a simple rhythm and moving it over by one eighth note, Reich takes a basic

idea and transforms it into something syncopated and new.

This is one of Reich’s compositional processes known as phase shifting. Phase shifting

can occur in different severities. When two performers are playing or not-playing completely in

unison, the sound can be described as completely in-phase. When one performer is playing and

the other is not, the sound can be described as completely out-of-phase.

Describing the amount of phase can be an incredibly abstract subject when it comes to

multiple pitches and timbres. However, due to the completely binary nature of Reich’s clapping

music, phase relations can actually be mapped out quite easily.

Whenever both players are clapping at the same time, they are completely in-phase.

Whenever they are both resting at the same time, they are completely in-phase. However,

whenever one player is clapping while the other player is resting, they are completely

out-of-phase.
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Since Reich has also decided to contain each degree of displacement into a single cell,

each of the thirteen measures can each be easily analyzed in terms of phase relationships. The

data can then be taken from the severity of these phase relationships and used to discover the

overall contour of the piece. The shifting degrees of phasing give a better idea of the bigger

picture the piece, and after doing so one can observe the moments of highest tension between the

two voices.

Due to the absolute nature of ​Clapping Music, the inner-measure relationships between

the voices can be easily notated through binary methods. An isolated clap is a declaration of

complete out-of-phase between the performers, and should be counted as a singular increment of

the measure’s severity of phase. When both performers clap or rest at the same time, they are

clearly indicated a moment of complete in-phase, and should not be counted at all towards the

measure’s severity of phase.

The first rhythmic displacement can be seen as two unisons, two isolated hits, one unison,

four isolated hits, one unison, one isolated hit, concluded by one unison. By taking these values,

one can assign this measure with an overall phase value of 7, a drastic increase from the initial

measure’s value of 0. The following measure can then be analyzed as well. Following an

addition of the values, one can assign the third measure an overall phase value of 6, a slightly

decrease from the previous measure.

 Hallaway 4

This phase information can be then observed in terms of slopes, wherein one can

compare the numerical increase or decrease from measure to measure and use that information to

trace the overall musical shape of the piece. For instance, one can assign the measure numbers to

the piece’s X-axis. This will depict the passage of time in a graphical display. They can also then

assign the value of phase severity to the piece’s Y-axis. This will depict the fluctuation of phase

relationships throughout ​Clapping Music.

Even by observing the first three measures of the piece, one can already observe a shape

of the piece. Due to complete unison, it starts off at a literal phase severity value of zero and

immediately skyrockets to a value of seven. Following this, it makes a slightly descent by in the

third measure of the piece.

This also helps to understand the powerful impact of the first rhythmic displacement. If

Reich had picked a rhythm or degree of displacement that had resulted in a much small phase

severity value, the second measure ​Clapping Music would have a much less powerful effect. The
 Hallaway 5

immediate increase of phase severity highly contributes to the compelling nature of the piece,

and can be described as the phase equivalent of a sforzando.

Utilizing this method to graph the entire piece, one can find a very pleasing contour

which displays an actually somewhat conventional shape. This may have been instinctual or

completely intentional on Reich’s part, but the circumstances point towards the latter.

The piece starts off completely in phase and immediately reaches a value of 7. Seeing as

the highest value of phase severity is 8, 7 is the highest value that Reich could have used without

giving away the climactic phase relationship of ​Clapping Music. In fact, in Reich had decided to

displace his rhythm in the opposite direction, the piece would have immediately reached a phase

severity value of 8 right off of the bat, thus peaking much too early.

The overall plot of the piece shows a strong introduction of phasing, followed by a

slightly lull which quickly jumps into one of the two peaks of phase severity. Following this first

peak, the piece descends before beginning an actual gradual ascent into the second climax of

phase severity.
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This method of phase analysis was devised specifically for this piece, but there may be

more to learn from its application towards other works that use phasing as a method of

development. Although it is easy to write off pieces such as ​Clapping Music as simple process

works, there is indeed an architecture that serves to make the piece work in a completely musical manner.

Clapping Music is an incredibly important piece of percussion literature. It takes the idea

of phase relationships and strips it down to a rudimental binary. By doing this, it illustrates the

power of musical development through the simple adjustment of phase relationships. Reich

creates a coherent musical shape with a basic, though well-thought out, musical process.

Clapping Music is easy to follow and displays a great power in that simplicity.

The piece could probably not have attained a similar level of success in the other musical

families. The utilization of a non-pitched instrument to perform these rhythms allows the

audience to hear a singular idea without the distraction of tones or articulations.

It is incredibly raw in both its construction and demonstration, and the choice of using

hand-claps as its vessel completely supports this. ​Clapping Music is a very nude piece, and it

displays no hesitation in proudly broadcasting the mechanisms that make it work.

Hallaway 7
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Works Cited

"The Composer Steve Reich Talks to John Wilson". ​Front Row. 28 September 2016. BBC. BBC

Radio Four. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w5y3v>

Steve Reich biography. (n.d.). Retrieved December 16, 2016

<http://www.stevereich.com/bio.html>