''Clapping Music'' is a

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

piece written by Steve Reich in 1972. It is written for two performers and is performed entirely by

clapping A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), ...

. Reich and his ensemble were on tour in Europe in 1972. After a concert in Brussels, the promoter asked him if they would like to go see some

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

music. They ended in a club and watched a pair of musicians who by Reich's account were terrible guitarists and singers. However, when they started clapping very loudly, Reich and his group, who were mainly percussionists, joined in. After the concert Reich realised that he could use this as the basis for work, not least as it could be performed with only a few people rather than taking two trucks of equipment. A development of the

phasing A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscil ...

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 mechanism of phasing slowly in and out of

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

with each other was inappropriate for the simple clapping involved in producing the actual sounds that made the music. Instead of phasing, one performer claps a basic

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

, a variation of the fundamental African

bell pattern A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...

in 12/8 time, for the entirety of the piece. The other claps the same pattern, but after every 8 or 12 bars shifts by one eighth note to the right, skipping one note or rest in the pattern. The two performers continue this until the second performer has shifted 12 eighth notes and is hence playing the pattern in

unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

with the first performer again (as at the beginning), some 144 bars later. The variation of the African bell pattern is minimal; it contains just one additional beat. However, this minimal addition results in a much more interesting piece from the point of view of the variation of syncopation as the piece progresses. A typical recording of the piece, as included in Reich's '' Works 1965–1995'' box set, lasts just under five minutes. The piece was performed at the

Contemporary Arts Museum Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a not-for-profit institution in the Museum District, Houston, Texas, founded in 1948, dedicated to presenting contemporary art to the public. As a non-collecting museum, it strives to provide a forum for visual ...

in Houston, Texas, on 13 November 1973. In dance, the piece was used in 1982 by the Belgian choreographer

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007. Biograph ...

as part of one of her seminal works, ''Fase'', which became a cornerstone of contemporary dance. In 2012 an authorized arrangement for solo piano of ''Clapping Music'' was released on the album ''Which Way Is Up?'' by

Simon Rackham Simon Rackham (born 1964) is an English composer and artist. He is probably best known for his work;‘Which ever way your nose bends’ the first commission by the six piano ensemble Piano Circus, composed as a companion piece to Steve Reich’ ...

, with permission granted by the publisher

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-bas ...

(London). Imagine Dragons used ''Clapping Music'' as the foundation for their 2012 hit " On Top of the World" on their debut studio album ''

Night Visions ''Night Visions'' is the debut studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It was released on September 4, 2012, through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. The album was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as Eng ...

,'' although only a sample is used and Reich's composition does not progress over the course of the song. The piece is also utilized on a remix by James Murphy of the

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

song "

Love Is Lost "Love Is Lost" is a song by English rock musician David Bowie from his album ''The Next Day''. James Murphy's "Hello Steve Reich Mix for the DFA" was released as the fifth single from Bowie's 24th studio album ''The Next Day'' as a promotio ...

". There is a Clapping Music app available for iOS.

References

External links

*Reich, Steve
"Steve Reich Clapping Music Video Medium"
stevereich.com {{Authority control Compositions by Steve Reich 1972 compositions Process music pieces Percussion music