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Carnegie Hall - Steve Reich @ 70
Reich @ 70 - A Closer Look: Drumming / Clapping Music
“The beginning of some pieces is just a pattern, a pulsation, or sometimes it seems as if the music has simply started of its own accord. But it’s always clear that something, some kind of busy-ness, has been switched on, and that we’re already in the middle of it even if we can’t quite sort out what’s happening.” —Paul Hillier
Photo: Score of Drumming
A CLOSER LOOK: DRUMMING NEXT: Music for 18 Musicians

Reich in His Own Words

On the development of Drumming (2:21)
 

Background

Premiered in 1971, Drumming was a piece that set itself apart from the avant-garde music of the day—pieces that often incorporated mountains of the newly available electronic equipment—by sticking to some fundamental materials: skin, wood, and metal. Even the two female vocalists are employed to mimic these basic, percussive sounds. Despite the length of the piece—anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the performers’ choices regarding repeated sections—Reich focused very specifically on rhythmic development to carry the music forward rather than changes in the key. It is the pattern not the pitch that entrances the ear.

Listen:

Drumming
Part I


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