a fresh look at reich's "clapping music"

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 26 OCTOBER 2005

A Fresh Look at Reich’s“Clapping Music”

BY GLENN KOTCHE

for myself, playing one part with myright hand and the other part with myleft.

When I began to learn the piece I wasintrigued by how much some of the handcombinations were reminiscent of the ad-vanced rudiments I was exposed to as aperforming member of the CavaliersDrum and Bugle Corps (Rosemont, IL),while others were completely fresh andunlike anything I had seen or studied inany method book or rudimental solo.Some examples of the familiar rudimentsinclude Flam Taps, Pataflaflas, consecu-tive Flams, and Swiss Army Triplets.However, there is one important excep-tion: There isn’t supposed to be any“flamming,” as all the parts are to beplayed simultaneously. This fact didn’tstop me from relating to some of the rudi-mental combinations and actually aidedme in learning the piece because of myfamiliarity with these rudiments (Ex-amples 2 and 3).

GLENN KOTCHE

The Monkey Chant for

Solo Drumset

Drumset Clinic/Performance

THURSDAY 1:00 P.M.

Example 1

In January 2001 I was asked to join theChicago-based band Wilco, and imme-diately began working on the band’s

fourth record, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,which was released on the Nonesuch/Warner label. Nonesuch has a rich his-tory of diversity, specializing in the musicof contemporary classical composers andperformers, and is one of the originalchampions of world music with its Ex-plorer series. As a member of Wilco, I waslucky enough to have access to their vastmusic catalog. After being exposed andre-introduced to some of the amazing mu-sic that Nonesuch has released over theyears, a new phase in mydrumming and solo ex-plorations began. I’dlike to focus onjust one of thosecatalysts, SteveReich, and inparticular oneof his earlypieces, “Clap-ping Music”from 1972.

Although I hadbeen exposed toReich’s music whilestudying under JimCampbell at the University ofKentucky, I wasn’t as familiar with someof his early works. Reich is a New York-based composer who initially gained in-ternational acclaim with his taped speechpieces, compositions for his own mixedensemble, and later for his and BerylKorot’s digital video operas. Reich beganexploring the concept of phase shiftingwith his early tape pieces.

“Clapping Music” is an outgrowth ofthose works and an attempt to write apiece of music that would require nothing

but the human body—in this case, twoperformers who hand-clap. Reich statesthat the piece is “to have one performerremain fixed, repeating the same basicpattern throughout, while the secondmoves abruptly, after a number of re-peats, from unison to one beat ahead,and so on, until he is back in unison withthe first performer.” (See Example 1.)

The piece is intended for performancein an auditorium where the echoes andreverberations of the clapping create, asReich states, “a surrounding sensation ofa series of variations of two different pat-terns with their downbeats coinciding.”

Reich and Russell Hartenberger, afounding member of Nexus, per-

form the original recorded ver-sion. When I started digging

into my Steve Reich box setfrom Nonesuch, one of thefirst pieces I heard was“Clapping Music,” and Iwas instantly captivatedby what I heard. (An ar-chival video clip from

1974 of Reich andHartenberger performing

the piece is availablefor viewing at

www.stevereich.com.)As the piece unfolds, the patterns in-

teract to create a garden of rhythms un-like anything I had previously heard. Iwas blown away that something so con-ceptually simple could sound so compli-cated. I transcribed the piece afterreading about its compositional process.Seeing the piece notated for two partsmade me recall when former teacherswould have me learn simple duets assplit parts for the right and left hands. Inow had a personal challenge to see if Icould learn “Clapping Music” as a duet

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A Fresh Look at Reich’s“Clapping Music”

BY GLENN KOTCHE


Because a majority of the rudimentalmusic I had been exposed to was in quar-ter-note-based time signatures (3/4, 4/4,2/4), I initially transcribed the piece in3/4 time. I learned to play the piece frommy own transcribed “score” before seeingReich’s score. When I finally did see hisscore, the fundamental difference be-tween the two was obvious. Reich’s is no-tated in 12/8, not 3/4. It’s important tonote, however, that no time signature ap-pears on the original score as a gesture toremind the performer to keep the piecevoid of any metrical accents.

Instead of being discouraged by this, Ijust decided to learn it as flat as I could,void of accents and obvious inflectionsthat would give away the pulse I wasthinking of. Soon, I began to rethink thisdecision after pondering the two differentpulsing possibilities and how they relatedto the African drumming I was exposedto in college. One of the biggest lessons

from those studies was the cyclical na-ture of African rhythms and how many ofthe voices in an African drum ensemblecan be felt in four or three. In otherwords, 12 pulses can be subdivided intoeither four groups of three pulses orthree groups of four pulses.

Reich studied African drumming inGhana in 1970, so I felt it would be nodisrespect to the composer to try “Clap-ping Music” with the addition of one orboth of those metrical accents. Since thehands were to be played flat I needed theinflection of the pulse to come from some-place else. Being a “drumset guy,” I natu-rally looked to the feet to provide thepulse. Once again, I felt that by addingfeet into this composition I would some-how have the composer’s blessing sincehe also studied jazz drumming, and inparticular was a fan of the polyrhythmicstyle of the late, great, Elvin Jones.

After learning how to play the piece as

Example 3

Example 2


a duet between the hands—played on twodrums with “clapping sticks” that I pur-chased in Korea—I learned it separatelywith both a 12/8 and a 3/4 pulse in thefeet. It is important to note, though, thatReich has stated if there were to be anew version of “Clapping Music” hewould add 3/2 as the meter, since this isthe way he thinks of the piece while per-forming it (Example 4).

Around this time I was also finishing asolo drumset version of another None-such gem, the Explorer Series recordingof the Balinese Ketjak or “MonkeyChant.” Bob Hurwitz, the longtime presi-dent of Nonesuch, was aware of this andof the fact that I did solo drumset perfor-mances and recordings and asked me toplay on a program he was putting to-gether for his day as honorary principalat the LaGuardia High School for thePerforming Arts in New York. I was toplay an abbreviated version of the Ketjakpreceded by my version of “Clapping Mu-sic”—and I was following Steve Reichand Thad Wheeler playing the originalversion of the same piece! I was a bitworried about offending Reich with whatcould be interpreted as the hijacking ofhis work. My fears were calmed when Igot the thumbs-up from Reich after per-forming that day. He was happy that ayounger rock drummer would be inter-ested in his earlier work and he enjoyedthe addition of the feet! I was shocked tolearn that he was unaware of anyone elsedoing a complete solo version of this well-known, often-performed, 30-year-oldpiece. I set my sights on recording myversion and sharing what I had learnedwith my students and drummer friends.

After playing the piece so many times,I really noticed my hand control and en-durance improving. While playing, it ac-tually relaxed my arms and almost forcedme to flow in order to pull it off correctly.I had stumbled upon the best warm-up Ihad ever known. “Clapping Music” be-came a staple warm-up before Wilco

shows, which require a lot of power, en-durance, and versatility. I even noticedthat some of the parts I was coming upwith in the studio for new songs wereparts that I wouldn’t have been able toplay a year earlier. The “chops” I gainedfrom this piece and my subsequent appli-cation of what I learned to drumsetopened up new possibilities for me inWilco and with my solo performances.

Since Reich’s reaction to my versionwas so positive, I decided to explore thework beyond the solo adaptation of it.One aspect of the original recording I wasparticularly fond of was the naturally oc-curring nuances and dynamics of thevarious patterns and individual clapping“techniques,” which created a sense ofmelody. That got me thinking about as-signing pitches to the notes so the pat-tern turns into an actual melody. Thisbecame one of several variations on theoriginal that I was to record. Some of theother variations deal with rhythmic con-struction and substitution, unison standposts, and the concept of what I callnegative rhythm. My variations havebeen recorded and will appear on my up-coming third solo percussion record.

One of my former teachers, while I wasan undergrad, was a doctoral candidate,Michael Gould, who went on to becomeassistant professor of percussion at theUniversity of Michigan. He told ourformer professor, Jim Campbell, that hewas going to perform a new solo versionof “Clapping Music.” Jim informed himthat I also had a solo version, which Ihad performed at the Kentucky Day ofPercussion the previous year. We boththought it was great that we had coinci-dentally rediscovered this piece and hadbeen drawn into intriguing possibilitiesfor interpretation that it offered.

Mike’s version is completely differentfrom mine. His initial inspiration was tohave a compact piece that required littleequipment for his frequent solo recitals.His dealt with the two parts not as a duet

Example 4


between the hands with feet accompani-ment, but as a duet between hands (part1) and feet (part 2). He uses LP JamBlocks in place of clapping and usessticking variations to help create the me-lodic aspect to which I referred earlier(see Example 5). This is fitting, sinceReich, while studying with RolandKohloff in the 1950s, was particularlyfond of working in the “drumming bible”of sticking patterns, George LawrenceStone’s Stick Control book.

I took it upon myself to share “Clap-ping Music” with my students and drum-mer friends. One student in particularsaw a whole new way to look at the piece.Jesse Nolan decided to make a largemulti-setup arrangement of it, which hewould perform on his senior recital at In-diana University. Jesse came up withmany voicing and melodic possibilities aswell as expanding upon the changingpulse idea. In his version he plays theoriginal parts in every possible limb com-bination at some point during the12-minute performance. While I concen-trated on the conceptual possibilities andGould on the physical possibilities, Jessemade his version into a solo “tour deforce,” even incorporating the use of a

sampler at some points to play the staticpart.

I couldn’t be happier that this work isgetting a fresh look by a new generationwho are inspired by it, both musicallyand compositionally. It also speaks wellof the timelessness of Reich’s music. Be-sides stumbling upon new concepts ofhow I view rhythm, finding a greatwarm-up, gaining chops, and a staple formy live shows and clinics, one of the mostimportant lessons I learned from this in-vestigation was to look for inspiration ofhow to expand our instrument outsidethe canon of music that typically incorpo-rates drumset. This is one point I try todrive home to students. Whether it beworld music, contemporary composition,electronic music, or whatever, there is a

world of music outside of what we mightthink pertains to us as drumset playersthat can help us to grow as drummersand musicians as it expands the possibili-ties of our chosen instrument.

“Clapping Music” by Steve ReichCopyright © 1979 by Universal Edition

(London) Ltd., London.Reproduced by Permission All Rights Reserved

Glenn Kotche is the drummer/percussion-ist in the Grammy-winning band Wilco.He holds a BM in percussion perfor-mance from the University of Kentucky.In early 2006, Kotche’s third solo percus-sion record, Mobile, is scheduled for re-lease on Nonesuch Records. PN

Example 5Top line: handsBottom line: feet


PASIC 2005 LAB SESSIONS

First introduced at PASIC 2001, “Labs” are designed to be mini hands-onclinic/master class sessions. The presenter demonstrates and performs fora portion of the 50 minute session during which, five or six student playerstake their turn performing and receive a helpful critique. If a studentperformer is interested in participating, he or she may sign up via e-mail,phone, or by fax before October 14, 2005. Each person may sign up formore than one lab, but ultimately acceptance will be based on a first come-first serve basis. For more information, contact Nicholas Wulfkuhle, E-mail:[email protected]; Tel: 580-353-1455; Fax: 580-353-1456.

NAME _________________________________________________

ADDRESS ______________________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP _________________________________________

TEL _______________________E-MAIL _____________________

Notate which lab(s) in which you would like to participate.If multiple labs are selected, number in order of preference.

___ BASS DRUM ___ SNARE DRUM ___ CYMBALS

___ TIMPANI ___ BASS DRUM WITH ATTACHED CYMBAL

PERCUSSIVE ARTS SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONNOVEMBER 2–5, 2005 COLUMBUS, OHIO WWW.PASIC.ORG

BASS DRUMANDREW REAMER

1. Rimsky-Korsakov – Capricioso Espagnol,1st M.

2. Debussy – La Me, 3rd M. 43–463. Stravinsky – Rite of Spring, end of part 1

@ 724. Moussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition,

120–end5. Mahler – 3rd, opening6. Tchaikovsky – 4th, end

SNARE DRUMMICHAEL ROSEN

1. Prokofieff – Lt. Kije2. Rimsky- Korsakow – Scheherazade3 William Schuman – Symphony No. 34. Shostakovich – Symphony No. 105. Rimsky-Korsakow – Capricco Espagnol

CYMBALSSAULIUS ASTRAUSKAS

1. P. Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet2. P. Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4,

4th movement, Finale3. P. Tchaikovsky – Overture 18124. Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade.

4th movement, Finale

TIMPANIDAVID HERBERT

1. Beethoven 12. Beethoven 53. Beethoven 74. Beethoven 9, 1st movement5. Beethoven 9, 2nd movement and

4th movement

WILLIAM PLATTBASS DRUM WITH

ATTACHED CYMBALRepertoire To Be Determined, contactPAS.

SEND TO: PERCUSSIVE ARTS SOCIETY701 NW FERRIS AVENUE, LAWTON, OK 73507

a fresh look at reich's "clapping music"

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