"Clapping Music" (Steve Reich) - Arr. Luís Oliveira *headphones recommended*

In this video I perform an arrangement I did for "Clapping Music", a minimalist piece written by Steve Reich in 1972. It is written for two performers and is performed entirely by clapping. Instead of phasing, one performer claps a basic rhythm, a variation of the fundamental African bell pattern 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 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.