Drumming (Reich)

Performance by Kroumata of Drumming at Stockholms konserthus, Stockholm, May 2007

Drumming is a piece by minimalist composer Steve Reich, dating from 1970–1971.[1] Reich began composition of the work after a short visit to Africa and observing music and musical ensembles there, especially under the Anlo Ewe master drummer Gideon Alorwoyie in Ghana. His visit was cut short after contracting malaria. K. Robert Schwarz describes the work as "minimalism's first masterpiece."[2]

Compositional style

Phasing

Main article: Phasing (music)

The piece employs Reich's trademark technique of phasing. Phasing is achieved when two players, or one player and a recording, are playing a single repeated pattern in unison, usually on the same kind of instrument. One player changes tempo slightly, while the other remains constant, and eventually the two players are one or several beats out of sync with each other. They may either stay there, or phase further, depending on the piece.

Other techniques

K. Robert Schwarz characterized Drumming as a "transitional" piece between Reich's early, more austere compositions and his later works that use less strict forms and structure. Schwarz has also noted that Reich made use of three new techniques, for him, in this work:[3]

  1. "the process of gradually substituting beats for rests (or rests for beats) within a constantly repeating rhythmic cycle", or "rhythmic construction" and "rhythmic reduction"
  2. combination of instruments of different timbres at the same time
  3. incorporation of human voices in imitation of the sounds of the percussion instruments in the ensemble, including whistling effects

Instrumentation and form

In total, the work requires 9 percussionists. With the additional players, the piece can be performed by 12 or 13 players.

The work falls into four parts, with the following instrumentation used in each:[3]

The length of the piece can vary widely, as the number of repeats taken on any given measure is up to the performers. Recordings of the piece span between 55 and 84 minutes.

The entire piece is structured around a single repeated rhythm, one measure of 12/8 long. This rhythm is built up note by note, in the "substitution of beats for rests" technique found in other of Reich's works such as Music for Pieces of Wood, Octet, Music for 18 Musicians, and others. After the rhythm is completely built up, two of the players phase to where they are playing the same pattern one quarter-note apart from each other, and the other bongo players play resulting patterns that can be heard as a result of the combination of the phased patterns.

The rest of the piece continues to use the techniques of beat/rest substitution, phasing, and resultant patterns through its four movements. The transitions consist as follows:

Collaborations

Choreographers such as Laura Dean, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and Ginette Laurin have collaborated on dance performances with Reich on Drumming.[4][5]

Recordings

See also

References

  1. Potter, Keith (January 1986). "Steve Reich: Thoughts for His 50th-Birthday Year". The Musical Times (The Musical Times, Vol. 127, No. 1715) 127 (1715): 13–17. doi:10.2307/965345. JSTOR 965345.
  2. Schwarz, K. Robert. Minimalists, p. 73, (Phaidon; 1996) (ISBN 0 7148 3381 9)
  3. 1 2 Schwarz, K. Robert (Summer 1982). "Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process Part II". Perspectives of New Music (Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 20, No. 1/2) 20 (1/2): 225–286. doi:10.2307/942414. JSTOR 965345. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help);
  4. Cohen, Selma Jeanne (Spring 1976). "Review of books by Simone Forti et al.". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 34 (3): 346–351. JSTOR 430022.
  5. Daniel Felsenfeld (16 October 2001). "Steve Reich: Drumming". andante.com (overall site now defunct). Retrieved 2008-04-06.

External links

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