Drumming (Reich)
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Drumming is a music composition by the minimalist composer Steve Reich, dating from 1970-1971.[1] Reich began composition of the work after a visit to Africa and observing music and musical ensembles there, especially under the master drummer Gideon Alorwoyie in Ghana.
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[edit] Compositional Style
[edit] Phasing
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 gradually speeds up, 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.
Drumming was the last composition where Reich used this technique.[2]
[edit] Other Techniques
K. Robert Schwarz has characterised 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
[edit] Instrumentation
The instrumentation is as follows:
- 8 small tuned bongo drums
- 3 marimbas
- 3 glockenspiels
- 2 or 3 female voices
- 1 whistler, doubling piccolo
In total, the work requires 9 percussionists. With the additional players, the piece can be performed by 12 or 13 players.
[edit] Form
The work falls into four parts, with the following instrumentation used in each:[3]
- Part One: 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums, played with double-ended wooden sticks
- Part Two: 3 marimbas, 2 or 3 female voices
- Part Three: 3 glockenspiels, whistler, and piccolo
- Part Four: complete ensemble
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:
- Movement 2 begins by three marimba players playing the exact same repeated pattern as the bongo players, fading in while the bongo players fade out.
- Movement 3 begins similarly; three glockenspiel players begin doubling the marimbas (which by now are playing in their upper ranges), fading in while the marimbas fade out.
- Movement 4 begins after movement 3 reduces its texture to one glockenspiel player, playing a single repeated note from the original pattern. Marimba and bongo players join, and build the pattern up again, note by note, until all nine percussionists are playing. The piece ends abruptly, on cue.
[edit] Collaborations
Choreographers such as Laura Dean and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker have collaborated on dance performances with Reich on Drumming.[4] [5]
[edit] Recordings
- Deutsche Grammophon 474 3232 (20/21 Echo reissue): Tim Ferchen, Steve Reich, Steve Chambers, Russ Hartenberger, Bob Becker, Glen Velez, James Preiss, Ben Harms, Cornelius Cardew, Jay Clayton, Joan LaBarbara, Leslie Scott
- Nonesuch 79170-2: Steve Reich and Musicians
- Cypres CYP5608: Ictus
- Cantaloupe Music CA21026: Sō Percussion
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Potter, Keith (January 1986). "Steve Reich: Thoughts for His 50th-Birthday Year". The Musical Times 127 (1715): 13-17.
- ^ Reich, Steve (Summer 1988). "Texture-Space-Survival". Perspectives of New Music 26 (2): 272-280.
- ^ a b Schwarz, K. Robert (Summer 1982). "Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process Part II". Perspectives of New Music 20 (1/2): 225-286.
- ^ Cohen, Selma Jeanne (Spring 1976). "Review of books by Simone Forti et al.". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 34 (3): 346-351.
- ^ Daniel Felsenfeld. "Steve Reich: Drumming", andante.com (overall site now defunct), 16 October 2001. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
