Two players, one pattern: Reich’s “Clapping Music”

Watch one pair of hands in the London Sinfonietta’s filmed Clapping Music, then return your attention to both players. David Hockings and Toby Kearney offer a useful test: can you follow an individual part without being pulled towards the duet?

Steve Reich’s 1972 piece keeps one player fixed while the other jumps ahead through successive alignments of the same pattern, eventually returning to unison. His programme note distinguishes these jumps from gradual phasing, a process he rejected as too cumbersome for clapping. The touring ensemble had been carrying roughly 2,000 pounds of equipment; this score needed none.

That economy does not spare the performers. Reich told Classic FM that playing the work “makes me nervous every time”. With only a partner beside him, a brief hesitation could leave him searching for his place. Producing the sound and keeping the part secure are different skills.

The video supplies no grand spectacle to distract from that task. Try changing what you follow midway through. Keeping your attention on one player may be its own small rehearsal.