Reich, Drumming

The relentless rhythm that propels works like Honegger’s Pacific 231 and Prokofiev’s Precipitato (the previous two posts) can be used to a very different effect. One example is Drumming by Steve Reich (b. 1936).

Reich is a prominent composer within today’s “minimalist” school. Minimalism refers to the sparse materials used in the compositions. That minimal material may be short motives that are repeated throughout the work and subject to subtle and gradual changes. Frequently the material itself is quite simply, brief, and consonant.

Drumming was written in 1970-71, about the time I began studying composition. I have always thought of it as an aesthetic dark age for serious composers where the main goal (often the only goal) was novelty. This resulted almost always in musical chaos and incoherence. Minimalism, it seems to me, was an antidote to the excesses of the mid 20th century.

Minimalist music also has a distinctive quality of not be “goal-driven.” It lacks drama. There are no “Beethovenian” climaxes. Instead, you are drawn into an experience where the sound may be close to static, but not quite. Drumming follows a 6/4 meter throughout. Complexity is added and taken away. Additional players are added and taken away. The colors change. Everything is gradual.

At several points you will hear a phase shift. With two drummers playing a similar pattern, one of the drummers will begin to play a slightly faster tempo until he moves a beat ahead. The rhythms when the drummers are “out of phase” become much more complex and varied until they are once again “in phase.” Listen for example from about 1:58 to 2:15. You can hear this happen at several other points in the piece.

The minimalist movement was originally called the New York Hypnotic School, which as you will see, was an apt description.