A Vienna Memory

OK – so I am pretty sure that there will be only a limited audience who appreciates today’s choice – but it is another one of those pieces of music that takes me back to a specific time/place.

Whilst I was in Wien one of the concerts I went to was with Steve Reich and his sextet. It is imprinted in my memory not so much for the music (although it was an entertaining evening) but for the fact that throughout there was “weather” noise from outside and the lights kept flashing – clearly there was a storm raging….

At the end we left the Konzerthaus to find that it had been snowing – heavily – and there was several inches covering everything with some mini-drifts that were even deeper. Fortunately I didn’t have too far to walk home!!

I guess not everyone is a fan of Reich, so I have chosen something short – although there are a lot of folks taking part in this “lockdown” version there is only two parts – those on the left keep repeating the same rhythm throughout – those on the right clap the same rhythm – but every eight bars shift by one.

If you want to try it yourself – there is (seemingly) even an app!!

Steve Reich : Clapping Music

Commentsย :

Peter Bailey

Must be a percussionist thing George R McConnell . Iโ€™m afraid Iโ€™m not one of the limited audience๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

George McConnell

Can understand that – that is why I didn’t link his Drumming composition ๐Ÿ˜‚ it is nearly an hour long.

Steve Thomas

Well you certainly have quiet a spectrum of music likes (& iโ€™m loving your stories too) having seen a few percussion street bands, in Christchurch & Bournemouth this also hit the smiling nerve, but maybe not an hour ๐Ÿ˜‰
well done! ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป

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