A Round of Applause
Performed by Chris Massa and Phil Warner
A Round of Applause is not my first work as a composer, but it is the first piece I admit to having written, and the earliest that I have deemed fit for public consumption. It is a canon between two “clappers” wherein both are clapping the same rhythm, but one adds a half-beat (an eighth note) with each repitition. The two parts gradually grow farther apart until, gradually again, they come back together.
For those who think that that the premise for this piece sounds awfully familiar, you’re probably (justifiably) thinking of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music. To which I would reply that A Round of Applause was written when I was in high school, before I was aware of Steve Reich or his music. If it is an imitation, and I assure you that it is not, it is a unique imitation, an imitation that came into being independently of the work that it was imitating, which is basically the same thing as not being an imitation.
There is a great deal of flexibility with how A Round of Applause can be performed. While it was originally intended for two solo clappers, it may be performed by two groups of varying size. As you will hear in the recording (if you haven't already), it can work well to have something done (like a stomp) on the first downbeat of each repitition, which can make the process of the piece more obvious to the listener. (It also makes it more theatrical, which is not a bad thing in this case.) And, although it wouldn't exactly work with the pun of the title, it would be possible to perform it with other instruments. Percussion instruments are perhaps the most logical, but virtually anything that makes a sound could work. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of performing it by rhythmically pinching two small animals (cats immediately come to mind, but rabbits would be very cute). The possibilities, even those that are ill-advised, are endless.
I am pleased to offer the score for A Round of Applause as a free download. (Just click here.) I have also decided to give it a Creative Commons license rather than a traditional copyright. In other words, you are free to copy, distribute, and manipulate the work in any way that you like as long as you share what you do and attribute me for the original work.
For those who think that that the premise for this piece sounds awfully familiar, you’re probably (justifiably) thinking of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music. To which I would reply that A Round of Applause was written when I was in high school, before I was aware of Steve Reich or his music. If it is an imitation, and I assure you that it is not, it is a unique imitation, an imitation that came into being independently of the work that it was imitating, which is basically the same thing as not being an imitation.
There is a great deal of flexibility with how A Round of Applause can be performed. While it was originally intended for two solo clappers, it may be performed by two groups of varying size. As you will hear in the recording (if you haven't already), it can work well to have something done (like a stomp) on the first downbeat of each repitition, which can make the process of the piece more obvious to the listener. (It also makes it more theatrical, which is not a bad thing in this case.) And, although it wouldn't exactly work with the pun of the title, it would be possible to perform it with other instruments. Percussion instruments are perhaps the most logical, but virtually anything that makes a sound could work. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of performing it by rhythmically pinching two small animals (cats immediately come to mind, but rabbits would be very cute). The possibilities, even those that are ill-advised, are endless.
I am pleased to offer the score for A Round of Applause as a free download. (Just click here.) I have also decided to give it a Creative Commons license rather than a traditional copyright. In other words, you are free to copy, distribute, and manipulate the work in any way that you like as long as you share what you do and attribute me for the original work.
A Round of Applause by Chris Massa is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.