Steve Reich's Drumming: hypnotic delight

I watched a "video":http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_strogatz_on_sync.html the other day that dealt with the theory of synchronicity and how everything on earth will, in an involuntary way, naturally come together in some sort of sync. The speaker’s demonstration was simple, can an audience automatically clap in sync? I believe this has some relevance to *Steve Reich’s Drumming*, which I attended at the Heritage Hall on Main Street in Vancouver on February 3rd as part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home.

Having never experienced a performance of the music of Steven Reich before, I relished the opportunity to be consumed by the concert. Relish turned to delight at the performance of "The Music on Main All Star Band":http://www.musiconmain.ca/; it was definitely an evening of wonder and amazement.

Catching a glimpse of Stewart Copeland’s doppelganger in the audience (Synchronicity, or what?) was appropriate. A couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time listening to Copeland’s soundtrack for the film _Rapa Nui_ and the compositional similarities between the two came to the forefront throughout the evening.

Part 1 began with a group of four at the bongo drums introducing the rhythm that would provide a backbone to the performance. This pattern quickly brought the audience, as well as all of the seated musicians, into a trance-like state that never left us throughout the show. This immediate sense of hypnosis was incredible and I knew we were in for an amazing night of percussion that was enhanced through parts 2 & 3 by the additions of 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, a whistler, a piccolo flute and two, very subtle female voices. Each new element stood as a perfect compliment to that ever-present rhythmic pattern.

It is at this point that I began to discover the similarities between that sync video I mentioned and _Drumming_. I was astounded at how effortlessly the whole ensemble would go into some chaotic pattern only to bring the composition right back to that continuous, recognizable blueprint. What at one moment seems like a disordered mess always makes sense just a few bars later. I was astounded at just how easy this was for the musicians to accomplish.

Part 4 ended with the entire musical ensemble, 12 musicians in total, lifting everyone in Heritage Hall out of our collective trance. The musicians had huge smiles and I couldn’t help but notice the sense of accomplishment fill the room. Every eye that had been closed began to open and take in the ensemble’s sense of achievement. It was nice to see such pride in their accomplishment. The performance had so clearly taken hundreds of hours of practice and an exuberant, synchronic, clapping crowd must have been a great sensation for them.

If you get the chance to catch a performance of Steven Reich’s material, I highly recommend it. The composition is amazing but more fascinating is understanding the effort entailed in putting on such a performance. The Music on Main All Star Band provided a superior performance of _Drumming_ and they should be commended for their efforts… with a syncratic clap.

_Steve Reich’s Drumming, part of the PuSh Festival, took place on Feb 3 & 4 at Heritage Hall, featuring Music on Main All-Star Band; Percussion: Vern Griffiths, Sal Ferreras, Robin Reid, Lauri Lyster, Jonathan Bernard, Martin Fisk, Aaron McDonald, Brian Nesselroad, Danny Tones; Piccolo: Mark McGregor; Vocals: Alicia Hansen. For more information get out of your trance and go_ "here":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=shows&spage=main&id=79#show