Steve Reich and Phasing

Recall our brief discussion of Steve Reich and phasing. Check out this video of Reich's clapping music (a much better video than the one I showed in class). Notice that the bottom rhythm, when it changes, is just moving out of phase with the top rhythm. Otherwise, both rhythms are exactly the same, and neither change.

You should try this using your own melody. Or write a new short melodic idea (make the rhythms interesting), and try phasing it against itself. You can do this by copying the melody (highlight the music in Sibelius and type Command-C) and pasting it (with Command-V) on a different staff, but slightly offset.

And as we talked about in class, this is Steve Reich's "Piano Phase" below. In the sheet music, notice how the second piano speeds up slightly during each transition. By the way, this is called "continuous phasing" while the above is called "discrete phasing."

Here's a vid of a performance: