The Mathematics of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music

Year: 1998 Authors: Joel K. Haack

Core claim

Clapping Music can be modeled by a 12-cycle in S12, revealing combinatorial structure and suggesting broader permutation-based musical designs.

Topics

cyclic permutations, rhythmic variation, combinatorial music, group action

Domains

group theory, permutation groups, combinatorics, music composition, rhythm, minimalism

Methods

permutation analysis, orbit counting, combinatorial enumeration, order estimation

Media

clapping, rhythmic notation, percussive performance

Source status

This page publishes metadata and extracted analytical signals only. Raw PDF and full OCR text are kept local for now.