Clapp!!!!
Clapp!!!! was originally written in 2006 whilst studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and was written for two players at one piano. The music uses rhythmic phasing with each rhythm assigned its own tone cluster – as each shift in rhythm occurs the harmonic structure is altered too.
Melodic passages are created through shifts in rhythm and harmony, but these only occur within the given rhythmic parameters. The music can very much be viewed as a study in momentum, with its unrelenting pulse driving us through the music.
The Brass Band version of Clapp!!!! was written for Manger Musikklag and Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, receiving its premiere at the 2010 BrassWind Festival in Bergen, Norway. The Whitburn Band featured Clapp!!!! at their 2012 Brass in Concert programme and the piece was featured by the Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band on their CD, Grimethorpe Entertain.
Paul McGhee