Percussion ensemble
Encyclopedia
A percussion ensemble is a musical ensemble
consisting of only percussion instrument
s. Although the term can be used to describe any such group, it commonly refers to groups of classically-trained percussionists performing primarily classical music. Percussion ensembles are most commonly found at conservatories
, though some professional groups, such as Nexus
and So Percussion
exist. Drumline
s and groups who regularly meet for drum circles
are both other forms of the percussion ensemble.
had been stretched to the limits in the late 19th century, and had been abandoned altogether in the early atonal writings of Arnold Schoenberg
. Italian futurist
Luigi Russolo
’s treatise The Art of Noises
of 1913 initiated a new musical aesthetic of energy, noise, and technology. At the same time, composers such as Igor Stravinsky
began making more extensive use of percussion instruments in their orchestral writing, as in The Rite of Spring
of the same year. These musical developments set the stage for percussion music to emerge as a stand-alone form of art.
’s Ballet Mécanique
(1923) is one of the earliest examples of composition for percussion, written originally as a film score and exemplifying the ideals of the Italian futurist movement. Antheil originally called for sixteen synchronized player pianos, as well as airplane engines, alongside more traditional percussion instruments. Another early example, Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán
’s Ritmicas nos. 5 and 6 of 1930, made use of Cuban percussion instruments and rhythms. But it was Edgard Varèse
’s Ionisation
that “opened the floodgates” and truly brought the percussion ensemble into the fold of contemporary composition. Premiered in 1933 under the baton of Nicholas Slonimsky, Ionisation is thematically structured and makes use of 13 performers playing over 30 different instruments, including Latin percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, sirens, a piano, chimes and glockenspiel.
Other noteworthy pieces were composed during the 1930s and 40s, particularly on the West Coast of America by composers Henry Cowell
, John Cage
, and Lou Harrison
. Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo of 1934 was a great contrast to the cacophony of Ionisation. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage’s First Construction (in Metal)
and Harrison’s Canticle no. 1. Béla Bartók
’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
, written in 1937, was also an important piece for the development of percussion composition. The early 1940s resulted in Cage’s second (1940) and third (1941) Constructions, Harrison’s Fugue for Percussion (1941), as well as Cage and Harrison’s collaboration Double Music (1941). Carlos Chávez
’s Toccata (1942) has also remained a standard work. Cage’s Amores of 1943 marked the end of the initial burst of compositional activity for the percussion ensemble.
composed the Cantata para América Mágica, for soprano and large percussion ensemble. Carlos Chávez wrote his second such piece, Tambuco, in 1964. Iannis Xenakis
composed two percussion sextets for Les Percussions de Strasbourg
, Persephassa (1969), and Pléïades (1979), and in 1996 wrote Zythos, for trombone and six percussionists, for Christian Lindberg
and the Kroumata
Ensemble. Karlheinz Stockhausen
composed a children's theatre piece for percussion sextet titled Musik im Bauch
(Music in the Belly) in 1975, also for Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and in 2004 wrote a percussion trio titled Mittwoch Formel. The British composer and percussionist Janes Wood
has contributed several works to the repertoire, including Rogosanti (1986), Stoichiea (1987–88), requiring over 600 instruments played by 16 percussionists, as well as electronics, Village Burial with Fire for percussion quartet (1989), and Spirit Festival with Lamentations, for quarter-tone
marimba and four percussionists (1992).
, who, unsatisfied with the available percussion ensemble literature, composed for the ensemble and went on to become a Pulitzer-winning composer with Déjà Vu
(1978), written for a percussion quartet with orchestra. Since the 1950s, the percussion ensemble has become a permanent part of the academic music world, and professional percussion ensembles such as Nexus
have furthered the art form through commissions and worldwide performance.
, Christopher Rouse
, William Russell
, William Kraft
, and Eric Ewazen
.
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
consisting of only percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
s. Although the term can be used to describe any such group, it commonly refers to groups of classically-trained percussionists performing primarily classical music. Percussion ensembles are most commonly found at conservatories
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
, though some professional groups, such as Nexus
Nexus (percussion ensemble)
Nexus is a Toronto-based percussion ensemble that performs jazz, world music, and western avantgarde music.The ensemble is made up of percussionists Bob Becker , Bill Cahn , Robin Engelman, Russell Hartenberger, John Wyre, and Garry Kvistad. Founding member Michael Craden died of liver cancer in 1982...
and So Percussion
So Percussion
So Percussion is an American percussion quartet based in New York City.Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationally and for its work with composers such as Steve Reich, David Lang, Paul Lansky, Martin...
exist. Drumline
Drumline
A drumline is a section of percussion instruments usually played as part of a musical marching ensemble. High school and college marching bands, drill and drum corps, drum and bugle corps, indoor percussion ensembles, and pipe bands usually incorporate drumlines; however, drumlines can exist...
s and groups who regularly meet for drum circles
Drum circle
A drum circle is any group of people playing hand-drums and percussion in a circle. They are distinct from a drumming group or troupe in that the drum circle is an end in itself rather than preparation for a performance...
are both other forms of the percussion ensemble.
Origins of the percussion ensemble: setting the stage
The classical percussion ensemble came into existence as a stand-alone musical establishment through the efforts of experimental composers during the early 20th century. TonalityTonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
had been stretched to the limits in the late 19th century, and had been abandoned altogether in the early atonal writings of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
. Italian futurist
Futurism
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises . He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of "noise concerts" in 1913-14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921...
’s treatise The Art of Noises
The Art of Noises
The Art of Noises is a Futurist manifesto, written by Luigi Russolo in a 1913 letter to friend and Futurist composer Francesco Balilla Pratella...
of 1913 initiated a new musical aesthetic of energy, noise, and technology. At the same time, composers such as Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
began making more extensive use of percussion instruments in their orchestral writing, as in The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...
of the same year. These musical developments set the stage for percussion music to emerge as a stand-alone form of art.
Early literature
George AntheilGeorge Antheil
George Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
’s Ballet Mécanique
Ballet mécanique
Ballet Mécanique was a project by the American composer George Antheil and the filmmaker/artists Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy. Although the film was intended to use Antheil's score as a soundtrack, the two parts were not brought together until the 1990s. As a composition, Ballet Mécanique is...
(1923) is one of the earliest examples of composition for percussion, written originally as a film score and exemplifying the ideals of the Italian futurist movement. Antheil originally called for sixteen synchronized player pianos, as well as airplane engines, alongside more traditional percussion instruments. Another early example, Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán
Amadeo Roldán
Amadeo Roldán y Gardes was a Cuban composer and violinist. Roldán was born in Paris to a Cuban mulatta and a Spanish father...
’s Ritmicas nos. 5 and 6 of 1930, made use of Cuban percussion instruments and rhythms. But it was Edgard Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
’s Ionisation
Ionisation (Varèse)
Ionisation is a musical composition by Edgard Varèse written for thirteen percussionists, the first concert hall composition for percussion ensemble alone. The premiere was at Steinway Hall, on March 6, 1933, conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky, to whom the piece was later dedicated...
that “opened the floodgates” and truly brought the percussion ensemble into the fold of contemporary composition. Premiered in 1933 under the baton of Nicholas Slonimsky, Ionisation is thematically structured and makes use of 13 performers playing over 30 different instruments, including Latin percussion instruments, drums, cymbals, sirens, a piano, chimes and glockenspiel.
Other noteworthy pieces were composed during the 1930s and 40s, particularly on the West Coast of America by composers Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, and Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
. Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo of 1934 was a great contrast to the cacophony of Ionisation. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage’s First Construction (in Metal)
Construction (Cage)
Construction is the title of several pieces by American composer John Cage, all scored for unorthodox percussion instruments. The pieces were composed in 1939–42 while Cage was working at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, Washington and touring the West Coast with a percussion...
and Harrison’s Canticle no. 1. Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Sonata for two pianos and percussion
Béla Bartók wrote his Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110, BB 115 for the International Society for Contemporary Music in 1937 and it was premiered by him and his second wife, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók, as the pianists, and percussionists Saul Goodman and Henry Deneke, at the ISCM anniversary...
, written in 1937, was also an important piece for the development of percussion composition. The early 1940s resulted in Cage’s second (1940) and third (1941) Constructions, Harrison’s Fugue for Percussion (1941), as well as Cage and Harrison’s collaboration Double Music (1941). Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
’s Toccata (1942) has also remained a standard work. Cage’s Amores of 1943 marked the end of the initial burst of compositional activity for the percussion ensemble.
After the Second World War
In the post-war period, many new works were composed for percussion ensemble. In 1960, Alberto GinasteraAlberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
composed the Cantata para América Mágica, for soprano and large percussion ensemble. Carlos Chávez wrote his second such piece, Tambuco, in 1964. Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
composed two percussion sextets for Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Les Percussions de Strasbourg
Les Percussions de Strasbourg is a contemporary music ensemble made up of six percussionists. Founded in 1962 the ensemble is still performing and commissioning music. The current lineup has played together for 15 years....
, Persephassa (1969), and Pléïades (1979), and in 1996 wrote Zythos, for trombone and six percussionists, for Christian Lindberg
Christian Lindberg
Christian Lindberg is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer.As a youth, Lindberg learned to play the trumpet, and subsequently began to learn the trombone at age 17. He originally borrowed a trombone to join his friends' Dixieland jazz group, inspired by records of Jack Teagarden...
and the Kroumata
Kroumata
Kroumata is a Swedish percussion ensemble founded in 1978 in Stockholm. The name derives from the ancient Greek word for percussion instruments....
Ensemble. Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
composed a children's theatre piece for percussion sextet titled Musik im Bauch
Musik im Bauch
Musik im Bauch is a piece of scenic music for six percussionists and music boxes composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1975, and is Number 41 in his catalog of works. The world premiere was presented on 28 March 1975 by the Royan Festival. The performance was given by Les Percussions de Strasbourg...
(Music in the Belly) in 1975, also for Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and in 2004 wrote a percussion trio titled Mittwoch Formel. The British composer and percussionist Janes Wood
James Wood (composer)
James Wood is a British composer, percussionist and conductor -Life:James Wood studied organ in Cambridge. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music...
has contributed several works to the repertoire, including Rogosanti (1986), Stoichiea (1987–88), requiring over 600 instruments played by 16 percussionists, as well as electronics, Village Burial with Fire for percussion quartet (1989), and Spirit Festival with Lamentations, for quarter-tone
Quarter tone
A quarter tone , is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale, an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which is half a whole tone....
marimba and four percussionists (1992).
Accreditation
The existence of percussion ensembles in music schools across the United States and beyond is due largely to Paul Price, who taught at the University of Illinois from 1949–1956 and established the first accredited percussion ensemble during his time there. His students at that time included Michael ColgrassMichael Colgrass
Michael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician . He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival...
, who, unsatisfied with the available percussion ensemble literature, composed for the ensemble and went on to become a Pulitzer-winning composer with Déjà Vu
1978 Pulitzer Prize
-Journalism awards:*PublicService:**The Philadelphia Inquirer, for a series of articles showing abuses of power by the police in its home city.*Local General or Spot News Reporting:...
(1978), written for a percussion quartet with orchestra. Since the 1950s, the percussion ensemble has become a permanent part of the academic music world, and professional percussion ensembles such as Nexus
Nexus (percussion ensemble)
Nexus is a Toronto-based percussion ensemble that performs jazz, world music, and western avantgarde music.The ensemble is made up of percussionists Bob Becker , Bill Cahn , Robin Engelman, Russell Hartenberger, John Wyre, and Garry Kvistad. Founding member Michael Craden died of liver cancer in 1982...
have furthered the art form through commissions and worldwide performance.
Other significant composers
Other American composers who have made significant contributions to percussion ensemble literature include: Steve ReichSteve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, Christopher Rouse
Christopher Rouse
Christopher Rouse is an American composer.-Biography:Rouse studied with Richard Hoffmann at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1971, and later completed graduate degrees under Karel Husa at Cornell University in 1977. In between, Rouse studied privately with George Crumb...
, William Russell
William Russell
-Kingdom of England:* William Russell , Bishop of Sodor and Man from 1348 to 1374* Sir William Russell, 1st Baronet, of Chippenham , English MP for Windsor...
, William Kraft
William Kraft
William Kraft is a composer, conductor, teacher, and percussionist.-Undergrad and Graduate School Years :...
, and Eric Ewazen
Eric Ewazen
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher. Ewazen studied composition under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Warren Benson, and Eugene Kurtz at the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School...
.
External links
- Art of the States: percussion ensemble works for percussion ensemble by American composers
- Very early percussion ensemble recordings by John Cage and Lou Harrison - list of the works
- Dave Sabine's Percussion Sheet Music Library
List of percussion ensembles
- Blue Man GroupBlue Man GroupBlue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight...
- StompStomp (dance troupe)Stomp is a percussion group that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance.-History and performances:...
- So PercussionSo PercussionSo Percussion is an American percussion quartet based in New York City.Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationally and for its work with composers such as Steve Reich, David Lang, Paul Lansky, Martin...
- Kroumata Home based in Stockholm, Sweden
- New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, based at William Peterson College in NJ
- ensemblebash Home based in London, UK
- Via Nova - Percussion Group Home based in Salzburg / Austria
- UAKTI - Oficina Instrumental Home based in Brazil
- NEXUS Home based in Canada
- Third Coast Percussion Quartet Home based in Chicago, USA
- Singapore Wind Symphony's Percussion Ensemble (SWSPE)Singapore Wind Symphony's Percussion EnsembleThe Singapore Wind Symphony's Percussion Ensemble is an affiliation of the . The ensemble is based in Singapore and is made up of both professional and amateur musicians.- History :...
Home based in Singapore - Les Percussions de Strasbourg Home based in France
- North East Hampshire Area Schools Percussion Ensemble Home based in the UK
- Sixtrum Percussion Ensemble Home based in Montreal, Canada