
A percussion ensemble is a
musical ensemble
A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist ...
consisting of only
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
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
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
. In America, percussion ensembles are most commonly found at
conservatories, though some professional groups, such as
Nexus
NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...
and
So Percussion
Sō Percussion is a Grammy winning American percussion quartet formed in 1999 and based in New York City.
Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha-Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationa ...
exist.
Drumline
Marching percussion instruments are percussion instruments (usually drums, such as snare, bass, and tenor drums) specially designed to be played while moving. This is achieved by attaching the drum(s) to a special harness (also called a carrier ...
s and groups who regularly meet for
drum circle
A drum circle is an informal gathering of percussionists and dancers who meet in public for the purpose of playing drums and dancing to the music. Often seen at parks and beaches. Percussionists usually gather in a circle and dancers are often see ...
s are two other forms of the percussion ensemble.
Early literature
George Antheil
George Johann Carl Antheil ( ; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of the ear ...
's ''
Ballet Mécanique
''Ballet Mécanique'' (1923–24) is a Dadaist, post-Cubist art film conceived, written, and co-directed by the artist Fernand Léger and the filmmaker Dudley Murphy (with cinematographic input from Man Ray).Chilvers, Ian & Glaves-Smith, John ...
'' (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 y Gardes (Paris, 12 June 1900 – Havana, 7 March 1939) was a Cuban composer and violinist. Roldán was born in Paris to a Cuban mulatta and a Spanish father. It was his mother, the pianist Albertina Gardes, who initiated her ch ...
's ''Rítmicas'' nos. 5 and 6 of 1930, made use of Cuban percussion instruments and rhythms. But it was
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (; also spelled Edgar; December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965) was a French and American composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States. Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm; h ...
's ''
Ionisation
Ionization or ionisation is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule i ...
'' 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 1940s, particularly on the
West Coast of America by composers
Henry Cowell
Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher, teacher Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 2022.C ...
,
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...
,
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his for ...
, and
Johanna Beyer
Johanna Magdalena Beyer (July 11, 1888 – January 9, 1944) was a German-American composer and pianist. Among her best known compositions is '' IV for Percussion Ensemble'' (1936), the only work published during her lifetime.
Biography
Johanna ...
. The year 1939 saw the composition of Cage's ''
First Construction (in Metal)
''Construction'' is the title of several pieces by American composer John Cage, all scored for unorthodox Percussion instrument, percussion instruments. The pieces were composed in 1939–42 while Cage was working at the Cornish School of the Arts ...
'' and Harrison's ''Canticle no. 1''.
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...
's ''
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
The Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz. 110, BB 115, is a musical piece written by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók in 1937. The sonata was premiered by Bartók and his second wife, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók, with the percussionists Fritz Sc ...
'', written in 1937, was also an important piece for the development of percussion composition. The early 1940s resulted in Cage's
second
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
(1940) and
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
(1941) Constructions, Harrison's ''Fugue for Percussion'' (1941), as well as Cage and Harrison's collaboration ''Double Music'' (1941).
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conducting, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influence ...
's
Toccata
Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virt ...
(1942) has also remained a standard work.
After the Second World War
In the post-war period, many new works were composed for percussion ensemble. In 1960,
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical music, 20th-century classical composers of the Americas.
Biography
G ...
composed the ''Cantata para América Mágica'', for soprano and large percussion ensemble. Carlos Chávez wrote his second such piece, ''
Tambuco'', in 1964.
Iannis Xenakis
Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...
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
Christian Lindberg (born 15 February 1958) is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer.
Biography
Early life and career
Lindberg was born in Danderyd. As a youth, he learned to play the trumpet, and subsequently began to learn the trombo ...
and the
Kroumata Ensemble.
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) 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. He is known for his groun ...
composed a children's theatre piece for percussion sextet titled ''
Musik im Bauch
Musik may refer to:
Music
*''Die Musik'' (1901–1943), a German music magazine
* ''Musik'' (album), the second studio album by Richie Hawtin
*Musik (musical), the musical written by Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys
*Musik (song), the Austrian en ...
'' (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
James Wood has contributed several works to the repertoire, including ''Stoicheia'' (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).
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 to 1956 and established the first accredited percussion ensemble during his time there. His students at that time included
Michael Colgrass
Michael Charles Colgrass (April 22, 1932 – July 2, 2019) was an American and Canadian musician, composer, and educator. He was an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.
Early life and education
Colgrass was born in Brookfield, I ...
, who, unsatisfied with the available percussion ensemble literature, composed for the ensemble and went on to become a Pulitzer-winning composer with ''
Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has
lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...
'' (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 is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...
have furthered the art form through commissions and worldwide performance. The
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music (SACAM) documents Music of the United States, American music through historical artifacts and Archive, archival records in multiple formats. The center is part of the University of Illinois at Urb ...
holds the Paul Price Percussion Music and Papers, 1961–1982,
which consists of percussion sheet music, sound recordings, and correspondence documenting Price's career as a percussion musician, and conductor of the Manhattan Percussion Ensemble.
Other significant composers
In addition to Beyer, Cage, Cowell, and Harrison, American composers who have made significant contributions to percussion ensemble literature include:
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...
,
Howard J. Buss
Howard J. Buss (born in 1951) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Buss’ works include instrumental solos, chamber music, symphonic, choral, and band works. His music has received awards, including from the 2011 Lieksa Bras ...
,
Augusta Read Thomas,
Christopher Rouse,
William Russell,
William Kraft
William Kraft (September 6, 1923 – February 12, 2022) was an American composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist.
Biography Early life and education (1923–1954)
Kraft was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was awarded two Anton Seid ...
, and
Eric Ewazen.
List of notable percussion ensembles
*
Amadinda Percussion Group
Amadinda Percussion Group is a percussion ensemble that was formed in Budapest in 1984 by four musicians, who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music.
Since founding the ensemble, their aim has been twofold: to present masterpi ...
*
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in New York City in 1987. It is known for its stage productions that incorporate many kinds of music and art, both popular and obscure. Its performers, known as Blue Men, have their ...
*
Kroumata
*
Nexus
NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...
*
The Percussion Clique, Michael Aldan Bayard
*
Les Percussions de Strasbourg
*
M'Boom
M'Boom was an American jazz percussion group founded by drummer Max Roach in 1970. The original members were Roach, Roy Brooks, Warren Smith (jazz percussionist), Warren Smith, Joe Chambers, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, and Freddie Waits.
All of M'B ...
*
Scrap Arts Music
*
So Percussion
Sō Percussion is a Grammy winning American percussion quartet formed in 1999 and based in New York City.
Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha-Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationa ...
*
Stomp
*
Tambuco
*
Third Coast Percussion
See also
*
Gamelan
Gamelan (; ; , ; ) is the traditional musical ensemble, ensemble music of the Javanese people, Javanese, Sundanese people, Sundanese, and Balinese people, Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussion instrument, per ...
*
Indoor percussion ensemble
An indoor percussion ensemble or indoor drumline is a type of marching ensemble consisting of battery and front ensemble instruments. It differs itself from a traditional percussion ensemble by not only on musical performance, but on theatrics ...
*
Noise in music
In music, "noise" has been variously described as Indefinite pitch, unpitched, indeterminate, uncontrolled, convoluted, unmelodic, loud, otherwise unmusical, or unwanted sound, or simply as sound in general. The exact definition is often a mat ...
*
'ote'a
The ōtea (usually written as ''otea'') is a traditional dance from Tahiti characterized by a rapid hip-shaking motion to percussion accompaniment. The dancers, standing in several rows, may be further choreographed to execute different figures (in ...
*
Pungmul
''Pungmul'' (; ) is a Traditional music of Korea#Folk music, Korean folk music tradition that includes drumming, dance, dancing, and singing. Most performances are outside, with dozens of players all in constant motion. ''Pungmul'' is rooted in th ...
*
Rhythm band
The rhythm band is one of the primary methods of introducing children to playing music. Children are given maracas, tambourines, bells, rhythm sticks and other idiophones with which to beat out a simple rhythm while the teacher plays a song ...
*
Samul nori
() is a genre of Korean percussion music. It is a modern adaptation of traditional Korean musics, namely the ritual farming music '' nongak'' and Korean shamanic music ''muak'', for the indoor stage.
As per its name, ''samul nori'' is perform ...
*
Taiko
are a broad range of Traditional Japanese musical instruments, Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese language, Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various J ...
*
Thayambaka
Thayambaka or tayambaka is a type of solo chenda performance that developed in the south Indian state of Kerala, in which the main player at the centre improvises rhythmically on the beats of half-a-dozen or a few more chenda and ilathalam playe ...
References
External links
* works for percussion ensemble by American composers
Very early percussion ensemble recordings by John Cage and Lou Harrison�
list of the worksDave Sabine's Percussion Sheet Music Library
{{Authority control
Types of musical groups