The history and development of the percussion orchestra
The modern percussion ensemble has emerged as a vital medium of music performance and education, and continues to receive more recognition as a viable artistic medium. Perhaps less well-known is a type of percussion ensemble (abbreviated PE for the duration of this study) which concentrates on large, tonal, keyboard percussion-oriented works: the Percussion Orchestra (abbreviated PO for this study). This treatise focuses on the history and development of the PO, specifically noting the origins, important figures, and performing ensembles within the genre. The evolution of the PE begins with the futurist ideas of F.T. Marinetti and Luigi Russolo and continues with the first work composed exclusively for percussion instruments, Edgar Varese's Ionisation in 1931. Throughout the 1930s a notable amount of material (although some unpublished) was written for the PE, which appealed to composers mainly because of the textures and sounds not previously heard in a Western concert setting. During World War II, composers took a hiatus from composing for the PE as the interest shifted to the rudimental or military style drum ensemble (which would evolve into the modern drum line and drum corps). Beginning in 1950, the PE was incorporated into the college curriculum at the University of Illinois by Paul Price. This sparked great interest from other percussion pedagogues, and more universities began to explore a PE class at their schools. Additionally, percussion students began to form professional PEs with their college or university as the "home base." Ensembles such as the Blackearth Percussion Group and the Eastman Marimba Masters would stem from these universities. In addition to performances, these groups pioneered PE recordings, commissioned new works for PE, and established residencies at many universities where they taught and shared their passion for percussion and the PE. The concept of a PO began with Dr. Richard Gipson, who launched the OU Percussion Press and a subsequent commissioning series for PE composition at the University of Oklahoma. The compositions were expansive, often employing eight to twelve (sometimes more) percussionists, and focused primarily on an extensive number of keyboard percussion instruments in addition to a varying combination of pitched and unpitched percussion instruments, many of which are common symphonic percussion instruments. The development of percussion and the PE may be traced through a variety of courses ranging from the futurist manifestos of F.T. Marinetti and Luigi Russolo to scholarly literature written concerning the "noise music" of the early Twentieth Century. There are two standard sources used for referencing the history of percussion, John Beck's Encyclopedia of Percussion and James Blades Percussion Instruments and Their History. However, there are currently no definitive sources that provide a historical or pedagogical perspective on the subject of the PO or even attempt to define it as an entity separate from the PE
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 2010
Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., 2010