Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-p2v8j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-06T06:20:32.759Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Timekeepers – Sound Artists – Drum Machines: Studies of Notation and Performance in Contemporary Music for Solo Percussionist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2011

Abstract

What are the consequences of understanding a musical score as an ‘action plan’ – a composed set of performance instructions – rather than as a document, a transcript, or a concretization of a composer's idea and, ultimately, of a fixed musical work? This question is discussed through a consideration of four examples of contemporary percussion music – solo pieces by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Morton Feldman, David Lang, and Helmut Lachenmann. Considering the musical text in relation to the dynamics of a work's execution and performance can give us not only a ‘sound picture’ but also a kinaesthetic picture of the performer on stage. Through this shift of perspective the score comes to be viewed as a script or an agent, which then acts as both a foundation and a catalyst for the actions of the performer and his or her production of sound.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altenmüller, Eckart et al. , ‘Neuronale Grundlagen der Verarbeitung von musikalischen Zeitstrukturen’, in Rhythmus: ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch, ed. Müller, Katharina and Aschersleben, Gisa. Bern: Hans Huber, 2000. 5978.Google Scholar
Baier, Gerold. Rhythmus: Tanz im Körper und Gehirn. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2001.Google Scholar
Baily, John. ‘Music Structure and Human Movement’, in Musical Structure and Cognition, ed. Howell, Peter, Cross, Ian, and West, Robert. London: Academic Press, 1985. 237258.Google Scholar
Braun, Hans-Joachim, ed. ‘I Sing the Body Electric’. Music and Technology in the 20th Century. Hofheim: Wolke, 2000.Google Scholar
Brech, Martha. ‘Rhythmus und Metrum in der Perkussionsmusik des 20. Jahrhunderts’, in Aus dem Takt: Rhythmus in Kunst, Kultur und Natur, ed. Brüstle, Christa, Ghattas, Nadia, Risi, Clemens, and Schouten, Sabine. Bielefeld: transcript, 2005. 199210.Google Scholar
Bregman, Albert. Auditory Scene Analysis: the Perceptual Organization of Sound. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brüstle, Christa. ‘“Performance Studies”: Impulse für die Musikwissenschaft’, in Musik mit Methode: Neue kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, ed. Herr, Corinna and Woitas, Monika. Cologne: Böhlau, 2006. 253268.Google Scholar
––––, and Riethmüller, Albrecht, eds. Klang und Bewegung: Beiträge zu einer Grundkonstellation. Aachen: Shaker, 2004.Google Scholar
Claren, Sebastian. Neither: die Musik Morton Feldmans. Hofheim: Wolke, 2000.Google Scholar
Clarke, Eric, and Cook, Nicholas, eds. Empirical Musicology: Aims, Methods, Prospects. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Morton. The King of Denmark. EP6963. New York: Peters Edition, 1965.Google Scholar
Fetterman, William. John Cage's Theatre Pieces: Notations and Performances. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, 1996.Google Scholar
Fischer-Lichte, Erika. Ästhetik des Performativen. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2004.Google Scholar
Fraisse, Paul. ‘Rhythm and Tempo’, in The Psychology of Music, ed. Deutsch, Diana. New York and London: Academic Press, 1982. 149178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gell, Alfred. Art and Agency: an Anthropological Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heidenreich, Achim. ‘Verfeinerung! Achim Heidenreich im Gespräch mit dem Schlagzeuger Rainer Römer’. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 166/2 (2005), 3435.Google Scholar
Kramer, Jonathan D. The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies. New York, London: Schirmer, 1988.Google Scholar
Lachenmann, Helmut. Intérieur I. Munich: edition modern, 1967.Google Scholar
Lachenmann, Helmut. ‘Klangtypen in der Neuen Musik’ (1966, rev. 1993), in Musik als existentielle Erfahrung: Schriften 1966–1995, ed. Häusler, Josef. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1996. 120.Google Scholar
Lang, David. The Anvil Chorus. New York: Red Poppy / G. Schirmer, 1991.Google Scholar
Lang, David. Liner notes to Bang on a Can, Industry. CD, Sony SK 66483, 1995.Google Scholar
Leeker, Martina, ed. Maschinen, Medien, Performances: Theater an der Schnittstelle zu digitalen Welten. Berlin: Alexander Verlag, 2001.Google Scholar
Mowitt, John. Percussion: Drumming, Beating, Striking. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Neuhaus, Max. ‘Zyklus’. Percussionist 3 (1965), 612.Google Scholar
Neuhaus, Max. ‘Über die Schlagzeug-Technik des “Zyklus”’. Musik und Bildung 60 (1969), 236237.Google Scholar
Neuhaus, Max. Liner notes to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Zyklus: Four Realizations by Max Neuhaus. CD, Alga Marghen 054CD, 2004.Google Scholar
Neuhaus, Max. Liner notes to The New York School: Nine Realizations of Cage, Feldman, Brown by Max Neuhaus. CD, Alga Marghen 052CD, 2004.Google Scholar
Petrella, Nick. The Multiple-Percussion Book: Concepts for a Musical Performance, with etudes by Allemeier, John. New York: Carl Fischer, 2000.Google Scholar
Rink, John, ed. Musical Performance: a Guide to Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rötter, Günther. ‘Die mentale Vorstellung von Musikern – der Interpret als Hörer’, in Der Hörer als Interpret, ed. de la Motte-Haber, Helga and Kopiez, Reinhard. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1995. 113123.Google Scholar
Sachs, Curt. Rhythm and Tempo: a Study in Music History. New York: Norton, 1953.Google Scholar
Sachs, Klaus-Jürgen, and Röder, Thomas. ‘Partitur’, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd rev. edn, ed. Finscher, Ludwig. Kassel: Bärenreiter/Metzler, 1997. Vol. 7, Sachteil, col. 14241438.Google Scholar
Schechner, Richard. ‘Drama, Script, Theater, and Performance (1973)’, in Schechner, , Performance Theory, extended edn. New York and London: Routledge, 1994. 68105.Google Scholar
Seidel, Wilhelm. Rhythmus: eine Begriffsbestimmung. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1976.Google Scholar
Shove, Patrick, and Repp, Bruno H.. ‘Musical Motion and Performance: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives’, in The Practice of Performance: Studies in Musical Interpretation, ed. Rink, John. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 5583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silberhorn, Heinz. ‘Analyse von Stockhausens “Zyklus für einen Schlagzeuger”’. Zeitschrift für Musiktheorie 8/2 (1977), 2950.Google Scholar
Smith Brindle, Reginald. Contemporary Percussion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Stange, Joachim. Die Bedeutung der elektroakustischen Medien für die Musik im 20. Jahrhundert. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus, 1989.Google Scholar
Stein, R., Zehr, E.P., and Bobet, J.. ‘Basic Concepts of Movement Control’, in Biomechanics and Biology of Movement, ed. Nigg, Benno M., MacIntosh, Brian R., and Mester, Joachim. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2000. 163178.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Zyklus. London: Universal Edition, 1960.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. ‘…wie die Zeit vergeht…’, in Texte, vol. 1: zur elektronischen und instrumentalen Musik, Aufsätze 1952–1962 zur Theorie des Komponierens, ed. Schnebel, Dieter. Cologne: Du Mont, 1963. 99139.Google Scholar
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. ‘Nr. 9: Zyklus für einen Schlagzeuger (1959)’, in Texte, vol. 2: zu eigenen Werken, zur Kunst Anderer. Aktuelles, Aufsätze 1952–1962 zur musikalischen Praxis, 2nd edn, ed. Schnebel, Dieter. Cologne: Du Mont, 1975. 73100.Google Scholar
Viviani, Paolo, and Laissard, Gérard. ‘Timing Control in Motor Sequences’, in The Development of Timing Control and Temporal Organization in Coordinated Action, ed. Fagard, Jacqueline and Wolff, Peter H.. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1991. 136.Google Scholar
Wagner, Christoph. ‘Die Resonanz des Holzes: Evelyn Glennie und Robyn Schulkowsky – zwei Schlagwerkerinnen der neuen Musik’. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 157/6 (1996), 1013.Google Scholar