Exploring the diversity of contemporary western classical percussion repertoire: preparation techniques and how they influence performance

Percussion performance has developed as a valid genre in Western Art Music only in the last eighty years. Over this period, both composers and performers alike have made the genre of percussion performance one of the areas to which contemporary composers have been attracted resulting in its increased audience appeal. My research topic looks specifically at the range of techniques and decisions percussionists make in preparing for different performance situations and styles. These decisions include what grip to use, mallet selection, working alongside composers and their requests, and working with other instrumentalists such as chamber orchestras. The question I am asking is how these preparation choices, through a pre-performance analysis of the work, can help to decide how the performer achieves the composer’s desired effects. To approach this question, my performance-based research follows a process of preparing four different performances over a two-year span. Each one of these performances features music from different stylistic contexts, ranging from solo virtuosic marimba works, chamber works, and concertos written for marimba and orchestra. In basing my research on the study of these different performance situations, I will document the decisions that had to occur in an analysis of the work and how these decisions succeeded in the performance.