Percussion in the context of New Music

Jason Treuting’s presentation brought percussion in the context of new music to the forefront of my mind. I find percussion to be one of the most interesting instrument because it’s one that is still extremely young and constantly evolving, so therefore extremely compatible with the ever shifting landscape of new music.

Starting mainly with Luigi Russolo’s “Art of Noise,” noise instruments have become more and more common in general repertoire. Percussion instruments being perhaps the first proper manifestation of this idea, it makes sense that Cage stated this in his “The Future of Music – Credo:”

Any sound is acceptable to the composer of percussion music; he explores the academically forbidden «nonmusical» field of sound insofar as is manually possible… As soon as these methods are crystallized into one or several widely accepted methods, the means will exist for group improvisations of unwritten but culturally important music [to exist] (Cage).

To sort of unpack this, it seems to be widely accepted that the direction that percussion music naturally leads composers towards is one that is a huge step in the evolution and advancement of new music overall. Treuting’s path is a wonderful example of this.

In classical orchestras, percussion is arguably used solely to ornament and emphasize, and never as a focal point within the ensemble. When virtuosic percussionists needed to be satisfied, composers had to turn away from classical western music and look to “world music;” They had to find parameters to explore outside of tonal melodic movement, and turn to noise and more gestural movements; Rhythm had to be expanded upon past duple versus triple and become complex polyrhythms, as well as important structural scaffolding and a musical motif. These are all goals that are extremely prevalent in new music in general.

Therefore as soon as I began to see what sort of music Treuting gravitates towards composing and his core idea that all sounds are music, I became extremely excited. He is truly a composer worth noting because he is one forged in a crucible of new music as well as a burgeoning instrument – exactly the type of person Cage predicted would be created and that would help push music forward. Which funny enough Cage seems to be a direct compositional predecessor to Treuting. More specifically, they both share a focus on the individuality of performances and the role of the composer as more of a guide and organizer rather than a creator or leader. This compositional method for Cage seems to be influenced by his religion and investment in philosophy; For Treuting, however, it seems to stem from his forced collaboration as a percussionist left with vague suggestions from composers and his experience as a performer (and therefore more a collaborator rather than leader).

In a time where fixed media is at such a height of popularity due to it’s ease of access and the sheer amount of control it gives creators over a piece of art – especially the ability to make a piece “perfect” – it is extremely refreshing to have artists like Treuting strive to put value into individual performances again, and to see risks not only be taken but to be embraced. For me, as well as being a great excuse to analyze percussion in this context, his presentation was a good reminder that music is expression: it is meant to be risky, there are meant to be mistakes and disagreements in collaboration – and that as composers perhaps we should remember that using sample packs is the easy way out of something difficult. I don’t believe all of his composition methods are for me, but there is definitely something for me to take away from them.