12 THE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Percussion intrasents have been with us since the dawn of humanity, espe- Chain te highly developed cures Ata and Afi, Onl nthe pt cen tury has the composer or orchestrator of concert music become aware of their expressive potential. The number of percussion instruments available today is (ey sin fr banassment of iches is attbutable tothe fact that FTEACHISE WAT goto gret ings fo satya compece’s wishes, evento thcetent of contnucing new instruments on demand, Therefore ts impos ble for any book, even a specialized one on percussion only, to be all inclusive. ‘A thoughtful study of the next three chapters, however, should enable the com’ poow or orchestrator olan about the ot comunon och pereasion i fument an ve thi most colorful and vera section of te ora to soci elfestvenest HISTORICAL USES OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS WITHIN THE ORCHESTRA During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a few percussion instruments stemming from Turkish military music were extensively used th operatic scores. These included snare drums, triangles, cymbals, and small gongs, plus castanets and tambourines adopted from the Mediterranean region. A few other instru- ments put in rare appearances in toy symphonies, and a piece written at the ‘time of Bach and formerly attributed to him, the cantata Schlage doch gewiinschte Stunde,* includes a bell as the symbol of the tolling death knell. The timpari be- came fashionable in King Henry VII's time. Henry Purcell was the first major composer to use cavalry drums for orchestral purposes. These drums had been imported from Germany for military use and eventually became the basis for the modern timpani or kettledrums ‘The Turkish instruments slowly made their way from the opera house and church to the concert hall, and Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven used some of them at selected places in their works to illustrate certain militaristic characteris- tics, for instance in the march variation from the fourth movement (Finale) of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The triangle, cymbals, snare drum, ahd bass ccofding to the musicologist Gerhard Herz, this cantata is by Melchior Hoffman. 41432. THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, IN FRONT: ROTO TOMS AND TOM-TOMS: IN MIDDLE: MARIMBA, VIBRAPHONE, CONGA DRUMS, AND XYLOPHONE; IN BACK: SMALL GONG, LARGE GONG (TAM-TAM), CHIMES, BASS ORUM, SNARE _ DRUM, TIMPANI, SUSPENDED CYMBALS, TENOR DRUM, AND GLOCKENSPIEL, drum slowly shed their Turkish, military role during the mid-to late nineteenth century and became fully accepted as color instruments of the standard sym- phony orchestra. With the rise of nationalistic composers as well as those who attempted to simulate the ethnicity of musical cultures other than their own, ethnic instru- ‘ments such as the castanets, tambourine, cimbalom, and others appeared in the orchestral percussion section. Also, keyboard instruments such as the glocken- spiel and xylophone became integrated into the enlarged symphony orchestra by the end of the nineteenth century. The percussion ensemble did not reach its fall potential until the twentieth century, when it not only grew immensely in the number of instruments used but also became an orchestral ensemble in and. of itself, particularly in works such as Edgard Varése’s Ionisation or George Antheil’s Ballet méchanique. Works for percussion ensemble have become quite popular since the 1920s. ‘Another development in the growth of the orchestral percussion section is also partially due to ethnic consciousness in the West—that is, the renewed in- terest in the music of Africa, South and Central America, and Asia. The tremen- dous number of composers stemming from those traditions, as well as many Western composers interested in simulating these musics, have created an ex- plosion of new ethnic percussion instruments. American composers such as Lou. Harrison, Henry Brant, and George Crumb have used a great variety of ethnic instruments in their works. You should also examine the compositions of Toru. ‘Takemitsu, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Xiougang Ye, and Chinary Ung, in ‘which Asian percussion instruments are combined with Western ones. For South American idioms it is important to study the use of percussion in the works particularly of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alberto Ginastera, Carmelo Sait, and Gerardo Gandini In this book, our discussion of percussion instruments of necessity is limited to those most commonly used in Western art music up to the dawn of theTHE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE 433 twenty-first century. We urge you to consult the bibliography in Appendix B to Jocate the specialty books that contain a wealth of information on the newer, lesser-known percussion instruments. NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF PERCUSSION PLAYERS In symphonic circles the timpanist is considered a separate member of the per- cussion section. The reason for this most likely has to do with the longevity of the timpani as a regular member of the orchestra and the fact that the timpanist always plays that instrument only and should not be counted on to take over any other percussion parts—even though he or she may have time to do so. The other percussionists play a variety of instraments; usually a percussion leader assigns the parts to the rest of the section. Those who are not percussion players often misunderstand what it takes to choreograph a piece so that all in- strurhents called for in the score are played and no human clashes or accidental ‘noises mar the performance. To decide whether one, two, three, four, or even five percussion players are needed to perform a work, the composer or orchestrator should first write out all the music and then consider the following two issues: 1. Can one player switch from one instrument to another in sufficient time? (This could involve, for instance, switching from a mallet instrument to one played with wooden sticks.) 2, How many percussion instruments can one person play simultaneously? For example, this might mean playing, a tamrtarn with a beater in the right hand and a suspended cymbal with a stick in the left.) ‘Try to be as economical of personnel as possible; but for special cases it may be best to consult with an experienced percussionist before making a decision about how many players will be needed to perform a particular piece. NOTATION OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS: ‘Many attempts have been made to standardize percussion notation as well as to agree on a' symbolic designation for each instrument. Since such agreement has not yet been reached, i is incumbent on the composer or orchestrator to notate, in the clearest possible manner, what the performer is to play. It is best to explain what any symbolic designations for percussion instruments stand fot, both on the score page and at the beginning of the part, so that the player can easily identify the instruments. Or, since many percussion players prefer written-out instrument and mallet names or descriptions tather than symbols, the composer should label the parts using the full names or appropriate abbreviations as these instruments occur in the work. In this chapter we will give the most common symbol for each instrument and provide a short example to illustrate its notation.* Ear the best possible thinking on the subject, see Kurt Stone, Music Notation in the 20th Century (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980), pp. 254494 THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION ‘The notation for pitched percussion instruments occurs on a typical five- line, treble-clef staff, or, in the case of keyboard instruments, on a grand staff. Notation for nonpitched percussion instruments can vary from score to score, ‘but can be arranged in one of two general ways: 1. ona fiveline staff, using either its lines or its spaces but not both; or EXAMPtE 12-1. Percussion Notation on Five-Line Staff f 2. ona single-line staff. EXAMPLE 12-2, Percussion Notation of Single-Line Staff sol He FI yt Fh t arma te Goan > nite or approximate pitch. On a five-line staff itis centered on the third line. We will mention here one common symbol found in percussion scores: the Lv, designation (which stands for “let vibrate”) or tie after a note; when used. separately or together these symbols direct the percussionist to let the note or notes on the instrument vibrate for an indefinite period of time (fori stance, see Example 12-8). We will discuss other aspects of percussion notation in Chapter 14 MALLETS, BEATERS, AND STICKS ‘The nomenclature for the devices used to play percussion instruments will be designated in the following manner: 1. |mallets, used for keyboard instruments; -2. beaters, used for other instruments, such as the tam-tam and gongs; 3. sticks, used for all drums. ‘The symbols for all mallets, beaters, and sticks, given below, are now widely accepted; nevertheless, they should be explained in a guide to the notation at the beginning of the score and parts, since sotne percussionists need to be re~ minded of their meaning. tal mallets [FY] ‘mallets (wood or plastic heads) [FF Medium mallets (rubber heads) [5g] (Sanat (amb’s wool or sft felt heads) [pmTHE PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE 435 Ce ‘Bass drum stick 9 Heavy beater (for tam-tam etc) @ ‘Too hard mallets in each hand [EFF] Two soft mallets (Lh) and two hard mallets (ch) [FFE] ‘Two soft mallets in each hand [#799] CATEGORIES OF PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS, “There are several ways to categorize this large kitchen of instruments. We shall first divide percussion instruments into those that produce cleat, audible pitches (instruments of definite pitch) and instruments whose pitches are not necessarily clear and audible (instruments of indefinite pitch). Then we will sep- arate instruments in each of these two large groups by the way they produce sound, using the four categories frst established in the early twentieth century by Erich vor Hombostel: idiophones membranophones chordophones aerophones Itis very important to understand the concept of definite pitch in relation to all percussion instruments. The dividing line between definite and indefinite pitch is not at all well defined. The inharmonic (that is, discordant) partials and the noise factor of a definite-pitch percussion instrument are at times so pro- nounced that our ear often tolerates deviations from the prescribed pitch that we would never accept from other instruments of the orchestra. Richard Strauss, in his revision of Berlioz’s Treatise calls attention to several “out-of- the-harmony” pitches assigned to the timpani by such composers as Beethoven and Verdi, where retuning to the correct pitch was impossible because there ‘was not enough time. Nonetheless, ifthe timpani pitches were close to the ones called for in the score (for instance, a 2nd away), the harmony of the rest of the ‘orchestra was played over the “wrong” timpani note. Although neither Strauss nor any of us today would advocate this practice, especially on the precisely ‘tuned moder timpani, it proves how deceptive the actual pitch of a definitely pitched percussion instrument can be. On the other hand, the nonpitched in- struments as well as those with approximate pitches (such as high, medium, and low) blend in with the definite pitches around them in the orchestra, pick- ing up fundamentals that make them consonant contributors to the chord and siving the lie to the notion that nonpitched percussion instruments are simply “noisesnakers.” Today, electronic techniques are used to amplify, distort, or synthesize many436. THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, AROUND TABLE: BONGOS, TIMBALES, STEEL ORUM, ‘TEMPLE BLOCKS, AND CROTALES; ON TABLE: SLEIGH BELLS, TAMBOURINE, FINGER CYMBAL, WOODBLOCKS, CASTANETS, WOODEN, SHAKER, SLIT DRUM, GUIRO, AUTO HORN, TIN WHISTLE, FLEXATONE, MARACAS, SLAPSTICK, BELL TREE, ANVIL, TRIANGLE, WHISTLES, CLAVES, SANDPAPER BLOCKS, COWGELLS, MUSICAL SAW, AND VIBRASLAP; BEHIND, TABLE: WIND CHIMES (METAL AND GLASS) percussion instruments or to sample their sounds, as in the works by Larry ‘Austin (Life Pulse Prelude), William Bolcom (Session IV), Michael Daugherty (Metropotis Symphony), Mario Davidovsky (Synchronisms No. 6), and Donald Erb {(Klangfarbenfunk, with electronic rock instruments). Even the most recently invented instruments, unless they are electronically ‘manipulated, are related to others in the percussion section by the matesial of ‘which they are constructed, the manner in which they are played, or whether they are pitched or nonpitched. We shall briefly describe each instrument, giv- ing more in-depth treatment to those most commonly used in the symphony or- chestra, band, or wind ensemble, and present its method of performance. Then ‘we will show its notation and basic playing characteristics and techniques. An extensive list of works that use a great variety of percussion instruments is in- cluded at the end of the chapter, and an exhaustive list of books on these instru- ‘ments can be found in the Appendix B. One word of caution before proceeding with our discussion. Many percus- sion instruments, especially the pitched idiophones that are struck with mallets, are manufactured in various sizes and therefore have different ranges. The com- ‘poser should always choose the size he or she needs and leave the procuring of the proper instrument to the performing organization. Within reason, percus- sionists are usually most happy to oblige the composer.