Musicology Bibliography

Strain, James A. A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer. Blue Ridge
Summit: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2017.
Understanding terminology is of utmost importance when understanding percussion.
The range of strange terminology used in my other sources might not be well
understood all the time by others trying to understand my research, so being able
to articulate the definitions of the strange terminology involved in percussion is
very important. As well as this, should I not know certain terminology I can find
it in this dictionary.

Vincent, David W. A Percussionist’s Guide to Orchestral Excerpts. Columbia, S.C:

Broad River Press, 1980.
Different to understanding technique, understanding excerpts of music can be rather
difficult due to the assumed knowledge that composers often think percussionists
have. This book goes quite well with the score of excerpts listed below, because I
can truly understand the intentions involved in these excerpts to the fullest
extent.

Hathway, Kevin. “Orchestral Excerpts for Percussion”. London: Woodsmoor Press,

1989.
Obviously to effectively understand the music, you must read the music. A score
dedicated to just orchestral percussion parts is very useful for me to help me
understand how the parts work and what will be expected of a percussionist in an
orchestral situation. From there I can look backwards in time and see what led up
to the decisions made in the score.

Blades, James. Orchestral Percussion Technique. 2d ed. London: Oxford University

Press, 1973.
A book dedicated just to orchestral percussion technique shows the deep
understanding of the music and the instrument that James Blades has. It increases
the reliability of his works and gives the player yet another perspective into the
technique that percussionists use. A deep dive into purely orchestral playing gives
me personally a richer understanding and more to draw from when trying to
understand the purpose of the instrument in my area of interest.

Cirone, Anthony J. Orchestral Techniques of the Standard Percussion Instruments.

U.S: Belwin Mills Publishing Corp, 1980.
Another perspective on the techniques involved in orchestral percussion is
paramount, as the differences between scholars and their idea of ideal technique
brings up the discrepancies in development of the core techniques. “Standard”
demonstrates that there is a restricted amount of instruments that the book looks
at, which is both a strength and a weakness. It means that there are fewer
discrepancies to identify between perspectives, however it also means that a
considered “standard” exists in the group of instruments involved in an orchestra.

Blades, James. Percussion Instruments and Their History. Wesport, Connecticut.: The
Bold Strummer, 2005.
The first book I found about the history of percussion was the above. Containing
individual sections on almost every current piece of percussion ranging from the
Turkish cymbal to the tabla, this book provides me with the critical information on
what I am looking into. Since this book has been refined many times since it’s
original publishing in 1970, and that it has such detail in the individual
histories of the instruments, it was clear that this source is excellent for me to
have access to as to help me further understand my instrument group and its role.

Hartenberger, Russell, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Percussion. Cambridge

Companions to Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
The perfect book for understanding the percussion section, this book has a take on
displaying the history and development in a way that the player can apply it. The
listing of standard techniques and practises allows the player to see how and why
they developed the way they did and gives them the knowledge they might need to
play written down and explained in clear definition.