Percussion music is both the oldest and most recent of musical genres and exists in diverse forms throughout the world. This Companion explores percussion and rhythm from the perspectives of performers, composers, conductors, instrument builders, scholars, and cognitive scientists. Topics covered include percussion in symphony orchestras from the nineteenth century to today and the development of percussion instruments in chapters on the marimba revolution, the percussion industry, drum machines, and the effect of acoustics. Chapters also investigate drum set playing and the influences of world music on Western percussion, and outline the roles of percussionists as composers, conductors, soloists, chamber musicians, and theatrical performers. Developments in scientific research are explored in chapters on the perception of sound and the evolution of musical rhythm. This book will be a valuable resource for students, percussionists, and all those who want a deeper understanding of percussion music and rhythm.

An approachable introduction to the drum kit, drummers, and drumming, and the key debates surrounding the instrument and its players.

An exploration of rhythm and the richness of musical time from the perspective of performers, composers, analysts, and listeners.

This wide-ranging guide offers insights for musicians and students on how to be a composer.

This guide to the orchestra and orchestral life is unique in its breadth of coverage. It combinesorchestral history and repertory with a practical bias offering critical thought about the past, present and future of the orchestra. Including topics such as the art of orchestration, scorereading, conducting, international orchestras, recording, as well as consideration of what it means to be an orchestral musician, an educator, or an informed listener, it will be of interest to a wideranging readership of music historians and professional or amateur performers.

This book describes the properties of materials used for making percussion instruments for classical music played by a symphony orchestra in which the instruments could be played as a soloist instrument or as a group or several groups of instruments, as they are included into a musical work. A chapter is devoted to the bells. The scope of this book is primarily confined to percussion instruments of symphony orchestras taking into account the centuries of musical art and tradition. This book bridges the gap in the technical literature on describing the properties of materials for percussion instruments—timpani, other drums, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, gong, cymbal, triangle, celesta, castanets.

Demonstrating not only how to write for orchestra but also how to understand and enjoy a score, The Cambridge Guide to Orchestration is a theoretical and practical guide to instrumentation and orchestration for scholars, professionals and enthusiasts. With detailed information on all the instruments of the orchestra, both past and present, it combines discussion of both traditional and modern playing techniques to give the most complete overview of the subject. It contains fifty reduced scores to be re-orchestrated and a wide range of exercises, which clarify complex subjects such as multiple stops on stringed instruments, harmonics and trombone glissandi. Systematic analysis reveals the orchestration techniques used in original scores, including seven twentieth-century compositions. This Guide also includes tables and lists for quick reference, providing the ranges of commonly used instruments and the musical names and terminology used in English, German, Italian and French.

This is a wide-ranging and accessible guide to Bartók and his music.

Introduces the richly varied musical traditions of the Caribbean from interdisciplinary perspectives that will support decolonised curricula and research.

Jean Sibelius has gradually emerged as one of the most striking and influential figures in twentieth-century music, yet his work is only just beginning to receive the critical attention that its importance deserves. This Companion provides an accessible and vivid account of Sibelius's work in its historical and cultural context. Leading international scholars, from Finland, the United States and the UK, examine Sibelius's music from a range of critical perspectives, including nationalism, eroticism and the exotic, music and landscape, reception and musical influence. There are also chapters on recording and interpretation that offer fascinating insights into the performance of Sibelius's work. The book includes much material, drawing on scholarship, as well as providing a comprehensive introduction to Sibelius's major musical achievements.