ABSTRACT
The introduction outlines how a new understanding of Australian music history will be achieved via viewing through the lens of developments in contemporary percussion over a 50-year period, from 1960 to 2010. It begins with a brief outline of the international context of percussion as both the oldest and newest of western art music sub-disciplines. The elevation of percussion instruments and performers to an equal status with other western music instrumental families began in the 1930s and 1940s with Amadeo Roldan, Edgard Varèse, John Cage, Johanna Beyer, Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison. It was not until the 1960s, however, that percussion activity began its move towards the centre of contemporary music practices, a move marked by the advent of solo percussion works by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Josef Anton Riedl, Sylvano Bussotti, James Tenney, John Bergamo, Charles Wuorinen, Helmut Lachenmann, Herbert Brün and Morton Feldman, followed by Iannis Xenakis and Frederic Rzewski in the 1970s. This music became the foundation of a solo percussion canon that modern contemporary percussion practices would build upon. Percussion ensemble practices commenced what would become a path of exponential growth in the 1970s, as ensembles such as Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Black Earth Percussion Group, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Trio Le Cercle and NEXUS began collaborating with composers Steve Reich, Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Kazimierz Serocki, Georges Aphergis, Vinko Globokar, Carloz Chávez and many others on both solo and ensemble works. It was during this period that contemporary percussion practices emerged in Australia.
