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Benjamin N. Reimer
Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, December, 2013
A doctoral paper submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements
of the degree of Doctor of Music in Performance Studies
Abstract
Traditionally considered an instrument used primarily for improvisation in popular
music, the drumset has emerged in contemporary music as a solo instrument with prescribed
notation. While there is a growing interest in this repertoire today, composers have drawn
inspiration from the drumset since the early developmental stages of the instrument itself in the
early twentieth century).
In the context of popular music, generations of drummers have explored new musical and
technical possibilities of drumset performance. It is this history that remains linked to the
drumset even when crossing over into the context of contemporary composition. Drummers in
popular music have influenced the musical content, the approach to performance, and even our
preconceived ideas of the musical and technical potential of this instrument when it is used in
contemporary art music.
This thesis presents four unique approaches to composition identified and defined as the
Tourist, the Snapshot, the Non-idiomatic and the Confluent. Although many works are discussed,
the chapters focus on Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde, Christopher Rouse’s Bonham,
James Dillon’s Ti.Re.Ti.Ke.Dha and Nicole Lizée’s The Man with the Golden Arms.
The purpose is to highlight new performance techniques and musical possibilities for
drumset performance used in contemporary art music, while identifying the composed
repertoire’s links to traditional and fundamental drumset practices. This will show that an
awareness of the drumset’s roots in popular music styles has a significant effect on both
composer and performer.