Håkon Stene: This is Not a Drum

Field of study: Artistic Research (Percussion)

Background

One of the oldest crafts in musical arts, percussion playing, especially within the Western contemporary music tradition, has developed rapidly and been subject to significant change over the last 60 years. Stene’s project takes as its starting point the notion that percussionists have so many instruments that, in effect, they have none to with which they can genuinely identify. The ambition of the project is to liberate or decouple the intent of percussion from the materials of percussion, and to influence new developments in the field by investigating an expanded area of practice. The idea is to try to understand how the genre and the role of its performers have evolved and to offer what Stene considers to be relevant and necessary responses to its current state.

Stene has reflected on recent tendencies emerging in contemporary music that pursue the experimental spirit of percussion music from the mid-twentieth century onwards, but that are not directly connected to percussive techniques or instruments.

Material and method

The investigations have been centered on nine case studies in two parallel lines of research, the first developing five new works employing unconventional techniques and instruments, the second investigating interpretational potential in works that already existed when I began the project. Most of these compositions do not fit the common definitions of percussion works, since they do not involve instruments or techniques associated with general percussion. The fact that Stene and other percussionists perform them and works of similar nature poses fundamental questions about what performing percussion might imply today. Stene’s claim is that we see emerging the contours of a new practice, which tentatively could be labelled post-instrumental.

Research Questions

• What happens if we deliberately avoid following the wishes of the composer as expressed in the score? Is there still such a thing as a conceptual identity of the work in the remaining interpretation?
• What are the qualities inherent to an authentic performance, and to which degree is it important to conserve them? Where to draw the line between an authentic and an inauthentic reproduction of a score?
• Who is finally to decide over the performance? I have explored these questions by presenting at least two different renderings of four case studies. Parameters investigated are instrumentation, form, language, and genre

Stene has explored these questions by presenting at least two different renderings of four case studies. Parameters investigated are instrumentation, form, language, and genre.

Documentation

The project is titled This is not a Drum. Towards a Post-Instrumental Practice.

Artistic result

Stene's artistic result was presented at Betong and the NMH 7 may 2014.

The results are documented on Håkon Stene's home page.

Reflections

Stene has drawn on his own artistic practice as a tool and method in the generation of this text. Through reflecting on the various processes posed by the case studies, Stene has examined his research questions, hoping to contribute to the ongoing discourse among performers, composers, and musicologists in the field of New Music. The written reflection is to be understood as a complementary side product to the artistic portfolio that accompanies the project.

Stene's refection text is available in NMH's digital archive Brage.