The evolving loci of new music

This thesis argues that the nature of the performance of new music has evolved. Its arguments and evidence are taken from case-studies, presented by a performer, that reflect on recent and historical practices. The focus of the research is on the development of performance practices in contemporary music over recent decades, following the innovations of composers such as Stockhausen, Boulez and Xenakis since the 1950s, particularly in the field of writing for percussion. It acknowledges that musical performance has many dimensions and is determined by a complex configuration of conditions and factors such as musical materials, local and geographical physical location, cultural context and technologies. These dimensions offer perspectives for understanding the multivalent site of music performance, as a configuration of practical and theoretical ideas grouped under the headings practice, technology and community. This thesis proposes the notion of the locus of performance generated by a set of such conditions. My experiences as a performer are the basis for an auto-ethnographic methodology and central to the articulation of this notion. My creative work contributes to a model of practice-based research, and establishes my perspective as the performer, able to witness how the locus of performance has evolved. The roles of the composer, performer and audience, and their identity and presence in the musical performance, are considered in relation to factors such as new musical practices, technologies and communities. The relationship between these contributing factors is considered in an attempt to create a model of musical performance. The critical perspectives gained from this process will contribute to an evolved notion of the loci for new music.