FRArt Micro-Percussion Hybridization. A First Approach to a New Instrumentintroduction

  • type: Article
  • ref: DOC.2021.195

The research project conducted by Tom De Cock and Gerrit Nulens had a precise, concrete, and ambitious goal: the creation of a new musical instrument. This instrument would have new sounds and ways of playing, and it would take the form of a micro-percussion kit connected to an amplification system and sound treatment device.
It was their own instrumental practice and teaching that led the creators, both members of the contemporary music ensemble Ictus and professors at the Liège Conservatory, to see the need for such an instrument. They believed that the sonorous universe and possibilities for experimentation inherent to percussion needed to be expanded, all the while providing musicians with a totally independent, affordable, and portable instrument. The historical precedents of the development of the electric guitar and the synthesizer, which revolutionized music in the 20th century, provided valuable sources of inspiration.
As an assembly of acoustic micro-percussions coupled with microphones and software, they sought to invent a totally hybrid instrument. This led De Cock and Nulens to study thoroughly all the properties of the constituent micro-elements, as well as the amplification and sound treatment devices best suited for each one. This involved an extensive amount of work, conducted with the help of sound technicians and engineers at the Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège, which “creates and distributes works of electronic music and especially of mixed music.”
But the new instrument could not just be a work of technological prowess; it also had to meet the practical and sensory requirements of musicians. Which is why the creators made their work-in-progress available to the composers Kasper T. Toeplitz, Andrea Mancianti, Eva Reiter, and Benjamin Van Esser. Through these interactions, which involved difficulties in handling the instrument and some misunderstandings, but also considerable ingenuity and a number of aesthetic discoveries, the device grew in potential and expanded its sound palette, ultimately becoming the “complete” instrument that they had hoped for.  
Although the pandemic and ensuing lockdown led to the cancellation of a premiere  public performance at the Images Sonores festival in Liège, organized by the Centre Henri Pousseur, many invitations and occasions have sprung up since then to introduce this newborn to the larger percussion family.