Our Legacy: Opportunities and Obligations

Our Legacy: Opportunities and Obligations will focus on concepts of legacy, tradition, and issues of cultural exchange in percussion playing. Focusing on a network of practices that draw upon the bridging of Western and non-Western traditions, we invite submissions that resonate with, reflect upon, and address concepts of fluidity in performance practice, critical evaluations of the historical conventions of percussion, and the ever-changing economic models of contemporary music. In addition, proposals may address issues of advantage and caution involving cultural exchange, ranging from academic institutions to independent artists and the role of the percussion community in creating and codifying components of a shared practice.

 We observe that, in an art form as new as Western contemporary percussion music/performance, the concept of legacy serves as both a healthy codification of artistic discourse and, potentially, a force that threatens to undermine the multiplicity and diversity of practice that is at the heart of our craft as percussionists. As we celebrate a lineage that has a growing reach and rootedness (both roots and rhizomes), how do we challenge its failures? What are the potentials of our future ecologies and prospective interconnected pathways? We invite presentations that address the conundrum of a growing legacy as it reinforces and challenges our basic precepts. 

Transplanted Roots 2022 is delighted to welcome Sarah Hennies as guest composer and speaker, with the world premiere of her new work Thought Sectors. Additionally, the conference coincides with two important centennial celebrations, reflecting on the legacy of Iannis Xenakis and Chou Wen-Chung. Their seminal works for percussion draw on different legacies and have deeply informed our growing sense of our artistic selves. Proposals need not refer to these composers.

Proposals on a broad spectrum of issues concerning legacy will be welcome, including; 

  • Re-writing the percussive legacy: thinking through race and gender, interconnectedness and forging new pathways. 

  • Critique of percussive legacy in Western Art Music: reflection upon inter-cultural practices, the bridging of traditions, and exploring compositional and notational boundaries.

  • The representation of new works and ideas as they relate to legacy, tradition and cultural exchange.

  • What are the potentials of our future ecologies and prospective interconnected pathways as practitioners and contributors to the percussion community? 

  • Other sub-topics that relate to the theme Opportunities and Obligations.

Submissions must include the following information, in PDF format:

• Name, institution and contact info of presenter(s) (please list all names in case of group submissions)

• Session type (paper, lecture recital, or performance)

• Title of submission and abstract. paper: 250-word abstract. Lecture/Recital: 250-word abstract + stage set-up/instrument requirements. Performance: 250-word abstract + stage set-up/instrument requirements.

• Biography of key artist/presenter (250 word)

• Technical and instrument requirements (please note this section must include all requirements. Please also note we might provide alternative solutions to maximize the inclusion of your submission due to possible limitations of the host's technology and instrument inventory).

• In the case of performance submissions, links to relevant media (YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, etc.)

Transplanted Roots is a peer-reviewed symposium. All submissions will be reviewed by external reviewers in addition to symposium organizers.


​​Submission Deadline: February 15th, 2022

Notification of successful applicants: March 1st, 2022

Accept or decline offer: March 15th, 2022

Festival Dates: 18-20 May 2022, UC San Diego 

Submissions and all questions should be sent to transplantedroots2022@gmail.com

Symposium conveners:

Steven Schick (University of California, San Diego, USA) Host 2022

Composer in Residence | Sarah Hennies 2022

Ivan Manzanilla (University of Guanajuato, México), Host 2019

Vanessa Tomlinson (Griffith University, Australia) Host 2017

Aiyun Huang (University of Toronto, Canada) Host 2015