The origins of electroacoustic music are rooted in a long-standing tradition of non-human music making, dating back centuries to the inventions of automaton creators. The technological boom during and following the Second World War provided composers with a new wave of electronic devices that put a wealth of new, truly twentieth-century sounds at their disposal.

Percussionists, by virtue of their longstanding relationship to new sounds and their ability to decipher complex parts for a bewildering variety of instruments, have been a favored recipient of what has become known as electroacoustic music. This dissertation addresses several dimensions of this sub-genre: Chapter One provides a definition and brief history of the genres of electronic (acousmatic) and electroacoustic music. Chapter Two provides a detailed taxonomy of the genre of electroacoustic music. Chapter Three addresses the various musical and aesthetic challenges that electroacoustic music presents to the interested percussionist or observer.

The final two chapters focus more closely on one of electroacoustic music‘s most exquisite creations to date: Kaija Saariaho‘s Six Japanese Gardens (1994). Chapter Four assesses the complex equipment needs and offers practical advice for a successful performance. Chapter Five puts Saariaho‘s work in a broader context by placing an examination of it next to one of Karlheinz Stockhausen‘s breakthrough 1964 composition, Mikrophonie I.