Evolving instrumentalist: a continuous trajectory

This article proposes to identify the key milestones that influenced the instrumentalist performance, throughout the twentieth century until nowadays. In a certain moment of the western music history, excluding henceforth unwritten instrumental music, the instrumentalist needed to incorporate elements related with other arts and/or others disparate fields, which in some way come together on the performance, beyond the enlargement of his functions and instrumental musical techniques. This evolution has broken away from the traditional performance – the act of the musician taking the stage to reproduce a musical text – creating new multidisciplinary demands on performers. These new features became a requirement for the interpreters, as well as a source of creativity for composers and creators. As a consequence, the technical mastery of instruments and of musical theory, became insufficient due to the enlarged scope requirements of certain concepts and artistic creations.