Download 20th Century Music

Diatonic Harmony gave way to Atonal
Music.
 Electronic Music developed with the
technology.
 Composers experimented with different
ideas about how to create music.
 Composers were influenced by music
from other styles and cultures.
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Atonal music has no key and therefore
no hierarchy of pitches.
 This means that many of the key aspects
of western music no longer function (e.g.
cadences, chords, etc.)
 Atonal music frequently sounds very
dissonant.
 Serialism is a type of atonal music
developed by a composer called
Schoenberg.
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Schoenberg tried to reintroduce an element
of structure into his atonal music.
• In Serialism you write a tone row containing
each of the 12 chromatic pitches just once.
• You then manipulate the tone row using
specified techniques: inversion, transposition
and retrograde.
• Some composers went on to develop
Serialism by adapting these techniques to
note values, instrumentation, etc.
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• Electronic music uses sounds generated
electronically rather than by acoustic instruments.
• Composers who wrote electronic music often used
the technology to create new sounds unlike anything
that could be played on an acoustic instrument.
• Electronic music often sounds crude compared to
the
sophisticated electronic sounds we are used to with
modern music.
• Some composers used electronics to manipulate
acoustic sounds rather than generate electronic
sounds.
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• Aleatoric Music – music created using
chance.
• Graphic Score – music written down as a
picture without using conventional notation.
The performer has to interpret the picture.
• Microtonal – music that uses intervals smaller
than a semitone.
• Extended Techniques – music that requires
the instrument to be adapted or played in an
unconventional manner
• A reaction against the unpleasant
 sounding modern music.
 • Composers revisited older techniques
 and harmonies but still keeps some of
 the characteristics of modern music.
 • Dissonance (in parts) and unusual
 rhythms are characteristic of
 Neoclassical music.
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• Minimalist music consists of looped
 layers.
 • Each layer is gradually altered during
 the course of the piece.
 • It is very repetitive and often very long.
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• Many composers were influenced by
 other styles of music. In particular:
 – World Music
 – Jazz
 – Popular Music
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• Other composers are noted for mixing
 their music with other art forms such as:
 – Film
 – Graphic Art
 – Video
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• Just about any combination of
instruments is
written for using any of the musical
techniques described before.
• The orchestra stays mostly the same but
with
the addition of some unusual percussion
instruments for particular pieces.
• Chamber ensembles become more
popular
after being almost
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• Vocal ensembles are still the same as they
have been since the Classical Era, soloists
and choruses with an occasional chamber
ensemble.
• Voices and instruments are used together
on
a more regular basis.
• Vocal music (both sacred and secular) is
written using any of the techniques
described
before.
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20th century expressionist composer who
developed a systematic method of
organizing atonal music called the 12
tone system
American composer who incorporated
American folk songs, cowboy songs,
revival hymns and jazz in his orchestral
compositions
 Works include Billy the Kid,Rodeo and
Appalachian Spring
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Russian expressionist composer
 Famous for three ballets: The Firebird,
 Petrushka, and the Rite of Spring
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French pianist/composer who linked the
Romantic era to the 20th century
 Greatest hits: Prelude to the Afternoon of
a Faun
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• Dissonance and unusual rhythms make
 music unpleasant to listen to.
 • Electronic sounds, unusual instruments,
 extended techniques all expand the
 sounds available to the composer.
 • Repetition and gradual change –
 minimalist music.
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