20th Century/Non-Western Music
Terms
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- Claude Debussy
- His most famous works include Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.
- impressionist
- the musical style stressing tone color, atmosphere, and fluidity
- Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- ambiguous and flowing work in ABA' form evoking the dreams and erotic fantasies of a pagan forest creature; uses harp glissando, antique cymbals, and has a long flute solo
- neoclassicism
- the musical style marked by emotional restraint, balance, and clarity inspired from 18th century; a rebellion against impressionism and romanticism; preference for absolute rather than program music; also used to organize 20th century works
- Igor Stravinsky
- Some of his most famous works include The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and The Firebird.
- The Rite of Spring
- caused riots; harsh dissonances, percussive orchestration, rapidly changing meters, violent offbeat accents, ostinatos; a young woman dances herself to death; demonstrates primitivism
- expressionism
- a music style stressing intense, subjective emotion with harsh dissonance; typical of German and Austrian music of the early 20th century; a reaction to impressionism
- Arnold Schoenberg
- His most famous works include A Survivor from Warsaw and Moonstruck Pierrot.
- Sprechstimme
- literally "speech-voice"; halfway between singing and speaking
- 12-tone system
- a method of composing atonal music by organizing pitch in a composition, giving equal importance to each of the twelve chromatic scales; the 20th century alternative to tonality
- tone row, set, series
- the ordering or unifying idea in a twelve-tone composition
- serialism
- the method of composing by using an ordered group of musical elements to organize rhythm, dynamics, and tone color in addition to pitch; aka serial technique
- Bela Bartok
- Some of his most famous works include Concerto for Orchestra (w/Game of Pairs)
- Charles Ives
- Some of his most famous works include Putnam's Camp (from Three Places in New England)
- George Gershwin
- Some of his most famous works include An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess, and Rhapsody in Blues.
- Aaron Copland
- Some of his most famous works include Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Rodeo, and A Lincoln Portrait.
- Appalachian Spring
- A theme and variation piece where each variation has a change of tempo, tone color, dynamics, register, accompaniment, and key; It uses the Shaker folk tune Simple Gifts; originally a ballet but also a suite; based on a pioneer celebration in spring around a newly built farmhouse with characters such as a groom, bride, neighbor, revivalist preacher, and followers.
- later 20th century
- It's characterized by being even more extreme in all aspects including 20th century techniques of atonality, polychords/rhythms, change of meter, percussive orchestration, and serialism; includes electronic, minimalist, and aleatoric music, mixed media, new notation, prepared piano, and greater exploration of noise sounds
- aleatoric (chance) music
- music composed by the random selection of pitches, tone colors, and rhythms
- minimalist music
- music characterized by a steady pulse, clear tonality, and insistent repetition of short melodic patterns
- John Cage
- Some of his most famous works include 4'33 and the large scale Sonatas and Interludes.
- Jazz
- It was influenced by many musical cultures, particularly West African, American, and European.
- Stravinsky, Copland, William Grant Still, and George Gershwin
- Jazz influenced these composers
- improvisation
- Music is simultaneously created and played with a theme and variations form, often a popular melody in AABA form of 32 bars.
- call and response
- of West African influence, a voice is answered by an instrument or instrument answered by another instrument
- ragtime
- (1890s-1915) A style of composed piano music developed primarily by black pianists in southern and midwestern saloons and dance halls. Usually in duple meter and performed at a moderate march tempo. The pianist's right hand plays a highly syncopated melody while the left maintains the steady beat.
- blues
- (1890s) It can refer to a style and form; an early source of jazz, characterized by flatted notes in the scale; vocal consists of 3-line stanzas in the form AA'B; original style performed with guitar accompaniment and not standardized in form/style.
- blues form
- (1910s-20s) This form influenced jazz instrumentalists and has been intertwined with jazz ever since. Characteristics include 12-bars, AA'B form, blues scale, scoops, bending of pitches, sliding of music, 12-bar harmony framework.
- New Orleans style (aka Dixieland jazz)
- Typically played by five to eight performers with a front line (cornet/trumpet, clarinet, and trombone) supported by a rhythm section (drums, piano/banjo/guitar and tuba/plucked bass); A collective improvisation where each instrument has a specific role and unaccompanied solo; based on a march or church melody, ragtime piece, popular song, or 12-bar blues.
- Swing
- Developed in the 1920s, flourished from 1935-1945, and played by "big bands"; Not improvised; 15 players in three sections: sax, brass, and rhythm; Music arranger becomes important due to this style
- Bebop (aka bop)
- Developed in the early 1940s with a complex style of improvising to the extreme; meant for listening- not dancing; fast beat, unpredictable rhythms, and sophisticated harmonies
- Scott Joplin
- Some of his most famous works include Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer.
- Bessie Smith
- Her most famous works include Lost Your Head Blues.
- Duke Ellington
- His most famous works include C-Jam Blues, Ko-Ko, Harlem Airshaft, In a Melotone, and Blue Serge
- Miles Davis
- He was known as an outstanding trumpeter and bandleader, and for creating music in all forms of jazz, especially fusion (jazz rock) and cool jazz
- Charlie Parker
- He was known as a towering figure among bebop, an outstanding alto saxist, an improvisatory genius, and was an important influence on instrumentalists.
- Leonard Bernstein
- Some of his most famous works include West Side Story.
- West Side Story
- It has more music in general and unconventional with a wider range of styles; vaudeville, Latin rhythms, and bebop fugue are some examples; lyrical and staccato themes layer over each other
- Nonwestern musical education
- Oral tradition plays a huge factor in this, from parent to child and teacher to student
- drums in sub-Saharan Africa
- Sacrifices are offered to them; they are given food; they are housed in special shrines
- singing in nonwestern music
- Indian classical music is based on this, showing the importance of it.
- What 20th century events influenced the arts (especially music)?
- US's strong influence, nonwestern thought/culture, anti-rationality, plurism, dehumanization, civil rights, wars, new technologies and scientific discoveries
- What influenced composers of the 20th century?
- jazz, the romantic era, and events of this era
- style of 20th century music
- No one idea since many are floating around, so different styles
- music characteristics of the early 20th century
- unusual rhythms, expanded tone colors especially percussive, extremes, dissonance
- tone color of the 20th century music
- takes a major role in 20th century music where each instrument is heard instead of blending together; creates variety, continuity, and mood; anything goes!
- harmony of the 20th century music
- dissonance is used so freely it's considered stable; new chord structures like polychords, 4th chords, and tone clusters
- atonality
- absence of tonality or key
- rhythms of 20th century music
- polyrhythms (two or more contrasting independent rhythms played at the same time), unpredictability, irregularity, news ways of organizing them
- melody of 20th century music
- contains wide leaps difficult to sing; asymmetrical; unpredictable; plurism
- bitonality; polytonality
- one is the use of only two different keys at once while the other is the use of two or more different keys at once