Modern Music

SamanthaTroyGage

3rd hour

Music Basics

• Scales• Notes• 1. sharps• 2. flats• Naturals

Pre-Modern Era

• Romanticism – focused on the free expressions feelings of the composers

• Neo-Classicism – a reaction to Romanticism; restored, order, clarity and emotional restraint

Turn Of The Century

• Progressing industrial revolution• First World War• Search for new inspiration• Personal concerns and feelings • Neo-Classical Movement• Development to World War Two

Arnold Schoenberg

• Grew up middle class Jewish

• Father died young • At 9 years old,

Schoenberg began composing little pieces for two violins – this was his first ever compositions

• After learning the cello, he began to compose quartets

Arnold Schoenberg (cont.)

• Alexander von Zemlinsky was an inspiration• Zemlinsky gave direction on harmony,

counterpoint, and composition• This resulted in his first publicly performed

work, the String Quartet in D Major

First Major Works

• Verklate Nacht (Transfigured Night) (1899)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqloMc9mYBM• Based on a poem• Progressive nature outraged both music

committees and the public• Then he moved to Berlin • Wrote similar pieces (high musical textures, hard to

comprehend)• Not like post-romantic orchestras

Tonal vs. Atonal

• Tonality refers to what key a song is in• Atonality refers to the absence of tonality

12 tone method

• Each compisition is formed from a special row or series of 12 different tones.

• This method comes with flexibility• (Sam’s Flute)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

u5dOI2MtvbA

End of life

• Germany saw rise of socialism• Moved from Paris to USA• There he returned to Jewish Faith

John Cage

• Studied and learned from Schoenberg

• Born in LA• Studied cultures of Asia and other

Buddhist countries, bringing Zen influence into his music.

• Studied Duchamp in college• Major Work: 4’33• http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=zY7UK-6aaNA

indeterminism

• Chance over choice• Cage did not want to associate himself with

what music was supposed to be. • No preconceived notion.• This idea of free music was heard and

experimented with around the world. It horrified people, but also intrigued them at the same time.

Karlheinz Stockhausen

• Learned the piano by age 7• Parents died at age 12• Late 40’s early 50’s – began experimentation• Eventually wrote for opera, orchestral and

electronic genres

Early works

• Tape recordings • Creation of imagination and hallucinations• Improvisation• “How Time Passes”

Major Piece

• Helicopter String Quartet• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=g2qQ6UWbRVc

Steve Reich

• “It’s Gunna Rain” and “Come Out”

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anXcSl5uFig

• Phasing• Like Cage, envisioned

a future of unpredictability

Steve Riech cont.

• “Music for 18 Musicians” (1978)• Fast harmonic rate with no percussion

Steve Reich cont.

• “Drumming” (1971)• Composed after a trip to Africa• Employed “phasing”

La Monte Young

• Pupil of John Cage• Made swirling music “come to life” in his New

York house along with several collaborators• His house was named Minimalism, that’s were

that word comes from• Later created serialism inspired musical

experiments with Cage• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

KB1_YUXgivE

Major Works

• A Well Tuned Piano (1964)

• The Second Dream of the High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer (1991)

Minimalism

• Came to form in the second half of the 20th century

• Characterized by great rhythmic drive, simplified harmonies and hypnotic repetition

• Evoked a “trance” like feeling, hypnotic

Serialism

• Music that uses Mathmatical values to manipulate different music elements over time

The Velvet Underground

• The most influential contemporary rock band to ever exist (arguably)

• Active 1964-1973• Collaborated with pop artist Andy Warhol• Co-founder John Cale was a student of La Monte

Young• They originated the "pessimistic" strand of psychedelic

music, basically invented punk rock• Employed drones of feedback and distortion• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLQzaLr1enE

Punk Rock

• Resulted from a reaction of mainstream rock n roll bands of the time

• Increasing popularity in new medias such as television also helped spark the movement

• Mid 70’s• Fast and edgy, often with short song lengths

and stripped-down instrumentation, lyrics often politically charged.

Post-Punk

• “post” has nothing to do with the time period, formation paralleled punk rock

• Included Punk aesthetics , but furthered punk music artistically, often fused other genres such as krautrock, dub, funk and largely art-rock

• The post-punk movement is known for connecting with the underground music scene of the late 70’s and 80’s, helping to spark genres such as gothic rock and alternative rock

Brian Eno

• Another example of the avant-garde mashing with the contemporary

• “Father” of the Ambient Genre• Took cheap melodies and added a strong

rhythmic base and counterpoint of synthesizer• Went on to collaborate with a wide range of

artists• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfKcu_ze-

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The Internet

• The internet has allowed practically anyone to access the entirety of music at their fingertips

• This result – endless independent experimentation and genre-blending, as well as the ability to share these experiments with the rest of the world

• File sharing websites have altered what it means to distribute music to the artist’s audience – more and more artists are starting to make their music free for anyone