Show:
It's a Revolution!
Experimental Music
Keepin' it real
Traditionalists and Evolutionary composers
Breakin' the rules
The Avant-Garde
Back to Basics
The Recent Mainstream
From Ives to Walker: Listening Examples to reinforce vocab.
100
This music challenges the concepts of traditional sound. Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, and Edgard Varese were the musical pioneers of this type of music.
What is experimental music?
100
Known as a dramatic phrase or piece for brass with a celebratory character, this served Copland well in his 1942 composition for the common man.
What is a fanfare?
100
Known as the "hobo" composer, this man divised a 43-note scale for which he built new instruments that could play each microtone.
Who is Harry Partch?
100
Based on many repetitions of simple melodic and rhythmic patterns, this style of music may actually sound complex rather than simplistic.
What is minimalist music?
100
Heard in this example, Charles Ives is utilizing a common theme or this, which means a short/repetitive musical idea with a thematic identity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8aSTvtKDGM
What is a motive?
200
Combining two or more rhythmic patterns simultaneously would create this; an extremely complex rhythmic relationship conceived by Charles Ives
What are polyrhythms?
200
This composer was a prominent composer of neoromantic music. Rather than composing in an intellectual style, he composed programmatic music with lyrical melodies and dissonant harmonies. "Adagio for Strings" is one such example.
Who is Samuel Barber?
200
Another word for "vibration", these were utilized on an electronic synthesizer to determine pitch.
What are oscillators?
200
This act was passed in 1964 for the establishment of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
What is the National Cultural Centers Act?
200
In this example, Babbitt expands upon this technique developed by Arnold Schoenberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uHLmNpE4HM
What is 12-tone technique?
300
Built on seconds rather than thirds, these created a dissonant sound, of which Ives and Cowell were quite fond.
What are tone clusters?
300
Considered to be modern dance music, this selection from Copland's "Rodeo" is said to portray a cowgirl who dresses and acts like a man but wins her lover by wearing a dress and a bow in her hair.
What is "Hoedown"?
300
This is another word for "chance" music.
What is aleatory or aleatoric?
300
Consisting of 53 different motives, this piece by Terry Riley has been considered, by some, to have an almost hypnotic effect. It could be classified as minimalistic music, as well as a kind of chance music.
What is "In C"?
300
With quotations from George Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm" and a bluesy/ragtime feel, the third movement of the "Afro-American Symphony" by this composer, was composed near the end of the Harlem Renaissance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ZOAVraaRU
Who is William Grant Still
400
In this programmatic piece by Charles Ives, a conductor would find himself in a battle; conducting in 4 with one hand while conducting in 3 with the other.
What is "General Putnam's Camp"?
400
This movement in the 1920s stimulated the advancement of music, art, etc. by African American artists. In many ways, some artists resented the idea that the access to conservatories to learn "classical techniques" advanced black music.
What is the Harlem Renaissance?
400
This performance artist is well known for using a variety of media in her live performances. Her use of film, electronic and acoustic music, and other effects defy traditional means of notation.
Who is Laurie Anderson?
400
Known as a concert setting of a poem, this style of song could be the part of a song cycle. Gwyneth Walker composed many of these by poet, e. e. cummings.
What is an art song?
400
This piece, John Cage, features a piano which is played in quite the experimental fashion. In fact, if you are not prepared for this example, you may not recognize it as a piano. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRHoKZRYBlY
What is a prepared piano?
500
This type of music could not be performed or interpreted but existed only on tape.
What is musique concrete or concrete music?
500
This French organist and composer was a teacher to Aaron Copland. Her goal was to recognize each of her students' talents and find the best way for them to reach their potential. She encouraged students to explore new ideas in musical composition.
Who is Nadia Boulanger?
500
While studying the works of "the grandfather of electronic music", Robert Moog, this composer argued that fixed media, although a form of concrete music, could be interpreted differently with repeated hearings.
Who is Robert Ceely?
500
In the final movement of his symphony "New England Triptych", this composer utilizes the melodies of both a religious hymn and a patriotic anthem from the Revolutionary War. It was often his intention to fuse the composition styles of 18th century composers with his own style.
Who is William Schuman?
500
"Imaginary Landscape No. 4" by John Cage is an extreme example of aleatory or chance music known as this type of music, in which almost all of the composition will change from one performance to another.
What is random music?