Summary
Summary 20th Century Features Notes
- Institution
- CCEA
A brief outline of 20th Century features
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MUSIC IN THE 20TH CENTURYMain genres and approach to musical style
Composers make use of all existing genres plus individualism
Popular referenced: film, Broadway musical, blues, jazz, rock.
Stylistic elements of other world music.
Forms and Structures
No common approach. Experimental and nostalgic schools of thought expand
variety and allow deep musical exploration
Harmony
Romantic harmony (Elgar, Rachmaninov)
Tonality expanded through chromaticism and bitonality.
Emergence of novel ways of creating and organising pitch (whole-tone,
octatonic, and other scalic patterns)
Melody
Different approaches to melody style dependent
Working ranges from the move to extremes of tessitura
Melodic lines of romanticism to the often angular 'unsingable' tone
Electronic means (Steve Reich, Philip Glass)
Rhythm and Metre
Irregular rhythm
Changing metres
Rhythmic complexity
Rhythm becomes an important element in its own right
Polyrhythms
Superimposition
Texture
Full range of textures (rich and complex/lean and sparse depending on
composer and context)
Timbre
Increased orchestral resources
New and exotic sounds usually from folk instruments
Expansion in percussion instruments
Expansion of performing techniques on instruments
New range of sonorities via electronic means
Exploitation of solo instrumental sonorities eg 'prepared' piano of John Cage.
Expression
Wide range of approaches to the concept of expression depending on the
individual composer's approach to the composing process
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