- The application of new technological
and scientific discoveries
Greatest influence on creativity and production
Not only in a literal, physical way but psychologically and
philosophically
- The speed and accessibility of all aspects of communication has dramatically
increased
- Developments have resulted in a world that is more informed
about events elsewhere
Helps to develop similarities and
uniformity of taste
Extensive effect on concert and popular music
Latin American dances
African American call-and-response settings
Microtonal melodies
of Asian music
- The recording and broadcasting
industries have developed to a point where:
Long musical works can be recorded without interruptions
Recordings of any and all types of music are readily available
Music is accessible anywhere (portable)
- Electronic instruments are more
accessible
New avenues of timbre are
available to explore
Pitch manipulation offers new
options to composers
Rhythmic complexity, beyond human
capacity, is possible
Computer technology and MIDI
(Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
Offers incredible ease of composition and orchestration
- Technology has led to the experimentation and development of multimedia works
Especially in the area of commercial production (MTV)
- The general noise level of the environment is much higher than
in previous eras
Certain types of music (rock/popular music) incorporate a
higher decibel level
- The recording industry has led
composers to compose with recording in mind
This leads to the manipulation of the
recording devices that control and change
the original sound, as part of the compositional process
Composers as well as listeners expect
perfection
Which in turn raises the performance standard for performers
- The convenience of technically flawless recordings has had a diverse effect on live performance
- Following World War II, Communist bloc
countries
(Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania, and East
Germany)
were cut off from the leading musical
trends
The death of Stalin removed some restrictions
The dissolution of the USSR and the Soviet bloc will
inevitably effect
future musical development
- The dissolution of overseas empires has allowed the
development
and dissemination of various indigenous musical cultures
Has sparked a new interest in multi-cultural
music
New concepts and instruments for composers to explore
New areas of music education (ethnomusicology)
- An emphasis on music education has brought about a new type of
patronage
Schools, colleges, and universities are employing
Artists, composers, etc. as faculty
II. Function of Music
- Many colleges and universities
have resources in teaching and performance
They have become fertile ground for experimental and avant-garde
composers
Some of the most elaborate resources
for electronic music are to be found in
- In Europe, broadcasting studios
have also been in the vanguard of this movement
- Special festivals and concert series
have been organized for the purpose of
presenting works of contemporary composers, especially the avant-garde
and non-Western music
- There have been dramatic increases in the number of cities
that have developed
opera companies
The U.S. produces mostly traditional works, some
contemporary
Europe produces more contemporary works than U.S.
- Ballet has achieved a position
of high importance in Europe and North America
Modern dance is being
incorporated with traditional
- European television and Public
Television in the U.S. broadcast numerous concerts
and musical events each year that include contemporary works
These are generally adaptations of stage or concert
performances
III. Style and Performance Practice
IV. Music for Voices
The vocal music of the 20th century has been criticized for its
instrumental character.
Successions of intervals that could be easily negotiated by
instruments,
often outside any tonal scheme, are demanded of singers.
In solo and choral works, the voice is often freed from verbal considerations.
Shouts, screams, and grunts are often used
A new school of vocal production has evolved around "extended vocal techniques"
More recently, there has been a noticeable
return to
- Single-Movement Forms
Art songs
Individual and cyclic settings
continue to be composed
Some composers wed the voice to a varied array of
traditional
and electronic instruments
Choral works
All the traditional and experimental
forms
Writing for church and schools
has occupied some composers' time
Few of the large religious works are appropriate for
liturgical services
Liturgical music often uses a style that might be called neo-Baroque
a contrapuntal style with 20th-century idioms
- Composite Forms
Opera and Musical
Theatre
Opera continues to examine historic ("The
Rake's
Progress,"
Stravinsky)
and current ("Nixon in
China," Adams) themes
In the U.S. there has been a growing need
for chamber operas
Many works have multimedia elements
Musical Theatre flourished in the 1950s and 1960s in the
U.S.
Resurgence of vitality in England in the 1970s and 1980s
The rather artificial distinction between opera and the
musical play
has become eroded
("Porgy and Bess," Gershwin;
"Sweeney Todd," Sondheim)
V. Music for Instruments
VI. Composers
VII. Historians and Theorists
Arnold Schoenberg
"Harmonielehre" (1911)
"Style and Idea" (1950)
"Structural Functions of Harmony" (1954)
Igor Stravinsky
"Poetics of Music" (1947)
"Conversations with Igor Stravinsky"
Howard Hanson
"The Harmonic Materials of Modern Music" (1960)
John Cage
Milton Babbitt
"The Function of Set Structure in the Twelve-tone System"
(1946)
"Twelve-tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants (1960)
"Twelve-tone Rhythmic Structure and the Electronic Medium"
(1962)
Leonard B. Meyer
"Emotion and Meaning in Music" (1960)
"Music, the Arts and Ideas" (1967)
