Learning Objectives

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Outline the social, cultural, and political impact of WWI and WWII.
Discuss the growth of the United States as a world power.
Describe the impact of technological advancements on the development of music in the twentieth century.
Describe, compare and contrast the main stylistic differences of Contemporary music styles including impressionism, post-Romanticism, serialism, and expressionism.
Summarize the changing nature and application of the concept of tonality throughout the century.
Discuss the impact of Claude Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" in light of the Symbolist movement in literature.
Illustrate how the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky experimented with rhythm, new instrumental combinations, and the percussive use of dissonance, and discuss the impactof these techniques on contemporary music.
Describe the impact of Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School on 20th-century music.
Distinguish the main stylistic differences of nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers and styles.
Describe the musical and political impact of “national schools” of composition that developed across Europe during the 20th century.
Explain the impact of composer Aaron Copland on American contemporary music.
Describe the impact of Latin American composers on the larger "art music" scene and repertoire.
Define and analyze the main differences between jazz, ragtime, and blues.

Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries (1900-Present)

Form

Variation remains a basic compositional tool.
Musical elements are often tightly organized and made sparer.
Many composers continue to compose in traditional forms (sonatas, symphonies, song forms, etc.), using either traditional or nontraditional harmonic idioms or timbres.
New forms emerge that are not based on traditional harmonic relationships.

Melody

Often, melodic lines are conceived in instrumental rather than vocal terms.
Melodies aren't always presented in clear, well-defined, symmetrical phrases but may be disjointed or minimized in favor of rhythmic or timbral explorations.
New systems emerge for organizing melodic material.
Melodies may be tonal or atonal.

Rhythm

Rhythms may be irregular or built on mixed-meter patterns (five, seven, eleven).
Polyrhythms (different meters at the same time) may be used, as well as frequent meter changes within short spaces of time.
Bar lines may be omitted.
Rhythms from non-Western cultures increasingly influence popular as well as art music.
Technology makes possible rhythm patterns that humans can't perform.
Steady beats or meters are often avoided. Beats or pulses may be grouped together in measures of different lengths, with or without a recurring pulse.
A number of unusual rhythms may be played at the same time, creating complex rhythmic textures.

Harmony

Harmonies are not always based on the traditional diatonic (major and minor) tonal system.
Two or more keys may be employed at the same time.
Composers increasingly use modes other than the traditional major and minor modes.
There is an increase in dissonance as an element independent from consonance. The old tendency to resolve dissonance into consonance is abandoned by many composers, who recast music as a series of dissonances, from mild to exceedingly tense.
Traditional chords are not always used. Chords may be stacked on top of each other, entirely different chords may be played together or juxtaposed, or chords or clusters may be created using a variety of pitch intervals.

Texture

Textures range from very sparse or transparent to very thick.
Composers often write so that individual lines and timbres may be heard clearly within the larger texture. The goal is not always a blended sound, as in previous eras.

Timbre

Timbre takes on a new importance, and timbral exploration becomes a driving force for many composers.
Compositions are written for unconventional ensembles of instruments and/or voices.
There is increased use of percussion instruments, and more kinds of percussion.
Sounds previously considered noise (or simply sound) are sometimes treated as music or incorporated into music.
Instruments are more commonly played at the high or low extremes of their ranges.
Instruments may be altered or played in ways other than originally intended.
The piano is often added to the orchestra.
Electronic music production adds a wealth of new sounds.