2. Music Appreciation Grade 12 Mr. Gribble

3. The Modern Era  It is a blend of many types of music.  It blends forms of popular music such as jazz, blues, and folk and many new techniques.

4. Claude Debussy 1862-1918 Debussy began composing music in the 1890’s and is considered one of the first Modern composers. When he was a student in Paris, Debussy was stimulated by the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe and the impressionist paintings of Monet and Renoir.

5. Debussy…Continued Debussy is known for inventing an entirely new scale based on whole steps called a “whole-tone scale” meaning the pianist plays every other key from start to finish. Some famous Debussy pieces include: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Claire de Lune from Suite bergamasque, La Mer, and Preludes for Piano.

6. Igor Stravinsky 1882-1971 Like many before him Stravinsky made his mark with ballet music. He became famous with his music for a ballet based on the legend of the Firebird.

7. Stravinsky…Continued In 1913, The Rite of Spring launched Stravinsky into stardom when a riot broke out between the people who loved his music and the people who hated his music.

8. Arnold Schoenberg 1874-1951 At the same time that Stravinsky was in Paris, Arnold Schoenberg was in Austria creating music that was even more far out. This kind of music was known as “atonal”.

9. Schoenberg…Continued Atonal music is dissonant, which means it sounds as if all the notes are wrong. After this, Schoenberg took it even one step further and began using mathematics to choose which notes to play. He called this “12 – tone music” or “serialism”.

10. George Gershwin 1898-1937 Gershwin on the other hand, was approaching music in a completely different manner. He took music from dance halls and Broadway and made it into amazing orchestral music.

11. Gershwin…Continued Gershwin was a self-taught composer of classical music. Rhapsody in Blue is Gershwin’s most famous piece. It has been said that no other music better describes the America of the early century.

12. Aaron Copland 1900-1990 Copland worked very hard also at creating music that Americans would recognize as their own. Copland’s, Appalachian Spring won the Pulitzer Prize for music Composition in 1945.

13. Copland… Continued Billy the Kid and Rodeo are two ballets that are easily liked. An interesting note is that Copland had a day job as an insurance executive throughout his adult life.

14. Leonard Bernstein 1918-1990 We probably all know Bernstein best as the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also known as a talented pianist and composer.

15. Bernstein…Continued He is also well known for his musical score to West Side Story. Bernstein is known for picking up where Gershwin left off and creating more music that appealed to modern audiences.

16. The Modern Era Claude Debussy Igor Stravinsky Arnold Schoenberg George Gershwin Aaron Copland Leonard Bernstein