1. This chapter does not present any particular musical works
This chapter does not present any particular musical works. It limits its discussion to broad features of the century. In effect, it is a preview of what the students will be studying in the five chapters that follow.

2. Chapter 30 Music in the Twentieth Century
Begins on page 264

3. The Tremendous and Tumultuous Century
Some music expanded elements of earlier music
Some music influenced by new sources
Some music intellectually oriented
Some music revived musical practices of earlier centuries
Some music repudiated nineteenth-century music
Some music created in new ways
The twentieth century was a time of tremendous turmoil and progress. The world was a very different place in 2000 from what it was in Music reflected the turmoil and diversity of the century.
Some of it consisted of a logical extension of nineteenth-century music.
Some of it drew upon new sources such as African and Asia.
Some represented almost total intellectual control of the sounds.
Some revived practices that had been unused for centuries. The concerto grosso and the harpsichord are two examples.
Some composers wanted to break cleanly from the music of the nineteenth century. They rejected flowing melodies and rich harmonies.
Some tried very different ways of creating music, including music based on chance and electronic sounds.

4. Twentieth-Century Art
Art works needed to represent objects
New practices
Two dimensional
Limited use of elements
Psychological
Until the twentieth century, paintings and pieces of sculpture needed to look like something – people, trees, bowls of fruit, and so on. But the development of photography changed all that; artists became free of that requirement. Now they could use their imaginations and express their innermost ideas in their art works.
Picasso’s “Three Musicians” on page 265 demonstrates the use of flat surfaces with mostly straight lines to create an interesting painting.

5. Describing Twentieth-Century Music
Difficult to summarize because –
We are so close to it
There is so much music to consider
Composers wanted to sound original
Composers sometimes changed their styles
But the use of “isms” helps
Compared to the music of earlier times, twentieth-century music is more difficult to classify. One reason is that we are very close to it. Historical periods become clearer as decades and centuries pass.
Another reason is the sheer amount of music people can listen to today. Recordings and worldwide communication have made every kind of music available and thousands of people are composing music.
Furthermore, since the Classical period composers have consciously avoided writing music that sounds like that of other composers. Each one wants his or her music to sound original.
To add to the complications of classifying twentieth-century music, some composers have changed styles in their careers. Stravinsky is a prime example of this.
The use of “isms” helps in organizing one’s thinking about quite a bit of the music of the preceding century. These “isms” are presented in subsequent chapters.

6. What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Rhythm
Freer use of metrical patterns
Some asymmetrical metrical patterns
Some use of ostinatos and other devices
Polyrhythms
Increasing importance of percussion instruments
The twentieth century saw the end of what was sometimes called the “tyranny of the bar line.” Composers changed meters whenever the music seemed to call for it; no longer did a composition need to remain in the same meter throughout.
Prior to the twentieth century, measures generally consisted of two, three, or four beats. But in the twentieth century asymmetrical meters are encountered. For example, eight eighth notes might have a pattern of
Some practices from earlier centuries were revived, including the use of rhythmic ostinatos.
Polyrhythms are rarely found in music prior to 1900, but they became much more common in the twentieth century.
With the increased attention on rhythm, percussion instruments became much more important in twentieth-century music. The number of instruments used increased, and a number of compositions were written for percussion ensembles.

7. What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Melody
Expanded beyond major and minor keys
Some with wide range and awkward leaps
Less interest in being beautiful
Melodies acquired many notes not in the traditional major and minor keys. Many chromatic notes are encountered. Often the melodies have a wide range, and some of the intervals are more awkward than those found in earlier music.
Twentieth-century composers seemed less interest in writing melodies that people would find warm and beautiful.

8. Some chords built in intervals other than thirds
What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Harmony and Counterpoint
Some chords built in intervals other than thirds
Some music abandoned idea of tonal center
Polytonality
Return to modes of early and folk music
Increased interest in counterpoint
Twentieth-century composers did not abandoned the use of the chords in thirds. Instead, some of the time they wrote chords in other intervals such as fourths and fifths.
The most radical change was the decreasing importance of the tonal center in a composition. Some composers changed tonal centers so often that they no longer used key signatures in their music. Others composed music that was atonal – in no key at all.
In other cases composers combined chords from two different keys at the same time, or what is termed polytonality.
In other cases composers returned to scales other than major and minor that had been used rarely in concert music since the end of the Renaissance period, but often existed in folk music.
There was also a move away from the attention to harmony that had been much a feature of the music of the Romantic period. In fact, the “Back to Bach” movement greatly admired the contrapuntal works of J.S. Bach.

9. What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Dissonance
Dissonant chords can seem tense and clashing, or
They can seem simply colorful
The amount of dissonance increased greatly in the twentieth century. Not all music contained dissonances, of course, but the amount and degree of it became more prominent. In a few pieces, the composer directed the pianist to simply push his or her elbow down on the keyboard.
Dissonance often adds a sense of tension to chords and combinations of sounds. It also tends to add “color” to the music. And it is a relative matter, sort of like what is hot and what is cold.

10. What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Timbre
Expansion of sounds from instruments and voices
New electronic sounds
Twentieth-century music contains a greatly expanded palette of timbres. Composers called for new sounds from instruments, sounds such as playing the strings on the opposite side of the bridge on string instruments and sounding tones with the valves partly depressed on trumpets. Singers not only were asked to sing notes, they also were directed to babble, click their tongues, and use a half-singing/half-talking style.
Electronic music offered a vast new array of sounds. Some of them were made by altering recorded sounds, both musical and nonmusical. Other were synthesized by electronic instruments.

11. What to Listen For in Twentieth-Century Music: Forms and Sources
Less use of traditional forms
Music from around world and previous centuries was available
Traditional forms such as sonata and theme and variations become less of a feature in twentieth-century music. Indeed, they had been used gradually less and less since the time of Mozart and Haydn. Many of the works composed in the twentieth century were not long, which reduced the need for forms.
Musicians in the twentieth century had available to them music from around the world preserved through recordings. For some composers, it provided a new source of musical ideas.

12. Summary The Tremendous and Tumultuous Century Twentieth-Century Art
Twentieth-century music
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony, dissonance, and counterpoint
Timbre
Forms and sources
Potential examination material
Terms: Polytonality
Prepared piano
Information Diverse directions of twentieth-century music from the music of the Romantic period
Change in the role of the artist
Basic ideas of changes in twentieth-century music:
rhythm
melody
harmony and counterpoint
timbre
forms
sources