Music Week 133444444

• QUARTER 1-WEEK 1-MUSIC 10
INTRODUCTION
The 20th century music or known as contemporary music and we will explore
the characteristics and elements of the following styles like impressionism,
expressionism, neo-classicism, avant-garde music, modern nationalism,
electronic music and chance music. We will discuss the characteristics and
elements of 20th century music. As musical composer of contemporary
era established their own and created a new unique style in writing a
composition, some of them move away in convention style, technique,
and treatment to the music while other composer take advantage
the product of 20th century technology and introduce innovative
ways of creating musical piece resulting into variety of musical
style that influence the music scene nowadays.
IMPRESSIONISM
 One of the earlier but concrete forms declaring the entry of 20th
century music was known as impressionism.
 It is a French movement in the late 19th and early 20th century.
 The sentimental melodies and dramatic emotionalism of the
preceding Romantic Period (their themes and melody are
easy to recognize and enjoy) were being replaced in favor of
moods and impressions.
 There is an extensive use of colors and 3 effects, vague
melodies, and innovative chords and progressions
leading to mild dissonances.
CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONISM
1. COLOR
 Also known in Musical Term as “TIMBRE”
 A quality and tone quality of a sounds which
makes it unique sound of different
instrument.
 This can be achieved through orchestration,
harmonic usage, texture, etc.
2. CHORDS
 Do not have a definite order and a sense of
clear resolution.
 Other features include the lack of a tonic-
dominant relationship which normally gives
the feeling of finality to a piece, moods
and textures.
A. WHOLE TONE SCALE
 in music, a scalar arrangement of pitches, each
separated from the next by a whole-tone step (or
whole step).
B. HARMONY
 chords overlapped lightly with each other to
produce new subtle musical colors.
C. HARMONIC VAGUENESS
 about the structure of certain chords.
EXPRESSIONISM
 was originally borrowed from visual art and literature.
 Artists created vivid pictures, distorting colors and shapes
to make unrealistic images that suggested strong
emotions.
 Expressionist composers poured intense emotional
expression into their music and explored the
subconscious mind
CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPRESSIONISM
1. TWELVE-TONE SCALE
 in music, a type of serial music introduced by
Arnold Schoenberg; uses a tone row formed by
the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale
(and inverted or backward versions of the row)
Synonyms: 12-tone music, 12-tone system,
twelve-tone music Type of: serial music,
serialism.
 Commonly associated with the term
Retrograde reverses the order of the motif's
pitches: what was the first pitch becomes the
last, and vice versa.
2. HIGH LEVEL OF DISSONANCE
 obviously resulting to into atonality.
(Dissonance means the quality of sounds that
seems unstable)
3. CONSTANT CHANGING OF TEXTURES
 Use distorted melodies and harmonies, and
extreme pitches. .
4. ANGULAR MELODIES
 with wide leaps and no cadence.
 Shows radical emotion or negative expression
like radical, fear, anxiety and anger
5. ATONALITY
 means lacking of tonal center, or key.
NEO-CLASSICM
 was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses
of the Romantic period and the violent impulses of the
soul in expressionism.
 It was a partial return to an earlier style of writing,
particularly the tightly knit form of the Classical
period, while combining tonal harmonies with
slight dissonances. It also adopted a modern,
freer use of the seven-note diatonic scale.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEO-CLASSICISM
1. SEVEN-NOTE DIATONIC SCALE
 any sequence of seven successive natural
notes, such as C–D–E–F–G–A–B, and any
transposition thereof, is a diatonic scale
2. RETURN TO CONVENTIONAL WAY OF
ROMANTIC PERIOD
 Partial return to conventional way of romantic
music combined with expressionism
characteristic.
3. HARMONIC DISSONANCES
 Use of harmonic dissonances that produce
harsh chords and complex but exciting
rhythmic patterns.
AVANT-GARDE
- Closely associated with electronic music, the avant-garde
movement dealt with the parameters or the dimensions of
sound in space. The avant-garde style exhibited a new attitude
toward musical mobility, whereby the order of note groups
could be varied so that musical continuity could be altered.
Improvisation was a necessity in this style, for the musical
scores were not necessarily followed as written. For example,
one could expect a piece to be read by a performer from left
to right or vice versa.
MODERN NATIONALISM
- A looser form of 20th century music development
focused on nationalist composers and musical innovators
who sought to combine modern techniques with folk
materials. It can be also referring to musical ideas or
motifs that are identified with a specific country, region,
or ethnicity, such as folk tunes and melodies, rhythms,
and harmonies inspired by them.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC
- As 20th century acquired new technology, the capacity of electronic
machines such as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and loudspeakers
to create different sounds was given importance. The presence of those
electronic machine that is useful in creating music was taken advantage by
some musical composer and create a new distinctive style.
Musique concrete is one of its features. Is a type of music composition

that utilizes recorded sounds as raw material or composer records different
sounds that are heard in the environment such as the bustle of traffic,
the sound of the wind, the barking of dogs, the strumming of a guitar, or the
cry of an infant.
CHANCE MUSIC
- Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece always
sounds different at every performance because of the
random techniques of production, including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements that become a part of the
music. Most of the sounds emanate from the surroundings,
both natural and man-made, such as honking cars, rustling
leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing phone. As
such, the combination of external sounds cannot be
duplicated as each happens by chance.

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• QUARTER 1-WEEK 1-MUSIC 10

Musique concrete is one of its features. Is a type of music composition

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