Chapter 11 Term

Question 1

aleatory

Answer 1

any compositional process in which some events are not exactly determined by the composer and are left indeterminate or are left to some process involving chance

Question 2

indeterminacy

Answer 2

some musical events that are left indeterminate by the composer

Question 3

sound-mass composition/textual composition

Answer 3

individual pitches and lines are integrated into complexes of sound

Question 4

clusters

Answer 4

blocks of sound made up of adjacent chromatic or microtonal steps

Question 5

microtonal

Answer 5

refers to music that includes quarter-tone accidentals for which special symbols are used

Question 6

prepared piano

Answer 6

a piano with various objects placed on and between the strings to produce different sounds

Question 7

chance operations

Answer 7

musical events based on chance

Question 8

action music

Answer 8

textual instructions in which Cage proposes an action or a number of actions to be freely chosen by the performer

Question 9

performance art

Answer 9

a form of art in which some particular actions of an individual or group constitute the work

Question 10

New York School

Answer 10

a group of composers who developed the concept of indeterminate composition

Question 11

graphic and spatial notations

Answer 11

rather than imposing specific pitch and temporal structures on the performer, Cage included notation that required interpretation and possible improvisation.

Question 12

point-drawing method

Answer 12

cage would mark minute paper imperfections with points. Then he would add staffs and clefs

Question 13

musical tools

Answer 13

some object that is usually superimposed on some other object that includes some kind of notation to allow for a variety of possible readings of the same notation

Question 14

limited aleatory composition

Answer 14

some essential elements are determined by the composer and others are left undetermined

Question 15

aleatory counterpoint

Answer 15

the realization of contrapuntal and harmonic details is left to chance in performance

Question 16

twelve tone chord

Answer 16

a harmonic collection that contains all twelve tones

in some harmonic aggregate

Question 17

micropolyphony

Answer 17

a type of texture made up of webs of minutely notated interweaving chromatic lines

Question 18

microcanon

Answer 18

pitch successions are treated canonically in multiple voices at short time intervals

Question 19

net-structures

Answer 19

a continuous web of finely woven lines or repeated patterns in a constant interactive process of transformation