What innovations led to the collapse of functional tonality?
- Increasingly remote key relationships
- Increasingly chromatic music in which the chromatic lines could obscure underlying chord progressions and tonal centres
- Delayed resolution of dissonance
- Unusual dissonances that created new sonorities
- Progressive tonality in which a piece could start and end in different keys
What were the reactions to the collapse of functional harmony?
Either (a) non-conventional use of tempered tonal centres or (b) abandonment of any tonal centre in music
What kind of music was Debussy known for?
Impressionist music
What was notable about Debussy’s music?
- Used new scales such as the whole tone scale or pentatonic scale
- Used chords for sonority over function
What is an octatonic scale?
An 8-note scale built on alternating whole tones and semitones
What was notable about Stravinsky’s music?
- Used artificial scales
- Used non-tonally functional harmonies
- Used asymmetrical metres (eg. 5/8 or 7/8)
What were the tree periods of Stravinsky’s career?
Russian period (until 1918), Neoclassical period (1919-1952), and Serial period (1952-1971)
What is neoclassicism?
Music that takes older forms and realizes them from a modern perspective with modern harmonies and rhythms.
What is a french overture?
An overture with a slow opening with dotted majestic rhythms, a fast contrapuntal sections, ending with a slow tempo.
What were the three periods of Schoenberg’s career?
Tonal period (until 1908), Free atonality “The emancipation of dissonance” (1908-1924), and Serialism
What is dodecaphonic music?
Music that uses 12 chromatic pitches arranged in a specific series called a tone row.
How can a tone row be arranged?
- Prime (original)
- Retrograde (backwards)
- Inversion (original, upside down)
- Retrograde Inversion (backwards, upside down)
What is integral serialism?
A movement where the concepts of twelve-tone music were applied to other aspects of the music, such as duration and intensity.
What is indeterminacy?
The use of chance in composition or performance
Who pioneered indeterminacy?
John Cage
How is indeterminacy used?
- Chance operations in the composition of the music itself
- Chance operations in the interpretation of the notation (graphic scores)
- Chance operations in the performance of the work
Who coined the term “Musique concrète”?
Pierre Schaffer
What is musique concrète?
Music that is created by manipulating recorded sound.
What is electronic music?
Music based on sounds that are produced or modified by electronic means
What is minimalism?
Music characterized by intentionally simplified rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary.
Who were the main composers of minimalism?
Steve Reich and Philip Glass
What characteristics were particular to minimalism?
- Uses very simple materials with severely reduced melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content.
- Uses tonal-modal centres and a clear rhythmic pulse
- Large scale works that extend the same material with no contrasting sections.
What is phase shifting?
When a repeated pattern slightly increases in speed against the same pattern at a consistent speed which creates new melodies and rhythms.
