7/30/2019 Use of Concepts in 20th Century Music

1/2

USE OF CONCEPTSIn 1945-1987:

PITCH

Use of major & minor tonality Use of dissonance, unresolved harmonies, contrapuntal lines and improvisation. Manipulated chords & patterns with suspended fourths, seventh chords and use of two

separate chords for a single syllable or word.

Less domination of primary chords- tonic, dominant and subdominant. An absence of definite pitch and key signature began to become a commonality in the

1980s.

There was a great use of repeated melodic motifs, used for verses and choruses within rock,jazz and popular music.

DURATION

Greater use of syncopated rhythms, irregular accentuation, polyrhythms and multimeters. Bold contrasts in time signature were common, such as the changing between simple and

compound time.

Greater use of irregular phrases with irregularity between stressed and unstressed syllables.DYNAMICS & EXPRESSIVE TECHNIQUES

Dynamics were expected to be played to greater extents with the writing of ppp, fff and theaddition of molto (much), before indications.

Composers used high amounts of instrumental experimentation and began to write higheramounts technical instruction within their works to achieve the timbre and texture they

desired.

Amplification, synthesis of sounds was common, especially within popular music. New vocal techniques emerged, like scatting in jazz.

TIMBRE Technology, electrical amplification and synthesis all created new tone colours within rock

and popular music.

Use of new techniques and everyday conventional sounds within compositions created newtones. For example, John Cages prepared piano.

The synthesiser and electric guitar were commonly used and orchestras were only utilisedfor theatre and film music.

TEXTURE Music continued to became less homophonic and more polyphonic and monophonic. There was greater transparency within pieces and monophonic solos were common,

especially within jazz.

7/30/2019 Use of Concepts in 20th Century Music

2/2

Sounds were less dense with use of small ensembles, rather than large orchestras andchoirs.

STRUCTURE

There was the abandonment of binary and ternary forms, with a common use of a modifiedstrophic structure.

The most common structure of pieces was the use of a verse/chorus alternation. The same material was often used for each verse and then each chorus, with only small

variations to create interest, such as a solo, or developed bridge.