20th Century (1900 - 1999)

Question 1

Impressionist (Style)

Answer 1

• Began in the late 19th century (Romantic era) and continued into the early 20th century
• Impressionism focuses on a suggestion or atmosphere rather than the telling of a story like in programme music
• Claude Debussy is an impressionist composer, he composed “Clair de Lune”

Question 2

Whole Tone Scale (N5 Melody/Harmony)

Answer 2

Impressionist music used the whole tone scale

A scale that uses tones only - there is always a note in-between, this sounds mysterious/dreamy

Question 3

Musique Concrete (Style)

Answer 3

Recorded natural sounds which are edited such as cutting and re-assembling, playing backwards, slowing down and speeding up

Question 4

Jazz Funk (Style)

Answer 4

Jazz Funk is a sub-genre of jazz music. It has many of the same key features as Jazz: a strong rhythmic ‘groove’ above which instrumentalist improvise solo passages

The difference from Jazz are the instruments: drums, bass guitars, rhythm guitar and synthesizer

The ensemble combinations and driving groove patterns being similar with disco

Question 5

Soul Music (Style)

Answer 5

Soul music developed in the southern states of America and grew in popularity throughout the 1960’s. It was a combination of gospel, blues and country music, and its gritty sound reflected what was happening socially in America at that time

Question 6

Time Changes (Rhythm/Tempo)

Answer 6

• Changes in the time signature
• Became popular in the 20th century with composers such as Stravinsky

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZtWAqc3qyk&ab_channel=puffthecat

Question 7

Irregular Time Signatures (Rhythm/Tempo)

Answer 7

Irregular time signatures occur when the music does not naturally fall into equal groupings e.g. 5/4, 7/4

It is not possible to divide the grouping of notes equally within the bar. This results in an irregular grouping pattern

Question 8

3 Against 2 (Rhythm/Tempo)

Answer 8

An example of cross rhythms