Part 4 - The Modern Era Flashcards
Modal scales
- The use of scales (modes) in which the pattern of whole steps and half steps is different from conventional major and minor scales; for example, Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian;
- Common in music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, rediscovered by 20th-century composers.
Whole-tone scale
- A non-traditional scale employed by composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries;
- Consists of six pitches, all spaces a whole tone (whole step) apart; for example, C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C.
Pentatonic scale
- A scale consisting of five different pitches; for example, C-D-F-G-A;
- Easily rendered by playing the five black keys on the piano;
- Common to the folk music of many European and Asian cultures.
Expanded tonality
The use of extremely chromatic harmony while still maintaining allegiance to a tonal centre.
Polytonality
The simultaneous use of two or more tonal centres.
Atonality
The total absence of any tonal centre, characterized by unresolved dissonances.
Changing meter
Shift of metrical groupings, manifested through changes of time signature.
Polyrhythm
The simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms.
Symphonic poem
- One of the most important forms of orchestral program music;
- A single-movement work, generally free in form, with literary or pictorial associations;
- Invented by Franz Liszt.
Impressionsim in music
- Paralleled the French movement in visual art;
- Employs expanded harmonic vocabulary: whole-tone, modal, pentatonic scales; parallel chords;
- Suggests images rather than directly depicting them;
- Features innovative orchestral colours, including individual treatment of instruments and use of muted instruments;
- Metric pulse is frequently obscured.
Symbolism
- A French literary movement of the late 19th century;
- Symbolist writers include Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé;
- Authors sought to suggest subject matter rather than depict it specifically;
- Stresses the beauty of the word itself.
Ballet
- A highly stylized type of dance that often interprets a story;
- First developed in the 17th century at the court of Louis XIV; flourished in the 19th-century Russian court;
- Many significant composers, including Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Debussy, and Prokofiev, composed music for ballets.
Choreography
The art of designing the dance steps and movements in a ballet or musical.
Primitivism
- An effect created largely through rhythm;
- Use of strong accents, heavy syncopation, polyrhythm, expanded percussion section;
- Demonstrated best in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
Musical
- A unique genre developed in the USA;
- A play with spoken dialogue, but featuring musical numbers: songs, dances, choruses;
- Staging (sets, costumes, lighting) is often spectacular.
Jazz
- A musical style that developed in the early 20th century in the USA;
- Combined elements of African, popular, and European music;
- Based on improvisation.
Verse-chorus structure
A common song structure in popular music, in which verses develop the character/storyline, while the ‘chorus’ acts as a tuneful refrain.
Hemiola
A temporary shift of the metric accents, in which notes grouped in threes are momentarily grouped in twos, or vice versa.
Minimalism in music
- A musical style that evolved in the late 20th century;
- Associated with compositions by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams;
- Characterized by the repetition of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic patterns with little variation.
Fanfare
- A loud ceremonial tune or flourish;
- Features brass instruments;
- Used to herald the arrival of an important person, the launch of an event, or in commemoration of someone.
