Since the 1900s Flashcards
Modernism
A spirit that took hold in all the arts, in the early twentieth century, representing a quest for novelty that far exceeded any such drive in the past.
- it disregarded tradition
Neoclassicism
A style of composition in the years after World War I that, although distinctly modern, drew on older (particularly eighteenth-century) uses of melody, harmony, rhythm, and form
- sought to synthesize old and new styles in a more accessible idiom
Postmodernism
A style in music and the other arts, beginning in the mid-twentieth century, in which modern and traditional elements are combined.
Tonal
A style of writing that establishes a central note (the tonic) as a harmonic and melodic center of gravity, which in turn creates the potential for a strong sense of resolution and closure.
Dissonance
The sound of notes that clash, either harmonically or melodically, and do not seem to belong together. Dissonance is a relative concept: what was dissonant in one era is later perceived as consonant.
Consonance
The sound of notes together that our ear finds naturally right. Like dissonance, consonance is a relative concept that can change over long periods of time.
Atonal
A style of writing that establishes no harmonic or melodic center of gravity; without a tonic, all notes are of equal weight and significance.
Ostinato
A short pattern of notes repeated over and over
Pentatonic Scale
A scale consisting of five tones
- captures a folk-like sound
- projects an exotic, non-Western Sound
- brief and repetitive melodies
Polytonality
The juxtaposition of two conventional harmonies in a way that creates new dissonance
Scenario
The story line of a ballet
- dancers present the scenario
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Through-composed form
A form in which each section has its own music, with very little or no repetition between sections
Bepop
New Jazz style of the late 1940s/early 1950s that developed in response to the popularity of big band music. Bepop is characterized by fast tempos, short bursts of melodic phrases, heavy and unexpected rhythmic accents and virtuosic soloing.
Fill
In jazz and popular styles, instrumental response between a singer’s phrases, or a brief solo occupying a musical gap between sections of a peice.
Head
in jazz, the main melody of the song
Improvisation
The technique of embellishing or elaborating on a melody on the spot, spontaneously and unrehearsed.
- free Jazz
- after Parker it became more popular
-
Sectional form
A form in which each verse or half-verse receives its own material (for example ABCD)
sequence
A short musical motive that repeats at successively higher or lower pitches.
Register
The range of a pitch or series of pitches, usually described as high, middle, or low.
Twelve-tone composition
A type of serial composition in which twentieth-century composers manipulated a series (“row”) consisting of all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, not repeating any one of these until all other eleven had been sounded, thereby effectively avoiding any sense of tonality.
- allowed freedom beyond tonality
Syncopated Rhythm (syncopation)
A type of rhythm in which the notes run against the regular pulse of the musical meter, with accents on beats other than the ones usually accented.
Ethnomusicology
A sub-field of musicology - the scholarly study of music in general - that focuses on the social dimension of the art and the ways in which is used within and between cultures.
Musicology
The scholarly study of music
Oral tradition
One passed down without the aid of written words or notated music.
Additive form
A compositional technique in which nothing disappears, but new layers are constantly added
Musical
A spoken drama with a substantial amount of singing
Operetta
Italian for “small opera”. A nineteenth-century stage work that incorporated both singing and spoken dialogue, typically on a comic, lighthearted, or sentimental subject. A precursor to the American musical
Orchestration
The manner in which various instruments are assigned to the musical lines
