Terminology 5

Question 1

What innovations led to the collapse of functional tonality?

Answer 1

1. Increasingly remote key relationships
2. Increasingly chromatic music in which the chromatic lines could obscure underlying chord progressions and tonal centres
3. Delayed resolution of dissonance
4. Unusual dissonances that created new sonorities
5. Progressive tonality in which a piece could start and end in different keys

Question 2

What were the reactions to the collapse of functional harmony?

Answer 2

Either (a) non-conventional use of tempered tonal centres or (b) abandonment of any tonal centre in music

Question 3

What kind of music was Debussy known for?

Answer 3

Impressionist music

Question 4

What was notable about Debussy’s music?

Answer 4

1. Used new scales such as the whole tone scale or pentatonic scale
2. Used chords for sonority over function

Question 5

What is an octatonic scale?

Answer 5

An 8-note scale built on alternating whole tones and semitones

Question 6

What was notable about Stravinsky’s music?

Answer 6

1. Used artificial scales
2. Used non-tonally functional harmonies
3. Used asymmetrical metres (eg. 5/8 or 7/8)

Question 7

What were the tree periods of Stravinsky’s career?

Answer 7

Russian period (until 1918), Neoclassical period (1919-1952), and Serial period (1952-1971)

Question 8

What is neoclassicism?

Answer 8

Music that takes older forms and realizes them from a modern perspective with modern harmonies and rhythms.

Question 9

What is a french overture?

Answer 9

An overture with a slow opening with dotted majestic rhythms, a fast contrapuntal sections, ending with a slow tempo.

Question 10

What were the three periods of Schoenberg’s career?

Answer 10

Tonal period (until 1908), Free atonality “The emancipation of dissonance” (1908-1924), and Serialism

Question 11

What is dodecaphonic music?

Answer 11

Music that uses 12 chromatic pitches arranged in a specific series called a tone row.

Question 12

How can a tone row be arranged?

Answer 12

1. Prime (original)
2. Retrograde (backwards)
3. Inversion (original, upside down)
4. Retrograde Inversion (backwards, upside down)

Question 13

What is integral serialism?

Answer 13

A movement where the concepts of twelve-tone music were applied to other aspects of the music, such as duration and intensity.

Question 14

What is indeterminacy?

Answer 14

The use of chance in composition or performance

Question 15

Who pioneered indeterminacy?

Answer 15

John Cage

Question 16

How is indeterminacy used?

Answer 16

1. Chance operations in the composition of the music itself
2. Chance operations in the interpretation of the notation (graphic scores)
3. Chance operations in the performance of the work

Question 17

Who coined the term “Musique concrète”?

Answer 17

Pierre Schaffer

Question 18

What is musique concrète?

Answer 18

Music that is created by manipulating recorded sound.

Question 19

What is electronic music?

Answer 19

Music based on sounds that are produced or modified by electronic means

Question 20

What is minimalism?

Answer 20

Music characterized by intentionally simplified rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic vocabulary.

Question 21

Who were the main composers of minimalism?

Answer 21

Steve Reich and Philip Glass

Question 22

What characteristics were particular to minimalism?

Answer 22

1. Uses very simple materials with severely reduced melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic content.
2. Uses tonal-modal centres and a clear rhythmic pulse
3. Large scale works that extend the same material with no contrasting sections.

Question 23

What is phase shifting?

Answer 23

When a repeated pattern slightly increases in speed against the same pattern at a consistent speed which creates new melodies and rhythms.