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Contemporary Music Concepts, Ideas and Terms

Aleatory
Also referred to as indeterminacy, indeterminism or chance music. Aleatory compositions contain at least one aspect (rhythm, pitch, dynamics, etc.) that is left up to the performer to control. The composer usually presents some kind of basic guidelines but it is then up to the performer to "improvise" on these rules.
-  from arvopart.org
*** see also Wikipedia: Aleatoric Music
*** see also The Music Chamber


Atonal/Atonality
A commonly misused term which refers to music having no perceived tonal center. This perception is often due to the uneducated ears of the listener. Twelve-tone and serial music can almost always be referred to as atonal. Also, many 19th century compositions (Liszt's Nuages gris for instance or the opening section of the Faust Symphony) can also be referred to as atonal (although these works or passages may be more correctly described by the term suspended tonality).
-  from arvopart.org
*** see also Wikipedia: Atonality
*** see also The Music Chamber


Bitonality
The use of two tonalities (or keys) at the same time. This does not imply, for instance, sudden or rapid modulation from one key to another but rather a passage or work in which two distinct keys are used simultaneously.
-  from arvopart.org


Chance Music
see aleatory


Chromatic
In simplest terms this can be defined as a scale consisting of half steps. It also would naturally refer to any melodic or harmonic passages which contain primarily half steps. Pärt's music is notable for its lack of chromaticism.
-  from arvopart.org


Collage Technique
The insertion of borrowed musical material from others composers, into a new musical context. This material included not only small quotations but also larger sections of basically unaltered music of these composers.
-  from arvopart.org


Combinatoriality
see twelve-tone


Consonance and Dissonance
Perceived qualities of musical chords and intervals. Consonance is often described as relative "stability," and dissonance as "instability." In musical contexts, certain intervals seem to call for motion by one of the tones to "resolve" perceived dissonance. The most consonant intervals are generally recognized as the unison and octave, and the next most consonant interval as the perfect fifth. Consonance tends to reflect the early intervals of the overtone series (which include, in addition to the octave and perfect fifth, the major and minor thirds and the perfect fourth), but many musical factors can affect the perception of consonance and dissonance.
-  from Britannica.com


Dissonance
see consonance and dissonance


Dodecaphonic
see twelve-tone


Electronic Art Music
Electronic art music refers to those forms of electronic music that fall within the general category of art music. The term encompasses a range of experimental music forms, both historical and contemporary, created by means of electronic instruments and differentiated from electronic forms of popular music, such as electronic rock, technopop, electronica or electronic dance music. Although electronic art music has not penetrated the popular music marketplace directly, it has influenced the course of popular music, from the early days of electronic rock, space rock, and progressive rock, through the later developments of electronica, electronic dance music, ambient music, space music, and cinema soundtracks.                             -  from Answers.com


Experimental Music
A term introduced by composer John Cage in 1955. Cage defined "an experimental action is one the outcome of which is unforeseen" and he was specifically interested in completed works that performed an unpredictable action.  In a broader sense, it has come to mean any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. There is an overlap with avant-garde music. David Cope describes experimental music as that, "which represents a refusal to accept the status quo."
-  for more see Answers.com: Experimental Music


Expressionism
[under construction]
*** see also The Music Chamber


Extended Techinques
Extended technique is a term used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or "improper" techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments. Although the use of extended technique was uncommon in the common practice period (c. 1600 - 1900), extended techniques are more common in modern classical music since about 1900. Extended techniques have also flourished in popular musics, which are typically less constrained by notions of "proper" technique than are traditional concert music. Musicians in free improvisation have also made heavy use of extended techniques.
-  from Answers.com


Hocket
The 13th and 14th century term hocket refers to a composition or technique involving two voices in which when one voice sings, the other rests. In the 16th century, the term was applied to a certain type of cadence in which one voice, approaching the tonic from above, fails to reach its destination, and instead has a rest at least one beat long. The leading tone in another voice reaches the tonic and has at least a whole-note value, over which the theme of the next section begins.
-  from arvopart.org


Homophonic
Passages in which all voices sing identical or similar rhythms. This term also refers to music in which a melody lies in one voice while the other voices serve as accompaniment. When discussing Pärt's music, the former definition applies.
-  from arvopart.org


Homorhythmic
Passages in which all voices sing identical or similar rhythms.
-  from arvopart.org


Impressionism
[under construction]
*** see also The Music Chamber


Indeterminism
see aleatory


Klangfarbenmelodie    see also Twelve-tone
Klangfarbenmelodie (German for sound-color-melody) is a musical technique that involves breaking up a musical line or melody out from one instrument to between several instruments. It adds greater color and texture to a melodic line, instead of just one timbre in playing the line. The term was coined by Arnold Schoenberg in his text on harmony, Harmonielehre (1911), where he actualy discusses the creation of "timbre-structures", which, in Jim Samson's (1977) words, "succesions of changing tone-colors might create independent formal shapes which might be organized in a manner analagous to pitch structure." He and Anton Webern are particularly noted for their use of the technique. However, "To a marked degree the music of Debussy elevates timbre to an unprecedented structural status; already in L'Apres-midi d'un Faune the color of flute and harp functions referentially," according to Samson. There is also a french term, mélodie de timbres, which means much the same and was used by Olivier Messiaen to describe his Couleurs de la cité céleste.
-  from Wikipedia


Neoclassicism
A compositional style probably most often associated with certain works by Stravinsky although it is by no means limited to only Stravinsky (Poulenc, Satie, Prokofiev, Schoenberg, etc.). It is characterized by the use of "classical" compositional forms, expressive restraint and motivic clarity. For the most part the music is generally "tonal" although there are exceptions (Schoenberg).
-  from arvopart.org


Neoromanticism
Neoromanticism in music is a trend in modern American and, to a lesser degree, European classical music that became prominent during the second half of the 20th century. Neoromantic music is identified by frequent usage of the extended tonality that flourished during the late Romantic era, as well as a frank expression of emotional sentiment equally evocative of the period.
-  from Wikipedia


Minimalism
The term minimalism is sometimes applied to music which displays some or all of the following features: repetition (often of short musical phrases, with minimal variations over long periods of time) or stasis (often in the form of drones and long tones), emphasis on consonant harmony, and/or a steady pulse. Minimalist music can sometimes sound similar to different forms of electronic music (e.g. Basic Channel), as well as the texture-based compositions of composers such as Gyorgy Ligeti; it is often the case that the end result is similar, but the approach is not. Minimalist music bears a similarity to the music of ancient or indigenous cultures in that it attempts to create mood and atmosphere through hypnotic, trance-like expressions that over time make rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic deciphering difficult.
-  from New World Encyclopedia: Minimalism
*** see also Answers.com: Minimilist Music    or    Answers.com
*** see also arvopart.org
*** see also Canadian Music Centre
*** see also 20th Century Arts and Humanities (Dr. Michael Delahoyde, Washington State University)
*** see also Just Don't Call it Minimalism (The New York Times)
*** see also The Music Chamber


Modernism
Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with tradition or common practice — Ezra Pound's modernist slogan, "Make it new," as applied to music. Modern music is often thought to begin with, or just after, Debussy's impressionism, rising to rhetorical, if not commercial, dominance after World War Two, and then being gradually superseded by postmodern music.
-  from Answers.com
*** see also Answers.com: Movements in Contemporary Music: Modernism
*** see also Wikipedia: Modernism


Neo-Classicism
[under construction]
*** see also The Music Chamber


New Complexity
Though often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of extremely complex musical notation. This includes extended techniques, microtonality, odd tunings, highly disjunct melodic contour, innovative timbres, complex polyrhythms, irrational meters like 4/3 and 21/6, unconventional instrumentations, quick changes in loudness and intensity, and so on. The density and difficulty of a "New Complexity" score presents enormous challenges for performers.
-  from Answers.com


New Simplicity
A stylistic tendency amongst some of the younger generation of German composers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, reacting against not only the European avant garde of the 1950s and 1960s, but also against the broader tendency toward objectivity found from the beginning of the twentieth century. Alternative terms sometimes used for this movement are “new subjectivity” (neue Subjektivität), “new inwardness” (Neue Innigkeit), “New Romanticism”, “New Sensuality”, “New Expressivity”, “New Classicism”, and “New Tonality”.
-  from Answers.com


Pandiatonic/Pandiatonicism
A compositional technique by which a diatonic scale is adhered to but not used in a conventional manner (ie. lack of standard chord progressions or resolution of dissonance, etc.). As a general example, if you were to take a 2x4 and pound (lightly of course) on strictly the white notes of the piano (C major diatonic or A minor diatonic) you would be demonstrating a type of pandiatonicism. You are not using standard choral progressions (I - IV - V - vi - ii - V7 - I , etc.) and you are not correctly resolving dissonances.
-  from arvopart.org
*** see also Wikipedia: Pandiatoncism


Polychord
A chord composed of two or more traditional triads (eg. D major triad and G major triad).
-  from arvopart.org


Polystylism
The use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic.
-  from Answers.com


Polytonality
see bitonality


Post-Minimalism
A term utilized in various artistic fields for work which is influenced by, or attempts to develop and go beyond, the aesthetic of minimalism. The expression is used specifically in relation to music and the visual arts, but can refer to any field using minimalism as a critical reference point.
-  from Answers.com


Post Modern Music
Explanations of what post-modernism is, and why it is influential, vary widely, as do opinions regarding whether post-modernism is "good" for music (or even good per se). There is wide agreement that composers of instrumental concert music and "art music" have absorbed ideas from the wider culture and that these influences can be detected in their music. Examples include polystylism (juxtaposition of fragments of music of different genres and styles, collage, bricolage), the use of found sounds, recorded voices, the shift from increasingly chromatic surfaces to more triadic ones or the reverse, the use of new instrumental combinations, the use of instruments extraneous to the Western concert tradition or altogether non-Western instruments, and the combining of composition with video and other visual media. Key composers include the Scottish composer James MacMillan (who draws on sources as diverse as plainchant, South American Liberation Theology and Polish avant-garde techniques of the 1960s), the American Michael Torke (drawing on classical tradition, minimalism and popular music) and Mark-Anthony Turnage from the UK (drawing from jazz, English pastoralism and the avant-garde). Of more recent years, the emergence of Osvaldo Golijov has shown how diverse many post-modern composers are: his own style uses sources as wide-ranging as avant-garde music, electronica, Yiddish folk music, Argentinian tangos, Arabic folk music and the traditional classical repertoire.
-  from Answers.com
*** see also Answers.com: Postmodern Music


Serialism    see also Twelve-tone
A compositional technique in which one or more aspects of a piece are pre-defined. This music is generally atonal (see above). "Classical serialism" is synonymous with the term "twelve-tone" and refers to the ordering of only the pitch series. "Integral serialism" takes this even further in that aspects other than pitch are preplanned (rhythm, form, dynamics, etc.).
-  from arvopart.org
*** see also Answers. com - Twelve Tone Techinque
*** see also Answers.com: Serial Music
*** see also The Music Chamber


Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology. The idea of soundscape refers to both the natural acoustic environment, consisting of natural sounds, including animal vocalizations and, for instance, the sounds of weather and other natural elements; and environmental sounds created by humans, through musical composition, sound design, and other ordinary human activities including conversation, work, and sounds of mechanical origin resulting from use of industrial technology.
-  from Wikipedia
*** see also The World Soundscape Project
*** see also World Forum for Acoustic Ecology
*** see also The Canadian Encyclopedia - The World Soundscape Project


Spectral Music
A musical genre or movement originating in France in the 1970s featuring the use of sound, including timbre, pitch, and rhythm of individual sounds, as a model for composition, most often using computer analysis of sound wave components and their evolution over time, especially using FFT analysis. While other forms of computer-assisted composition predated this music, for example in Germany, it is this approach to timbre, primarily developed at IRCAM in Paris, that specifically characterizes spectral music. Tristan Murail has described Spectral music as an attitude towards composition rather than a set of techniques, an aesthetic rather than style. This attitude being that "music is ultimately sound evolving in time."
-  from Answers.com
*** see also Classic Cat: Spectral Music


Retrograde    see also Twelve-tone
The simplest definition is "backwards." This term is seen most often in the context of counterpoint where a motif that has been established in one voice is sounded backwards in another voice.
-  from arvopart.org


Third Stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz. Improvisation — a key element of jazz, but far less common in classical music — is generally seen as a vital component of Third Stream.
-  from Wikipedia


Tintinnabulation
see arvopart.org


Tone Row
see twelve-tone

 
Twelve-tone
A compositional technique first developed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1921. Twelve-tone compositons are based on a tone row consisting of an ordered arrangement of the 12 pitch classes, none of which are to be repeated. This tone row is used throughout the composition in various ways. The row can be stated in its original form, in inversion, retrograde, or retrograde inversion. Also, pitches in the row can be presented simultaneously in chord forms rather than one pitch at a time. The goal was to obscure any perceived tonal center. This movement was a natural extension of the developments in chromaticism which had occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries in music of composers such as Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Strauss, and others. The twelve-tone method eventually led to serial and aleatory techniques.
-  from arvopart.org
*** see also Answers. com: Twelve Tone Techinque
*** see also Answers.com: Serial Music
*** see also The Music Chamber


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Our thanks to these sources:
Answers.com - Contemporary Classical Music    and many other Answers.com articles
arvopart.org - Glossary of Terms
Britannica.com
The Music Chamber
Wikipedia - Contemporary Classical Music    and many other Wikipedia articles


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