Supplemental Learning Activity No.

1
Music of the 20th Century
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

MUSIC

I.MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY 1

11.Table of Contents 2

111.Learning Competencies (MELC) 3

1V. Pre- Test 4

V. Introduction of the Lessons 5

V1. Lesson 1 Impressionism 6

V11. Lesson 2 Comparative Style of Debussy & Ravel 8

V111.Lesson 3 Primitivism 10
1X.Lesson 4 Neo-Classicism ` 12

X1.Lesson 5 Avant-Garde Music 14

X11.Lesson 6 Modern Nationalism 17

X111. Lesson 7 Electronic Music 19

X1V. Lesson 8 Chance Music 20

XV. Performance Task 21

XVI. Post Test 22

Learning Competencies (MELC)

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 1. Describes distinctive musical elements of given pieces in 20 th century styles;

2. Explains the performance practice(setting, composition, role of

composers/performers and audience) of 20th century music;

3. Relates 20th century music to other art forms and media during the same
time period;

4. Performs music sample from the 20th century

5. Evaluates music and music performances using guided rubrics.

Pre-Test
DIRECTION: Read and understand the questions carefully. Select the best answer
Write your answer on your Music activity notebook

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 1. Which of the following musical style introduces extensive use of colors andeffects, vague
melodies leading to mild dissonances?
a. Avant garde
b. Impressionism
c. Chance Music
d. Electronic Music
2. Which Russian composer created the music for the ballet The Firebird?
a. Bela Bartok
b. Igor Stravinsky
c. Claude Debussy
d. Maurice Ravel
3.Who is considered the foremost impressionist?
a. Claude Debussy
b. Igor Stravinsky
c. Bela Bartok
d. Philip Glass
4. What kind of musical style is attributed to Schoenberg and Stravinsky?
a. Nationalism c. Primitivism
b. Neo-classicism d. Avant-garde
5.Who was the target audience of Prokofieff’s Peter and the Wolf?
a. adult b. children c. adolescent d. old
6.One of the best compositions of Claude Debussy was the _____________.
a. Bolero b. Miroirs c. Claire de Lune d. Firebird
7. What is the English translation of “Claire de Lune”?
a.sunlight b. moonlight c. twilight d. dawn
8. Which composer used Hungarian folk themes and rhythms in his musical
composition?
a Maurice Rave
b. Claude Debussy
c.. Bela Bartok
d. Sergei Prokofieff
9. The music “Bolero” was popularized by -----------------
a.Murice Ravel
b. Claude Debussy
c. Bela Bartok
d. Sergei Prokofieff
10. It refers to a style wherein the piece always sounds different at every
performance because of the random techniques of production, including the
use of ring modulators or natural elements that become a part of the music
a. Electronic Music b. Modern Art c. Chance Music d. Concrete Music

20th Century Musical Styles

Introduction:

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The start of the 20th century saw the rise of distinct musical styles that reflected a
move away from the conventions of earlier classical music. These new styles were:
Impressionism, Expressionism, Neo-classicism, Avant-garde music and Modern
Nationalism.

The distinct musical styles of the 20th century would not have developed if not for the
musical genius of individual composers like Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Arnold
Schoenberg, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofieff, and George Gershwin
stand out as the moving forces behind the innovative and experimental styles
mentioned above.

Lesson 1: Impressionism
Learning Objective: Appreciate the music during this period.
Discussion of Concept:

One of the earlier forms clearly declaring the entry of 20 th century music was known as
impressionism. This was based on an art movement started by 19 th century Paris-based visual artists
especially Claude Monet through his painting Impression Sunrise. The term found its way to music
in the late 19th and early 20th century among French composers. The sentimental melodies and
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dramatic emotionalism of the preceding Romantic Period had themes and melodies that were easy to
recognize and enjoy.

In impressionism, they were being replaced in favor of moods and impression. There
was an extensive use of different timbres (tone color or tone quality) and effects, vague melodies and
innovative chords and progressions leading to mild dissonances through orchestration, texture or
harmonic usage.
Sublime moods and melodic suggestions replaced highly expressive program music or
music with preconceived visual imagery. Impressionism was an attempt to suggest reality not to
depict it. It was meant to create an emotional mood rather than a specific pictures. In terms of
imagery, impressionistic forms were translucent and hazy as if trying to use through a rain-drenched
window.
Most of the impressionistic works centered on nature and its beauty, lightness and
brilliance. A number of outstanding impressionists created works on this subject like Debussy’s La
Mer and Claire de Lune. The impressionist movement in music had its foremost proponents in the
French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.Both had developed a particular style of
composing adopted by many 20th century composers. Among the most famous impressionist
composers in other countries were Ottorino Respighi (Italy), Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albeniz
(Spain) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (England)

Music Compositional Characteristics

1.Use of extended chords, harmonies, whole tone, chromatic scales and pentatonic
scales.
2.Sounds different chords overlapped lightly with each other toproduce new subtle
musical colors .
3.Chords did not have a definite order and a sense of clear resolution
4.Lack of tonic-dominant relationship which normally gives the feeling of finality to a
piece, moods and texture.
5.Harmonic vagueness about the structure of certain chords

2 Foremost Proponents of French Composers

1. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was born in St. Germaine-en-Laye in

France on August 22, 1862.His early musical talents were channeled into
piano lessons. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1873. He gained a
reputation as an erratic pianist and a rebel in theory and harmony. He
added other systems of musical composition because of his musical
training. In 1884, he won the top prize at the Prix de Rome competition
with his composition L’ Enfant Prodigue (The Prodigal Son). This
enabled him to study for 20 years in Rome. One of the most important
and influential of the 20th century composers and was the primary
exponent of the impressionist movement and the focal point for other impressionist

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 composers. He changed the course of musical development by evolving traditional rules and
conventions into a new language of possibilities in harmony, rhythm, form, texture and color.

Debussy’s mature creative period was represented by the following works:

1. Arittes Oubliees
2. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
3. String Quartet
4. Pelleas et Melisande (1895) his famous operatic work that drew mixed extreme reactions for its
innovative harmonies and textural treatments.
5. La Mer (1905) a highly imaginative and atmospheric symphonic work for orchestra about the
sea.
6. Images, Suite Bergamasque and Estampes his most popular piano compositions; a set of
lightly textured pieces containing his signature work Claire de Lune(means moonlight).

2. Maurice Ravel (1875- 1937)was born in Ciboure, France to a Basque

mother and a Swiss father. He entered the ParisConservatory at the age
of 14 where he studied with the eminent French composer Gabriel Faure.
During his stint with the school where he stayed until his early 20s, he
composed a number of masterpieces. The compositional style of Ravel is
mainly characterized by its uniquely innovative but not atonal style of
harmonic treatment. It is defined with intricate and sometimes modal
melodies and extended chordal components. The harmonic
progressions and modulations in Ravel’s work are not only musically
satisfying but also pleasantly dissonant and elegantly sophisticated.
These are extensively used in his works of a programmatic nature,
wherein visual imagery is either suggested or portrayed. Many of his works deal with
water in its flowing or stormy moods as well as with human characterizations.

Ravel’s works include the following:

1.Pavane for a Dead Princess (1899)-- a slow but lyrical requiem
2.Jeux d’ Eau or Water Fountains (1901)
3. String Quartet (1903)
4. Sonatine for Piano (1904)
5. Miroirs (Mirrors) (1905)—a work for piano known for its harmonic evolution and
imagination.
6. Gaspard de la Nuit (1908)--- a set of demonic-inspired pieces based on the
poemof Aloysius Bertrand which is arguably the
most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire.

Activity 1:

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CAfter reading the lesson 1: Impressionism, you have to choose a work/ composition that you like and
write a brief profile about the composer and your personal reaction about the music. Fill out and copy
the flow chart provided below in your Music activity notebook.

Lesson 2: Comparative Styles of Debussy and Ravel

Learning Objectives: 1. Compare the musical style between the two French
composers.
2. Describes the characteristics of the 20 th composers.
Discussion of Concept:
As the two major exponents of French impressionism in music, Debussy and Ravel had crossed paths
during their lifetime although Debussy was 13 years older than Ravel. While their musical works
sound quite similar in terms of their harmonic and textural characteristics, the two different greatly in
their personalities and approach to music. Whereas Debussy was more spontaneous and liberal in
form, Ravel was very attentive to the classical norms of musical structure and compositional
craftsmanship. Debussy was more casual in his portrayal of visual imagery while Ravel was more
formal and exacting in the development of his motive ideas.

1. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)was born in a working-class suburb

of Vienna, Austria on September 13, 1874.He taught himself music
theory but took lessons in counterpoint. German composer Richard
Wagner influenced Schoenberg’s work. This was evidenced by his
symphonic poem or tone poem Pelleas and Melisande, Op 5 (1903).
The music of the opera with the same title, Pelleas and Melisande was
composed by Debussy who was also influencedby Richard Wagner.
Schoenberg’s style was constantly
undergoing development. From the early influences of Wagner, his music
gradually turned to the dissonant and atonal as he explored the use of chromatic harmonies. He is
credit with the development of the twelve-tone system although full of melodic and lyrical interest,
his music is also extremely complex, creating heavy demands on the listener. Schoenberg’s
approximately 213 musical compositions include concerti, orchestral music, piano music, operas,
choral music, songs and other instrumental music. He died on July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles,
California, USA where he had settled since 1934.

His works include the following:

1.Veklarte Nacht, Three Pieces for Piano, op.11
2.Pierrot Lunaire
3.Gurreleider
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4.Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night, 1899)---one of his earliest successful pieces, which blends the
lyricism, instrumentation and melodic beauty of Brahms with the chromaticism and construction of

2.Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)was born in Oranienbaum (now

Lomonosov), Russia on June 17, 1882. Stravinsky’s early
musicreflected the influence of his teacher, the Russian composer
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. But in his first successful masterpiece,
The Firebird Suite (1910) composed for Diaghilev’s Russian ballet,
his skilful handling of material and rhythmic inventiveness went
beyond anything composed by his Russian predecessors. Stravinsky
adapted the forms of the 18th century with his contemporary style of
writing. Other outstanding works include the ballets Petrouchka
(1911)featuring shifting rhythm andpolytonality, a signature device
of the composer and The Rite of Spring (1913) in which a new level
of dissonance was reached and the sense of tonality was practically
abandoned. Stravinsky’s musical output approximately 127 works
including concerti, orchestral music, instrumental music, operas, ballets, solo vocal and
choral music. He died in New York on April 6, 1971.

Activity 1: You will listen the excerpts of any of the following musical
examples from YouTube: Link will be provided to you.
1. Debussy --- Claire de Lune( http://www.youtube.com/debussy/clairedelune)
2. Ravel -------- Bolero

nacht)
( http://www.youtube.com/ravel/bolero)
3. Schoenberg—VerklarteNacht(http://www.youtube.com/schoenberg/verklarte

4. StravinskyPetrouchkahttp://www.youtube.com/stravinsky/petrouchka)
Activity 2:After listening to the excerpts, choose a composition that you like and
write a short personal reaction about it in your Music activity notebook.
Flow chart is provided for you.

Lesson 3: Primitivism

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Learning Objectives: Identify the different compositions of Bela Bartok.
Discussion of Concept:
Primitivistic music is tonal through the stressing of one note as more important than the others. New
sounds are synthesized from old ones by juxtaposing two simple events to create a more complex new
event. In its purest form, primitivism combines two familiar or simple ideas together creating new
sounds. Primitivism has links to Exoticism through the use of materials from other cultures to
Nationalism through the use of materials indigenous to specific countries and to Ethnicism through
the use of materials from European ethnic groups. Two well-known proponents of this style were Igor
Stravinsky and Bela Bartok. It eventually evolved into Neo-classicism.

Bela Bartok (1881-1945)was born in Nagyszentmiklos,Hungary(now

Romania) on March 25, 1881 to musical parents. He started piano lessons
with his mother and later entered Budapest Royal Academy of Music in
1899. Bartok was inspired by the performance of Richard Strauss’s Also
Sprach Zarathustra to write his first nationalistic poem, Kossuth in 1903.

He also performed as a concert pianist as he travelled exploring the music

of Hungarian peasants. In 1906 with his fellow composer Zoltan Kodaly,
Bartok published his first collection of 20 Hungarian folk songs. As a neo-
classicist, primitivist and nationalistic composer, Bartok used Hungarian
folk themes and rhythms. He also utilized changing meters and strong syncopations. He admired
the musical styles of Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky but he
eventually shed their influences in favour of Hungarian folk and peasant themes. Bartok is most
famous for his Six String Quartet (1908-1938). These represent the greatest achievement of his
creative life, spanning a full 30 years for their completion. The Concerto for Orchestra (1943),a
five movement work composed late in Bartok’s life, features the exceptionaltalents of its various
soloist in an intricately constructed piece. The short and popular Allegro Barbaro (1911) for solo
piano is punctuated with swirling rhythmsand percussive chords while Mikrokosmos (1926-
1939),a set of six books containing progressive technical piano pieces, introduces and
familiarizes thepiano student with contemporary harmony and rhythm.Bartok’s approximately
700 musical compositions include concerti, orchestral music, piano music, instrumental music,
dramatic music, choral music and songs. In 1940, the political developments in Hungary led him
to migrate to the U.S. where he died on September 26, 1945 in New York City.
Activity 3:
You will listen the excerpts of Bela Bartok’s compositions on YouTube or internet.
Link will be provided.You will write a brief description of how you feels about the
music.

1.
2.
3.
4.
www.youtube.com/bartok/six stringquartet
www.youtube.com/bartok/concertofororchestra
www.youtube.com/bartok/allegrobarbaro
www.youtube.com/bartok/mikrokosmos

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Lesson 4: Neo- Classicism
Learning Objectives: Describe the musical characteristics of the 20 th composers
during this period.
Discussion of Concept:
Neo- classicism was a moderating factor betweenthe emotional excesses of the Romantic period and
the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism. It was, in essence a partial return to an earlier style
of writing, particularly the tightly-knit form of the Classical period, while combining tonal harmonies
with slight dissonances. It also adopted a modern, freer use of the seven-note diatonic scale. Examples
of neo-Classicism are Bela Bartok’s Song of the Bagpipe and Piano Sonata. In this latter piece, the
Classical three movement format is combined with ever-shifting time signature, complex but exciting
rhythmic patterns as well as harmonic dissonances that produce harsh chords. The neo-classicist style
was also used by composers such as Francis Poulenc, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith and Sergei
Prokofieeff.

1. Sergie Prokofieff (1891-1953)born in the Ukraine in 1891.

Prokofieff set out for the St. Petersburg Conservatory equipped
with his great talent as a composer and pianist.Regarded today as a
combination of a neo-classicist, nationalist and avant-garde composer.
His style is uniquely recognizable for its progressive technique, pulsating
rhythms, melodic directness and a resolving dissonance. His contacts
with Diaghilev and Stravinsky gave him the chance to write music for
the ballet and opera, notably the ballet Romeo and Juliet and the opera
War and Peace.He became prolific in writing symphonies, chamber
music, concerti and solo instrumental music. He also wrote Peter and
the Wolf , a lighthearted orchestral work intended for children, to
appease the continuing government crackdown on avant-garde composers at the time. Other
significant compositions include the Symphony no.1(also called Classical Symphony) his most
accessible orchestral work linked to the combined styles of classicist Haydn and Mozart and neo-
classicist Stravinsky. He died in Moscow on March 15, 1953.
2. Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (1899 – 1963) was one of the
relatively few composers born into wealth and a privileged social
position. He was a member of the group of young French composers
known as “Les Six”. He rejected the heavy romanticism of Wagner
and the so called imprecision of Debussy and Ravel. His
compositions had a coolly elegant modernity, tempered by a
classical sense of proportion.

Poulenc was a successful composer for piano, voice and choral music. His
instrumental works include the harpsichord concerto known as Concert
Champetre (1928), the Concerto for Two Pianos (1932) which combines the classical touches of
Mozart with a refreshing mixture of wit and exoticism in the style of Ravel and a Concerto for Solo
Piano (1949) written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Poulenc’s vocal works reveal his strength
as a lyrical melodist. His opera works include Les Mamelles de Tiresias (1944) which explain his
light hearted character, Dialogues des Carmelites (1956) which highlighted his conservative writing
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style and La Voix Humane (1958which reflects his own turbulent emotional life. He died in Paris on
January 30, 1963.
Other Members of “Les Six”
1.Georges Auric (1899-1983) wrote music for the movies and rhythmic music with
lots of energy
2.Louis Durey (1888-1979) used traditional ways of composing and wrote in his own
personal way not wanting to follow form
3.Arthur Honegger (1882-1955) liked chamber music and the symphony. His popular
piece Pacific 231 described a train journey on the
Canadian Pacific Railway.
4.Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was a very talented composer who wrote in several
different styles.Some of his music uses bitonality and
polytonality (writing in two or more keys at thesame time)
5.Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was the only female in the group. She like to use
dance rhythms. She loved children and animals and
wrote many works about them. She also wrote operas,
concerti and many works for thepiano.

Activity 4:Give an example of a musical work of each of the composers below.

Write the title in the blanks. Copy and write your answer in your Music
activity notebook.

Composer Musical Works

1. Debussy
2. Ravel
3. Schoenberg
4. Stravinsky
5. Bartok
6. Prokofieff
7. Poulenc
8. Gershwin
9. Glass
10. Bernstein

Lesson 5 :Avant-Garde Music

Learning Objective: Identify the distinguishing characteristics of the
composers of the Avant-garde Period.
Discussion of Concept:

Closely associated with electronic music, the avant-garde movement dealth with the
parameters or the dimensions of sound in space. The avant-garde style exhibited a new
attitude toward musical mobility whereby the order of note groups could be varied so that

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musical continuity could be altered. Improvisation was a necessity in this style, for the
musical scores were not necessarily followed as written. For example, one could expect a
piece to be read by a performer from left to right or vice versa. Or the performer might turn
the score over, and go on dabbling indefinitely in whatever order before returning to the
starting point. From the United States, there were avant-garde composers such as George
Gershwin and John Cage with their truly unconventional compositions techniques, Leonard
Bernstein with his famed stage musicals and his music lectures for young people, and Philip
Glass with his minimalist compositions. Through their works, these composers truly
extended the boundaries of what music was thought to be in earlier periods.

1.George Gershwin (1898-1937) was born in New York to Russian

Jewish immigrants. His older brother Ira was his artistic collaborator who
wrote the lyrics of his songs. His first song was written 1916 and his first
broadway musical, La La Lucile in 1919.Gershwin’s name became a fixture
on Broadway. He also composed Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American
in Paris (1928), which incorporated jazz rhythms with classical forms. His
opera Porgy and Bess (1934) remains to this day the only American opera to
be included in the established repertory of this genre. Gershwin melodic gift
was considered phenomenal as evidenced by his numerous songs of wide
appeal. He is a true “crossover artist”, in the sense that his serious
compositions remain highly popular in the classical repertoire, as his stage and
film songs continue to be jazz and vocal standards. Considered the “Father of the American Jazz”,
his mixture of the primitive and the sophisticated gave his music an appeal that has lasted long after
his death. Gershwin’s musical compositions total around 369 which include orchestral music,
chamber music, musical theatre, film musicals, operas and songs. He died in Hollywood,
California ,USA on July 11, 1937.

2.Leonard Bernstein (1918- 1990) born in Massachussetts,

USA. He endeared himself to his many followers as a charismatic
conductor, pianist, composers and lectures. His big break came
when he was asked to substitute for the ailing Bruno Walter in
conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert on
November 14, 1943.Bernstein’s philosophy was that the universal
language of music is basically rooted in tonality. This came under
fire from the radical young musicians who espoused the serialist
principles of that time. Bernstein is best known for his
compositions for the stage. Foremost among these is the musical
West Side Story (1957), an American adaptation of Romeo and
Juliet, which displays a tuneful, off-beat and highly atonal approach to the songs. Other
outputs include another Broadway hit Candide (1956) and the much celebrated Mass
(1971), which he wrote for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington ,D.C. He also composed the music for the film On the

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 Waterfront (1954). His musical compositions total around 90. He died in New York
City, USA on October 14, 1990.

3.Philip Glass (1937 -)born in New York, USA of Jewish parentage.

One of the most commercially successful minimalist composer. He is
also an avant-garde composer. He explored the territories of ballet,
opera, theatre, film, and even television jingles. His distinctive style
involves cell like phrases emanating from bright electronic sounds
from the keyboard that progressed very slowly from one pattern to the
next in a very repetitious fashion. Glass became an accomplished
violinist and flutist at the age of 15. In Paris, he became inspired by
the music of the renowned Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar. He formed the
Philip Glass Ensemble and produced works such as Music in Similar
Motion (1969) and Music in Changing Paris (1970, which combined rock-type grooves with
perpetual patterns played at extreme volumes. Glass collaborated with theatre conceptualist
Robert Wilson to produce the four-hour opera Einstein on the Beach (1976), an instant sell-
out at the New York Metropolitan Opera House. He completed the trilogy with the operas
Satyagraha (1980) and Akhnaten (1984), based on the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Leo
Tolstoy, Martin Luther King and an Egyptian pharaoh. He combined his signature repetitive
and overlapping style with theatrical grandeur on stage. His musical compositions total
around 170. Today, Glass lives alternately in Nova Scotia, Canada and New York, USA.

Activity 5:Research on the 20th century musical play West Side Story written by Leonard Bernstein.
Watch any video clip of West Side Story on internet or YouTube. Write a reaction paper explaining
the following elements of the performance. Copy and write this in your Music activity notebook.
Here’s the link : Choose one only:
www.youtube.com/westsidestory/leonardbernstein/tonight
Reaction Paper
www.youtube.com/westsidestory/leonardbernstein/america
Name: _________________________ Grade & Section: ___________
www.youtube.com/westsidestory/leonardberstein/maria
_____________________
www.youtube.com/westsidestory/leonardbernstein/somewhere
(Title)

A. Setting: _________________________________________________
B. Musical Compositions: _____________________________________
C. Role of Composer and Lyricist: _______________________________
________________________________________________________
D. Role of performers (actors & actresses): _______________________
________________________________________________________
E. Role of audience (yourself): _________________________________
F. Sound and musical director: _________________________________
G. Script/ Screenplay: _________________________________________
H. Props, Costume, lighting: ___________________________________
________________________________________________________

Reflection: Did you like what you watched? Why or why not? Explain
your answers. _____________________________________________ P a g e 14 | 21
_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Lesson 6: Modern Nationalism
Learning Objectives: Recognize the musical style during the Modern Nationalism.
Discussion of Concept:
A looser form of 20th century music development focused on nationalist composers and musical
innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials. In Eastern Europe,
prominent figures of this style included the Hungarian Bela Bartok and the Russian Sergei Prokofieff,
who were neo-classicist to a certain extent. Bartok infused Classical techniques into his own brand of
cross rhythms and shifting meters to demonstrate many barbaric and primitive themes that were
Hungarian particularly gypsy in origin. Prokofieff used striking dissonance and Russian themes
colored with humor. Together with Bartok, Prokofieff made extensive use of polytonality, a kind of
atonality that uses two or more tonal centers simultaneously. An example of this style is Prokofieff’s
Visions Fugitive. In Russia, a highly gifted generation of creative individual known as the “Russian
Five”---Modest Mussorgsky, Mili Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, Cesar Cui and Nikolai Rimsky
Korsakov--- infused chromatic harmony and incorporated Russian folk music and liturgical chants in
their thematic materials. French composer and pianist Erik Satie was a colourful figures in early 20 th
century musicspecially avant-garde and modern nationalism.
21st Century Music Trends
Music scholars predict that the innovative and experimental development of 20 th century classical
music will continue to influence the music of the 21 st century. With so many technical and stylistic
choices open today’s composers, the possibilities for “new music” and radical experimentation are
promising. At present, modern technology and gadgets still have a great on all types of music.
However, what remains to be seen is when this trend will shift and what the distinct qualities of
emerging classical works will be.

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Activity 6: Answer the following questions. Write your answer in your Music activity
notebook.
1. What group of people inspired many of Bartok’s compositions?
___________________________________________
2. Which Russian composers created the music for the ballet The Firebird?
___________________________________________
3. Who is considered the foremost impressionist?
___________________________________________
4. What kind of musical style is attributed to Schoenberg and Stravinsky?
___________________________________________
5. Who was the target audience of Prokofieff’s Peter and the Wolf?
___________________________________________

20th Century Musical Styles: Electronic and Chance

The musical styles that evolved in the modern era were varied. Some of these were short-lived, being
experimental and too radical in nature while others found an active blend between the old and the
new. New inventions and discovered of science and technology have led continuing developments in
he field of music. Electronic devices such as the early cassette tape recorder, players for compact
discs (CDs), video compact discs (VCDs) and digital video discs (DVDs), MP3 and MP4 players, the
ipod, karaoke players, mobile and android phones and synthesizers have been increasingly used for
creating and recording music that is meant to be added to or to replace acoustical sounds made with
traditional instruments.

Digital video disc (dvd) Compact disc (CD) Videocompact disc cassette tape recorder
( (DVD)

MP3/ipod
MP4
Karaoke player mobile& android
phones

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 Synthesizers

Lesson 7: Electronic Music

Learning Objectives: Create your own electronic music.
Discussion of Concept:
The capacity of electronic machines such as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape recorders, and loudspeakers
to create different sounds was put to creative use by 20 th century composers like Edgar Varese,
Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mario Davidovsky. Music that uses the tape recorder is
calledmusique concrete or concrete music.The composer records different sounds that are
heard in the environment such as the bustle of traffic, the sound of the wind, the barking of
dogs, the strumming of a guitar or the cry of an infant.These sounds are arranged by the
composer in different ways for example, by playing the tape recorder in its fastest mode or in
reverse. In musique concrete, the composer is able to experiment with different sounds that
cannot be produced by regular musical instruments such as the piano or the violin.

1.Edgar Varese (1883-1965)was born onDecember 22, 1883.He

was considered an “innovative French –born composer”. He spent
the greater part of his life and career in the United States where he
pioneered and created new sounds that bordered between music
and noise.The musical compositions of Varese are characterized by
an emphasis on timbre and rhythm. He invented the term
“organized sound” which means that certain timbres and rhythms
can be grouped together in order to capture a whole new definition
of sound. Varese’s use of new instruments and electronic resources
earned him the title “Father of Electronic Music”. Also
considered as “The Stratospheric Colossus of Sound”, his musical compositions total around
50, with his advances in tape-based sound proving revolutionary
during his time. He died on November 6, 1965.

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 2.Karlheinz Stockhausen (born 1928) is a central figure in the realm of electronic music.Born
inCologne, Germany,he had the opportunity to meet Olivier Messiaen, Arnold Schoenberg and
Anton Webern, the principal innovators at the time. Together with Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen
drew inspiration from these composers as he developed his style of total serialism. Stockhausen’s
music was initially met with resistance due to its heavily atonal content with practically no clear
melodic or rhythm sense. He continued to experiment with musique concrete. Some of his works
include Grappen (1957), a piece for three orchestras that moved music through time and space,
Kontakte (1960), a work that pushed the tape machine to its limits and epic Hymen (1965), an
ambitious two hour work of 40 juxtaposed songs and anthems from around the world.His recent
Helicopter String Quartet in which a string quartet performs while airborne in four different
helicopters, develops his long standing fascination with music which moves in space.
Stockhausen’s works total around 31. He presently resides in Germany.
Activity 7:Create short electronic music pieces using your knowledge of 20 th century musical styles.
Record different sounds that are heard in the environment such as the bustle of traffic, the sound of
the wind, the barking of dogs, the strumming of a guitar, the cry of an infant, or any sound that you
like or hear in the environment on your mobile phone, ipod, tablets, MP3 or MP4 players or any
electronic recording device that you have. Then, arrange or manipulate the sounds in different ways
for example playing the recording device in the fastest or showed mode or any creative arrangement
that you like. Send your output through my Messenger account—Jem Fernandez.
Lesson 8: Chance Music
Learning Objectives: Create your own chance music.
Discussion of Concept:
Chance music refers to a style in which the piece sounds different at every performance became of the
random techniques of production including the use of ring modulators or natural elements that
become a part of the music. Most of the sounds emanate from the surroundings, both natural and man-
made like honking cars, rustling leaves, blowing wind, dripping water or a ringing phone. As such, the
combination of external sounds cannot be duplicated as each happens by chance.An example is John
Cage’s Four Minutes and Thirty Three Seconds (4’33”) where the pianist merely opens the piano lid
and keeps silent for the duration of the piece.

1.John Cage (1912-1992) born in Los Angeles, California, USA

onSeptember 5, 1912.He was known as one of the 20 th century composers
with the widest array of sounds in his works, He became one of the most
original composers in the history of Western music. He challenged the
very idea of music by manipulating musical instruments in order to
achieve new sounds. He experimented with what came to be known as
“chance music”.He became famous for his compositionFour Minutes
and 33 Seconds (4’33”), a chance musical work that instructed the pianist
to merely open the piano lid and remain silent for the length or time
indicated by the title. Cage influenced the development of modern music
since the 1950s. He was considered more of a musical philosopher than a
composer. His musical compositions total around 229. Cage died in New
York City on August 12. 1992.
Activity 8: Put small items inside a bag. Include coins, pens, pins, small bells and other articles with
percussive sounds. Pour the bags contents on a hard surface. Then, using a cell phone or other
available device, record the sounds that are produced. Put the items back in the bag. Then,unload the
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same, while once again recording the sounds being produced. Note the changes between the two sets
of sounds recorded. Send your output through my Messenger account --Jem Fernandez.
Performance Task:
Learning Objective:Create a music video project (downloading apps like Power
Director,MovieMaker, KineMaster) using your digital camera or mobile phone.
Create and explore other arts (multi media) that portray 20 th century musical style through a 4 - 6
minute video clip or MTV using your digital cameras or mobile phone. You choose a popular song
and produce a music video for that song. Rubric will be provided below.

Excellent Very Good Good Fair

Planning, Precise planning, Good planning, Some problems Problematic
Scripting & well-written & decently written with the planning, script
rehearsal mistake free draft with few planning, script or rehearsal
draft, clean & mistakes, mostly or rehearsal process.
fully engaged engaged process
rehearsals rehearsals
Filming, Fantastic use of Mostly effective Some problems Problematic
Direction & cameras angles camera angles & with camera camera angles &
Acting & movement, movement, angles & movement,
clear & precise agreeable movement, direction or
direction, great & direction, good direction or acting
polished acting acting acting
Editing & Great & clean Mostly clean Some Problematic
Composition edits with a clear edits with a good problematic or edits& or poor
& thorough demonstration of rough edits & demonstration of
understanding of narrative only a general narrative
narrative composition demonstration of composition
composition narrative
composition
TOTAL

Post- Test
Direction: Read the sentences carefully. Select the correct answer. Write
the letter only. Do this in your Music activity notebook.
1. One of the famous examples of Chance music is ___________________
a. Porgy and Bess
b. Four Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds
c. Helicopter String Quartet
d. musique concrete

2. It was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses of the Romantic period and
the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism
a. Impressionism
b. Expressionism
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c. Neo-classicism
d. Avant-garde

3. Music style that uses a tape recorder to records different sounds that are heard in the
environment such as the bustle of traffic, the sound of the wind, the barking of dogs and
many more
a. Electronic Music
b. Modern Music
c. Chance Music
d. Concrete Music

4. It is a looser form of 20th century music development focused on nationalist composers

and musical innovators who sought to combine modern techniques with folk materials.
a. Modern Nationalism
b. Impressionism
c. Neo-classicism
d. Electronic Music

5. His musical style challenged the very idea of music by manipulating musical instruments
in order to achieve new sounds
a. Karlheinz Stockhausen
b. Edgar Varese
c. John Cage
d. George Gershwin

6. It was a moderating factor between the emotional excesses of the Romantic period and
the violent impulses of the soul in expressionism

a. Impressionism
b. Expressionism
c. Neo-classicism
d. Avant-garde

7. Which of the following musical style introduces extensive use of colors and effects,
vague melodies leading to mild dissonances?
a. Avant garde
b. Impressionism
c. Chance Music
d. Electronic Music

8. Which Russian composer created the music for the ballet The Firebird?
a.Bela Bartok
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b. Igor Stravinsky
c. Claude Debussy
d.Maurice Ravel

9. Who was the French composer known as the “Father of Electronic Music?
a.Edgar Varese
b. Philip Glass
c. Bela Bartok
d. Maurice Ravel

10. One of the best compositions of Claude Debussy was the _____________.
a.Bolero
b. Miroirs
c. Claire de Lune
d. Tonight

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