MAPEH 10

Musical styles of the

twentieth century
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
 Describe distinctive musical elements of given pieces.
 Identify the characteristics of the twentieth century music.
 Relate 20th Century music to other art forms and media during the same
period.
 Perform music sample from the 20th century.
 Differentiate music in the impressionism and expressionism.

Characteristics of the 20th Century Music

The music of the twentieth-century can be perfectly described as eclectic,
simply because the musical styles in this period have provided listeners a wide
array of music to choose from.

1. Melody - a pleasing series of musical notes that form the main part of a song
or piece of music.
- They are so difficult to sing because they feature disjunct progressions.
Disjunct progression refers to the wide leaps of intervals from one note to the
next.

2. Meter and Rhythm

 What is Meter in music?
- It is a systematically arranged and measured rhythm in verse.
What is Rhythm?
- an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of
sound and silence in speech/music.
 Unusual Meter –
- This is a list of musical compositions or pieces of music that have
unusual time signatures.
For example 5/8, 7/8, 7/2
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Multimeter – A term applied to music when there are frequent changes in the
time signature.

Polyrhythm – Two or more meters are used at the same time.

3. Harmony
- The combination of different musical notes played or sung at the
same time to produce a pleasing sound.
 A listener in the 20th century music is unable to predict the structure of
harmony because of the following harmonic concepts.
Chord Structures –
a chord structure is the arrangement of notes used to create a chord.
Basically chords are built on an interval of thirds.

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Triad Seventh chord Ninth chord

Chord progression –
A chord progression is a series of chords played in a sequence.
Ex: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim
additional : Eb or G#

Dissonance & Consonance

Dissonance –
Refers to lack of agreement and consistency to the progress of harmony
of music.
Consonance -
Consonant intervals are usually described as pleasant and agreeable.

4. Tonality
 It is the organization of all the tones and harmonies of a piece of music in
relation to a tonic.

The absence of any key center is called atonality.

Polytonality is the simultaneous use of two or more keys.
5. Texture
 texture is how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are
combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the
sound in a piece.
Homophonic –
This is the type of music that most of us are accustomed to.  In
homophonic music, one voice takes the melodic lead, while the accompanying
voices play the harmony and they take a subordinate role.  The listeners interest is
directed to a single line of music, and the harmony is there to support it.

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Debussy and Impressionism

th
 Toward the 20 century, the first important stylistic trend in music is
Impressionism.
 The term “impressionism” in music was borrowed from the field of visual
arts, particularly in painting.
Characteristics of Impressionistic Music
Open chords – having fifths and octaves but without thirds.

Whole-tone mode – uses a scale having six whole steps to the octave

Parallelism –
two or more melodies moving simultaneously in the same direction and by
the same intervals

Free rhythms and less use of regular rhythms

Wide intervals (leaping melodic contour) and extreme registers like in piano
music
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
 The foremost impressionist composer
 Entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 10.

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 He gained his knowledge in music from Tchaikovsky

 Graduated at conservatory in1884 and won the
Prix de Rome, a prize that paid his expenses to
study in Rome.
 Died on 1918 of brain cancer.
Debussy’s compositions:
Orchestral works
 Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
 La Mer (The Sea)
 Nocturnes
Piano Compositions
 Petite Suite
 Suite Bergamasque
 Children’s corner
 Estampes
 Images
Note: These songs are available on the internet. Find time to listen.

SCHOENBERG AND EXPRESSIONISM

Characteristics of Expressionistic Music
Expressionism is also borrowed from visual arts. It emphasizes intense and
subjective emotions rather than the outward appearance. Expressionists
abandoned the traditional way and employed distorted images and certain effects
of colors to the viewers’ perception. At some point, it is used to express or make
one’s voice heard on some issues in the society.
Music with expressionistic style is emotionally oriented, harshly dissonant,
and atonal.
Atonality
Is the absence of key or tonal center. Expressionistic composers would mostly
use tones from outside the underlying major or minor key.

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Twelve-tone System
It refers to music based on serial manipulation of the twelve chromatic
pitches - C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B. Twelve tones
are arranged in such a way that any implication of the tonal center is avoided and
no pitch should be repeated. Below is an example – the Original form (O) with its
corresponding intervals between tones:
Multiple Serialization
The twelve-tone system is just one form of serialism, in which only the
pitches of the tone row are manipulated in series. Other composers have explored
on the serialization of other elements like dynamics, densities, timbre, and forms.
Tone row – contains all twelve tones of the chromatic scale.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

 one of the most influential composer of the twentieth
century
 he was self-taught, and learned to play cello and
violin at early age
 at age 16, he worked as bank clerk and earned extra
money by arranging songs and orchestrating
operettas.
 His first masterpiece – Verklärte Nacht
(Transfigured Night), a story of two lovers.
 He taught music theory and composition in Vienna,
Austria
 He profoundly changed music history by establishing a substitute for the
traditional tonal system – twelve tone system.
 He also developed gliding speech-song called Sprechstimme or
sprechgesang – half-spoken, half-sung.

His compositions:

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Pierrot Lunaire, Op.21 (Moonstruck Pierrot)

A Survivor from Warsaw, Op. 46
The Violin Concerto, Op. 36
Piano Concerto, Op. 42

ELECTRONIC MUSIC
The development of technology has become a way of developing different
techniques in the production of music. It leads to the production of electronic
music by using devices that can record sounds. Engineer-composer Pierre
Schaeffer used magnetic tape recorder to record different sounds. He combined
recorded everyday sounds in different ways. This recording is known as musique
concrete the French term for concrete music. Electronic music started from
musique concrete.
Electronic music should not be only limited to computers and
synthesizers, because there a lot of electronic equipment and instruments which
can be used to produce music. All of these equipment are used to generate,
modify, and combine all manner of sounds.
FEATURES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC
 Performance of this kind of modern music is not limited to
human performers because composers can directly manipulate
various sounds they wish to have.
 Some electronic music composers need to create new ways of
notating their work.
 Some electronic music composers have also forsaken the
elements of beat and meter and considered time instead.

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC

A. Tape Music Stage: 1940s-1950s
 During World War II, Germans used the magnetic audio tape.
 Live or concrete sounds are recorded – traffic noise, chirping of birds,
squeaky doors, etc.
 This kind of music is called musique
concrete.
 Role of the human performer is either
diminished or eliminated.

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 Melody and harmony are of less importance, rhythm is important.

Magnetic Audio Tape

B. Analog-Synthesizer Stage: 1970s

 It is a complex electronic instrument that contains oscillators (apparatuses
that establish and maintain fluctuations of voltage) and filters under one
control system.
 It is capable of producing and altering sounds.
 It can control the properties of sound: pitch or frequency, dynamics or
amplitude, rhythm or duration, and tone quality or timbre.

Analog Synthesizer
C. Digital Synthesizer Stage: 1980s
 Digital computer is used to create
electronic music in this stage
 Analog sound is converted to digital
information, process is called
sampling

Digital Synthesizer

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Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)

 Known as the “Father of Electric Music”

 Was born French but spent most of his
career in the United States
 He believed that noise is subjectively any
sound
that one does not like
 According to him, music is just an
organized
collection of noises in a pleasant way.
 He invented ways to transform noise into
music.
 employed new instruments and electronic resources

CHANCE MUSIC
What is Chance Music?
Chance music is also called as aleatory music which means “depending on
the throw of a dice or on chance; random.” It is one of the radical trends of the
twentieth century. In the previous generations, serialism in music or the use of the
twelve-tone system is highly programmed, but some composers like John Cage
believed that some aspects of their music should be left to chance. This concept is
based on chance selection of musical materials like timbre, rhythm, or pitch by
the composer, the performer or both.

John Cage (1912-1992)

 he is the most important figure in the
development of aleatory music
 received his first musical training from private
piano teachers and some of his relatives
 he also received music instruction from Henry
Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg

Significant Compositions:
 Music of Changes

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 Imaginary Landscapes No.4

 4’33’’

Skill-building activities

A1: Musical Styles of the Twentieth Century

Identify the terms being described in the statement. Write your answers on the
space provided before the number.
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___________________1. It refers to the absence of any key center in a

music piece or composition.
___________________2. It refers to the combination of simultaneous
musical notes in a chord.
___________________3. It refers to the lack of agreement and
consistency to the progress of harmony of music.
___________________4. It is the arrangement of notes used to create
a chord.
___________________5. It refers to the arrangement of chords used in
a song or piece.
___________________6. It is the pleasing series of musical notes that
form the main part of a song or piece of
music.
___________________7. It refers to the regular, repeated pattern of
sounds or movements.
___________________8. It is the division of beats in a bar.
___________________9. This term is applied to music when there are
frequent changes in meter or time signature.
___________________10. It is the organization of all the tones and
harmonies of a piece of music in relation to a
tonic.

A2. Using the right notes, create your own rhythmic patterns for the following:

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A3. Draw barlines to divide the notes correctly according to the given time
signature.

4
4

3
4

REFERENCE:

Argie A. Concha, c. l. (2018). Achieve Creative Experiences and Skills in MAPEH

10. Quezon City: Sibs Publishing House Inc.

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Date Finished:__________________

Parent’s Name Signature: __________________________

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your

mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

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