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Sousa
(1854-1932) A bandmaster and composer who promoted the new concept of wind bands during this time. -
Debussy
(1862-1918) Most important French composer of the early 20th century who practiced impressionism in his music. -
Strauss
(1864-1949) German poet and composer who supported chromaticism. Often had excessive motives and pushed tonality. -
Scott Joplin
(1868-1917) Considered the "king of ragtime", he was the first African American composer to have fame. -
Schönberg
(1874-1951) An Austrian composer who created melodies in atonality after 1907 using "tone rows". -
Ives
(1874-1954) One of the greatest American composers in the 20th century. Used polytonality, polymeter, polyrhythms, and limited atonality. -
Ravel
(1876-1937) French Impressionist composer who was credited with writing the first Impressionist piano piece. -
Stravinsky
(1882-1971) A composer whose style changes frequently, but relatively maintained a harsh, complex, tonal, and dissonant style. -
Dett
(1882-1943) Canadian pianist who assisted in forming the National Association of Negro Musicians (1919). -
Durey
(1888-1979) A member of Les Six, he was born in Paris and wrote songs for the French Resistance during World War I. -
Impressionism
(1890's-1920's) One of the first anti-romantic styles, disregarding chord progression rules, used free rhythm, and was vague. -
Maximalism
Extreme use of themes, performance sizes, and chromaticism. Was introduced towards the end of the Romantic era, using thick textures. -
Ragtime
A precursor to Jazz music, it developed from an African American piano style with syncopated rhythms and secular form. -
Prokofiev
(1891-1953) A Russian composer who often had Neo-classical musical traits and utilized comedy and lyrical expression in compositions. -
Honegger
(1892-1955) A member of Les Six, he considered himself Swiss and was a huge compositional output in all mediums. -
Milhaud
(1892-1974) Born in France and a member of Les Six, he rejected impressionism and studied Debussy. -
Still
(1895-1978) First Black American composer to conduct a major symphony opera and have it performed by a major ensemble. -
Cowell
(1897-1965) An American innovator who invented chance music, piano techniques, and was drawn to Non-Western music. -
Auric
(1899-1983) Part of Les Six, he was born in France and was Neo-Classicist. -
Poulenc
(1899-1963) Born in France, he was a member of Les Six and was a self-taught musician. -
Ellington
(1899-1974) Famous for his Jazz tunes and contributions to the Swing Era. -
Start of Post 1900's Era
Naturalism and an expansion of various musical styles are explored. Composers began reacting against the Romantic era aesthetic. -
Copland
(1900-1990) A composer and conductor with a mostly tonal style. He had a vigorous style with mixed meters and dabbled in folk songs. -
Instrumentation
Strings begin losing dominance in orchestras, but brass, wind, and percussion instruments became important. -
Wind Bands
British Military bands began to be outgrown, starting the new American tradition of wind bands in North America and Europe. -
Tone Rows
An atonal concept created by Schönberg, pitch orders stay the same. -
Carter
(1908-2012) An American composer who composed music for over 50 years. -
Expressionism
Focuses on freeing music from tonality and had no chord progression rules. -
Melody and Harmony
Melody is no longer the focus of compositions, as harmonies were less traditional and focused on atonality, polychords, and polytonality. -
Atonal Music
Popular in the 20th century, this style has no harmonic center of gravity and all notes are of equal musical importance. -
Tone Cluster
A term created by Cowell, referring to groups of adjacent notes that were highly dissonant. They were sounded with the fist, palm, and forearm. -
The Rite of Spring
A ballet composed by by Stravinsky that was proactive for its time, known for its chaotic, polyrhythmic, brash, and radical elements. -
Holiday
(1915-1959) African American Jazz singer who broke racial barriers by performing with white bands. -
Jazz
An American music style rooting from West African music and traditions. -
Scat Singing
Improvised Jazz singing on nonsense syllables. -
Blues
An American type of folk music with a simple and repetitive poetic form. 12 bar Blues progression is I, IV, I, V, IV, I. -
The Harlem Renaissance
A cultural uprising of African American arts, cultures, and music. It inspired a cultural movement into the 1940's. -
Stockhausen
(1928-2007) German composer who made innovations in electronic and other forms of experimental music. -
Crumb
(1929-) An American composer known for his anti-war sentiments during the Vietnam war. -
The Swing Era
Highly improvizational style of New Orleans Jazz music in the 1930's. -
Musical Theater
Roots from European and French Opera, many people classify it as a genre of musical comedy. -
Górecki
(1933-2010) A composer whose style combined minimalist slow harmonic movement, clusters, and neo-tonality. -
Glass
(1937-) A pioneer for minimalism, he composed numerous operas and vocal music throughout his time. -
Musique concrete
A French concept that relied on sounds made by a natural source recorded on magnetic tape and later manipulated. -
Lansky
(1944) An American composer who pioneered in digital sound synthesis. -
Rock N' Roll
A musical blending of the blues style and honky-tonk with an original edginess. -
The Technological Revolution
Computers used in music creating the concept of Electronic music. -
Synthesizers
A popular creation during the Technological Revolution that is commonly used in modern music. -
Mahler
(1860-1911) Created important expansions for Lieder and symphonies by using musical aspects of Non-Western cultures. -
Neo-Tonality
A post 1970's style using loose tonal centers without rules. Chords are favored and progress without rules. -
Minimalism
A style of music classified by repetitive melodic and harmonic patterns and few changing variations.