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Impressionism is a French style introduced by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) in the 1890s. Impressionism included musical elements, it abandoned traditional rules for each. Impressionism also focuses on being vague, meaning that phrases were rubato and meters and tempos changed. Melody was an important element of impressionism and such importance was not placed on rhythm. Harmonies were vague but tonal. Parallel chords were used for color, rather than progression.
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John Philip Sousa promoted the American wind-band tradition. He was known for marches and a failed opera composer. Sousa wrote 9 operettas, but they were not suitable for stage and rather became the themes for marches.
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Spanish composer and pianist. Compositions include piano and dramatic works, orchestral works, and songs.
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Gustav Mahler was an Austrian composer who made important expansions to symphonies and Lieder. He is classified as a maximalist because of the size of his performance groups, as well as the length of pieces. He was considered to be the heir to Mozart and Beethoven and embraced this to an extent.
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Debussy was a French composer and pianist. Debussy composed piano works, chamber music, tone poems, stage works, and songs. Debussy initiated the style of musical impressionism in his work Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894).
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An English composer of German descent. Delius used impressionism in their works. Works included orchestral, choral, and chamber music; as well as stage works and songs.
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Italian composer and conductor. He became the official composer of the Fascist regime in the 1930s.
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A Finnish composer who wrote tone poems, 7 symphonies, concertos, and chamber music. His later music is more modern.
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French composer, teacher, and critic who only allowed a few of his works to be published. He is mostly known for his orchestral work, L'Apprenti sorcier (1897).
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A composer who led in new French aesthetics. Satie's musical innovation was what impressionism was built upon.
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An American composer and pianist, wrote scholarly articles, and very successful in Europe. She wrote an opera, vocal-orchestral works, chamber music, keyboard works, choral works, and 130 songs.
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Scott Joplin is regarded as the "King of Ragtime," and was the first African-American composer to win international fame.
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An English teacher and conductor, and became the leader in English music. He collected and edited folksongs and hymns. He composed symphonies, choral music, chamber music, stage works, orchestral and band music, songs, carols, hymns, and writings.
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Composer, virtuoso pianist, influenced by chromaticism and impressionism, complex original harmonic language.
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Rachmaniov was a virtuoso pianist who toured the USA. He also composed symphonies, piano concertos, symphonic poems, operas, choral music, piano works, and songs. He did not show interest in nationalism.
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English, influenced by folksong and Hindu mysticism, original composer and important teacher.
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Spanish composer, used popular Spanish music and folk music. Earned international fame.
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Hungarian composer and pianist, important ethnomusicologist, known for his rhythmic music. Incorporated his own native folk music into his compositions.
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One of the most versatile and interesting composers of the 20th century, rhythmic style, harmonically interesting
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Hungarian, ethnomusicologist, music educator, created moveable do solfege.
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Pioneer in electronic music, composed poeme electronique (1956-1958).
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American blues singer, regarded as "Mother of the Blues"
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Brazilian composer and cellist
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Maximalism is a relatively new term used to describe this style. It was initiated in Germany primarily by composers Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) and Richard Strauss (1864-1949). Musical elements in this style are pushed to the extreme. The music contained many themes and motives, thick textures, chromaticism, and large sizes of performers.
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Russian composer and pianist, important as a Russian voice in Western culture.
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American blues singer during the jazz age.
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German conductor, teacher, author, and composer; wrote music for the practicing musician, Gebrauchmusik.
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William Grant Still was the first African-American composer to have his symphony performed by a leading orchestra and to conduct a major symphony. He arranged music for jazz bands and dance orchestras in the 1920s. He quoted African American songs into traditional European genres.
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Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. Staged anti-fascist plays and making anti-fascist comments.
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American composer who wrote for Broadway, film, and the concert hall. He was aware of expressionism, impressionism, but chose to incorporate jazz in his compositions.
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Major band leader in the swing era (1930s) and in the big band era (1940s)
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Mexican composer, conductor, teacher, writer, government official. His works included stage works, symphonies, choral and vocal music, songs, instrumental works, and writings.
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Universities composers patrons, hired as theory and composition teachers.
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Aaron Copland was an American composer, teacher, conductor, critic, and sponsor. He studied with Nadia Boulanger. He composed a variety of genres, but not many works. He wrote mostly tonal music, though some was atonal. He quoted his own music.
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African-American jazz musician who revolutionized jazz, singer, band-leader, and trumpeter.
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A style used by Satie and Fauré. This style opposed Wagnerian style and rejected romantic aestheticism.
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An African American poet. Prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
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Published in 1940. An orchestral work with no specific genre, a three part piece that contained symbolism.
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Versatile, the most important Russian composer working in Russia in his day.
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Serialist French composer and teacher, known for incorporating bird songs into his music. Works focus on religious subjects, including aspects of non-Western cultures and religions.
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American composer, teacher, innovative treatment of rhythm and form, contributed compositions into the 21st century.
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Important American composer who kept romanticism alive during the 20th century.
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Neo-Classicism returned to ideas of the 18th century. The style used textures, topics, and form of the 18th century and combined them with modern harmony, tonality, and timbres. Neo-Classicism began with Bach;s music. For Aaron Copland, Neo-Classicism was embodied in Stravinsky's Octet for Winds.
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Began as German style based out of Vienna. It focused on turning away from tonality. The 12-tone row was introduced in this stylistic period and each notes were treated equally.
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A Western visual art movement that borrowed folk-like or native elements. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring used repetitive, driving ostinatos that demonstrate musical aspects of primitivism.
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This piece contains tone clusters played on piano.
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Written by Schoenberg. It discussed the 12 tone method.
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Composed by Schoenberg. A song cycle based on 21 poems from the Belgian symbolist poet Albert Giraud's pierrot lunaire.
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Innovated many modern compositional techniques, helped change the definition of music to organized sound.
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Stravinsky composed this ballet at the age of 31. The music and the story were radical. The orchestra was very percussive, polyrhythmic, and music has irregular accents. Thirteen is a recurring number in this piece, as Stravinsky was obsessed with it. Upon it's premiere, people rioted.
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Created by Luigi Russolo. Wrote "The Art of Noises" and created experimental musical instruments.
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English composer, kept opera alive in English speaking countries
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World War I was a global war that started in Europe. The Central Powers fought against the Allies.
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Leading female Jazz singer, broke racial barriers by performing with white bands.
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Composer of Take the 'A' Train. Collaborated with Ellington on songs for many years.
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Dadaism was a movement of anti-art thinking. Artists and poets reacted against war and the bourgeois in Europe. This opened the doors to modern thinking and questioned traditional artist expectations.
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Jazz arose out of many different styles. It evolved out of west African music, as well as popular and art music traditions of the West.
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Les Six was a group of French composers who bonded together.
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American composer, music theorist, and teacher interested in computer music. Wrote an article called "The Composer as Specialist," (1958) but later the article was published as "Who Cares if You Listen?"
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American composer who worked with notated Javanese Gamelan music.
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A conductor, composer, teacher, pianist, and influence on many styles of music during the 20th century. He is famous for West Side Story (1957), which was very complex compared to other musicals.
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Henri Collet coined the term Les Six in the French journal Commedia in 1920.
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This album was written by all six composers of Les Six.
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Musical genre derived from Black American performance traditions that used bent pitches. Recordings were made in 1920s, but the style reaches back to the 1890s.
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A musical style that focused on musical elements other than pitch. This was developed later in the 20th century.
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The 12-tone row was created by Schoenberg in 1921. In this method, all 12 notes are treated equally and a note may not be used again until the other 11 are.
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Premiered at the Paris Opera House. In 1941, Aaron Copland commented that this piece served to influence other composers with a desire to reach back to 18th century objectivity.
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aleatoric (chance) music. French composer of Greek parentage and Romanian birth, advocated for music based on mathematical calculations.
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Hungarian composer, active in electronic music and as a teacher. Interested in clusters of sounds, orchestrally and chorally. Music is featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
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American composer, poet, and author.
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A cultural movement of African American arts (literature, painting, and music). William Grant Still and Langston Hughes were two dominant figures in the movement.
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Most important composer and conductor of the French avant-garde
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Leading modern Italian composer, helped establish the electronic studio in Milan which became a center of avant-garde activity.
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Composed by George Gershwin.
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German composer who made innovations in electronic music and other experimental music.
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Scottish-born composer, uses traditional genres in a modern context.
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American composer, best known for anti-War sentiments during the Vietnam War (1955-1975)
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Danceable style of jazz that featured large ensembles known as "big bands." Highly segregated bands in clubs.
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Influenced by Wagner, film music that uses full orchestra.
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Composed dissonant and serial music. 1970s composed more consonant and simple music (minimalistic)
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Polish composer, wrote textural music using sound blocks, atonal music with public appeal.
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Written by George Gershwin, who said he wrote it to be an American folk opera. First opera with an all black cast. Written during a time of segregation and did not have a main stage production until 1936.
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Aria from folk opera.
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American composer and performer, one of the founders of minimalism. Interested in electronic and tape music, influenced by Jazz and Indian music.
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Estonian composer, assimilares older styles with a newly created modern tonality. Created spiritual minimalism with his tintinnabuli technique.
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Blues song written by jazz artist Billie Holiday
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Composed by Benny Goodman.
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American composer and percussionist. Popular for electronic works and one of the pioneers in minimalism.
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American- Jewish composer and performer, innovator of minimalism. Influential 20th century composer.
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American composer, known as the father of neo-romanticism. Influenced by literature, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980.
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American composer, addresses important issues in his music. Famous with the American public after the film score The Red Violin (1997).
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American composer, pianist, and conductor. Influenced by Beethoven and Stravinsky. One of the most successful female composers.
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Popular song by the Ellington band.
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American composer and violinist, noteworthy composer, first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
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Style characterized by fast tempos, dissonant solos
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Used in the 1950s. Developed by Pierre Schaeffer using a tape recorder in the late 1940s. Used recorded natural sounds and manipulated the sound by splicing and mixing the sounds.
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American composer, theorist, professor, and critic. Embraced computer assisted composition and wrote a computer opera.
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Works for prepared piano. 16 sonatas in the set, ordered in four groups of four sonatas.
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Ballet suite composed by Samuel Barber.
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American composer and conductor, expanded the new language of minimalism and neo-romanticism. Leading composer of post-minimalist music.
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Genre from derived from jazz, blues, and country genres.
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Also referred to as chance music, where the composer left one or more musical elements up to chance.
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Also based on elements of chance, replaces traditional musical notation with symbols or visual signs suggesting performance elements rather than notating them directly.
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"Electronic music." Developed in Germany in the 1950s. Cologne became the leading city with its famous electronic music studio positions in the radio studio of NWDR.
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Functioned alongside non-tonal music with sound masses.
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Introduced the idea of silence as music. First performed by David Tudor.
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Work integrates electronics into music. Explores interactions between performers and computers and admired the work of John Cage and Charles Ives.
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Operetta composed in 1956, revised in 1989. Based on Voltaire's book.
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Composed by Leonard Bernstein. Uses complex music, which was not common in musicals.
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Chinese composer and conductor. Strives to create multicultural, multimedia programs.
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Style of repetitive music based on the notion that small units of music could be repeated with only slight variation over long periods of time. Slow harmonic movement, slight change in harmony becomes a major event. Simple harmony (I, IV, V).
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American composer and teacher. Won the Pulitzer prize in 2010 for her Violin Concerto.
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Walter Cronkite made reports on technology post-2000.
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Features music of Ligeti.
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Founded by Philip Glass, and continues to work together to present day.
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Based on poems by Federico Garcia Lorca. A song cycle of 5 songs and 2 interludes.
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American composer, conductor, and lecturer; specially known for his Virtual Choir project and large online musical performances; written in neo-tonal style
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Characterized by music that appeals to audiences hoping for music they can understand and embrace.
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Rooted in the idea that the use of chromaticism, one can aurally perceive more complex chords and progressions and dissonance is no longer perceived as so. Consonance and disonance are no longer distinct.
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Aesthetic attitude developed in late 1970s focused on uniting many past elements of music into a new eclectic style.
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1973 film featuring Scott Joplin's music
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Modern opera that uses minimalism, among other things. Very little singing, absent plot. Most of the test is recited.
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One of Pärt's first works in the style of tintinnabuli, based on Psalm 95/6.
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Term used to describe music that developed among composers in New York City as a response to Minimalism.
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Closely tied to Totalism. Characterized by abstract, dissonant, microtonal, and extreme contrast in its music. Reaction against minimalism.
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Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Incorporated into synthesizers in 1983 for computer interactions with synthesizers and sequences.
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An opera by Tod Machover based on a science fiction novel by Philip Dick.
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An orchestral work by John Adams, transcribed for band.
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Premiered in Houston, Houston Grand Opera commissioned this piece.
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Direct result of technologies, which allowed for the exchange of ideas and for access to music and cultural practices from almost anywhere.
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For a woman's voice, electronic voices, and computer generated music. There is no score.
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The World Wide Web was made available to the public, which made it easier to access recordings, interviews, and music.
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An opera project composed by Tod Machover, which was interactive with the audience.
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Film score famous with the American public composed by John Corigliano.
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Broadway musical using style from early 20th century ragtime
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Orchestral tone oem written to commemorate the anniversary of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.
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YouTube, a popular video sharing platform was made available to the public, making it easier for internet users to view and listen to musicians, as well as musicians and composer to upload their performances/ compositions.
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