The 20th Century

 Copland  composed during the 20^th Century at which time Modernism had taken over the world of art.  Many different forms of music started to emerge during the 20^th Century, a few of which are listed below – you do not need to know what all these terms mean or what style of music they represent, but it is a good idea for you to just familiarise yourself with the terms that are used to describe much of the music of the 20^th Century.  The definitions of some of the most common styles are given.

·       Impressionism

A term applied to music of the 20^th Century (particularly French music) that represented natural landscape and focused on light and water (typical composer: Debussy)

        ·       Experimentalism

·       Futurism

·       Expressionism

·       Atonality

The opposite of tonal music, which is based on keys and scales.  Atonal music does not have any particular tonal centre (eg, key or mode) (typical composer: Schoenberg)

·       Serialism

A style of music emerging during the 20^th Century that was based on an ordered series of pitches, intervals and durations (typical composer: Schoenberg)

·       Neoclassicism

A term used to describe some music during the 20^th Century where composers sought to revive and imitate the styles, genres and forms of pre-Romantic music (eg Baroque, Classical) (typical composer: Stravinsky).

·       Electronic music

·       Jazz-influenced classical composition

·       Minimalism

Music which began in the late 20^th Century in which a short musical motive was repeated almost endlessly to produce a complex hypnotic type of effect (typical composer: Philip Glass).

Copland explored many different modernist approaches to his music over the years, but his music was always strongly nationalistic – in other words, his works shared a very strong affiliation with America.  He often incorporated jazz elements into his music to give it a very American flavour.  In a few pieces, he used themes from traditional hymns such as Amazing Grace which would have been very familiar to his American audience.  

Questions:

Note:  You may not refer back to the information on this page to answer these questions.

1. List 3 forms of Modernist music...
2. True/False:  Debussy was a Minimalist composer? 
3. Which famous hymn did Copland use in one of his pieces (mentioned in the text)?  

  CONGRATULATIONS!

By answering those 3 questions, you have just collected:

3 Trumpets

3 Trombones

3 Percussion

for your orchestra!

Now it's your turn to see all this history and these musical concepts put into practice in real music actually composed by Copland!  Press Next to put Copland's Hoe Down under the microscope.