Music appreciation unit 8

17. Samuel Barber-

(1910-1981)-a forerunner of the neoromantics- Adagio for Strings (1936)-suffused with emotion, feeling and grand gestures of the Romantic 1800's Very often used in movies today such as Platoon-

20. Mr. Tambourine Man

- song cycle by John Corigliano using 7 poems by Bob Dylan- commissioned by singer Sylvia McNair for her Recital at Carnegie Hall

13. RCA Music Synthesizer- 1955-

1st completely integrated sound generators -1960's-Robert Moog developed more compact, affordable synthesizers for composers. Many years for synthesizers to develop into affordable electronic instruments available to regular musicians-1983-Yamaha DX7- $2000.00 portable personal synthesizer-MIDI-musical instrument digital interface-allowed synthesizers to communicate with each other, with computers, drum machines-Mid 1980's-Digital samplers-allowed performers to recreate realistic sounds such as birds, instruments, crashes, telephones etc..

16. Stanford University's Laptop Orchestra-

20 MacBooks, human performers, controllers and multichannel speakers-Each computer has its own "voice"

4. George Crumb-

American (b. 1929) used microtones, vocalise (singing without words), extended registers (very high-very low), used musical quotations, unusual vocal use, altered piano sounds Cabalitto Negro

5. Three California Composers-

Avant-Garde leaders that responded to Zen Buddhism, Far East & Indian thought and music: Henry Cowell, Harry Partch, John Cage

11. Two popular Chinese composers-

Bright Sheng and Tan Dun-Sheng-(b.1955)-combines Western & Chinese music China Dreams 1995 uses Pipa-a kind of lute & Sheng-a mouth organ an Erhu- two stringed fiddle and Yangqin-hammered dulcimer in compositions. Tan Dun (b. 1957) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon film score and other compositions

7. Henry Cowell-

Experimental composer, combined Asian and Western instruments in his two Koto Concertos In the 1920's developed a microtone tuned scale of 43 notes to the octave, created his own instruments.

6. John Cage-

Invented Chance music (aleatory)-performers threw dice to decide how to perform-totally opposite of structured music, left the music up to the players-also invented "Prepared piano"-added nails, screws, pieces of wood or leather between piano strings to alter the sound-Wrote: 4'33"-4 minutes & 33 seconds of silence-radical-audience listens to random sounds

3. Two Leading French Composers-

Messiaen and Boulez- Olivier Messiaen-1908-1992-put his love of nature and bird songs in his works, captured by the Germans and composed Quartet for the End of Time while he was imprisoned-Played by himself on piano, a cellist, violinist & clarinetist (all prisoners in the same camp) performed for 5000 prisoners in Jan 1941-Pierre Boulez-(b.1925) most important French composer of the Avant-Garde-Notations-embraced Webern's Total Serialism, used Gamelan instruments, gentle lyricism to Expressionism "Organized Delirium"

12. Emergence of electronic music-

Most important development in art music in the last 50 years-Musique concrete-(France)-late 1940's-natural sounds were recorded & then manipulated (tempo, reverse directions or filters)-Electronische Musik-Germany early 1950's-used an oscillator to generate waveforms with different timbres & added them to the human voice-used reverberation, amplification and filters

18. 2 contemporary Neoromantic pieces-

Orchestral Tone Poem by Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral and a song cycle Mr. Tambourine Man by John Corigliano that sets poems by Bob Dylan

15. Tod Machover- (b.1953)-

Professor of Music and Media at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) leader of technology in music today invented Hyperinstruments-interactive machines "designed to augment and expand performance virtuosity in real time" Begin Again Again- hypercello composition for cellist YoYo Ma-premiered at Tanglewood in 1991-has electronic computer accompaniment but the performer can control an array of devices for producing & transforming sound- VALIS (1986)-opera-redefines opera by combining sound & images, built his own theater,invented electronic scenery, created a new orchestra with live computer instrumentation

9. Mulitcultural influences in music-India:

Raga-the starting point similar to a scale that sets the mood Tala-complex cycle of beats &sub-beats-Tabla-hand drums that set the rhythm Sitar-long necked string instrument w/6 main strings and many side strings Iran-Dastgah-short melodic units Santur-Iranian hammered dulcimer-East African (Uganda)- Lamellophones (plucked metal instruments) strings, flutes, xylophones & drums Entenga-Ugandan ensembles

22. 4 minimalist composers-

Riley, Reich, Glass & Adams: Riley In C (1964)-tiny motivic cells (small bits of music) hypnotically repeat for 90 minutes, Reich (Drumming), Glass (1983) Glassworks, Adams

24. Arvo Part-

Russian Orthodox composer that now lives in Germany, focuses on religious music-writes "Bell-like" music in a style of his own he calls Tintinnabulation-Part's notation-Uses dashes and note heads, his music looks & sounds similar to Gregorian chant

19. Jennifer Higdon (b.1962)-

Teaches- Curtis Institute of Music-one of the most widely performed living American composers-won many prestigious awards and does many commissions for major orchestras-wrote blue cathedral-orchestral tone poem with rich lyricism & shimmering beauty-goes from energetic percussion & horn sounds, chorale to full orchestra, ends w/ pitched crystal glasses (finger is run around the rim) & 50 Chinese reflex balls played by orchestra

14. Three Electronic Music Pioneers-

Varese, Babbitt and Oliveros-Edgard Varese-pioneer of electronic music-1958 World's Fair in Brussels Belgium-his commissioned piece Poeme electronique combined electronic and concrete sound in an 8 minute performance for 2 million people-Milton Babbitt- influential music instructor at Princeton had early synthesizer as big as a room- expensive- Pauline Oliveros (b.1932)-forerunner in the electronic field, explores space sounds, founded the San Francisco Tape Center

23. Spiritual (Holy) Minimalism-

a form mostly European inspired by religious beliefs-non-pulsed, simple, endless chains of lush modal or tonal progressions Includes Polish composer Gorecki, English Composer John Tavener known for his Song for Athene (heard by millions at end of Princess Diana's funeral in 1997) & Russian Arvo Part

21. Minimalism-

a style that strips music down to the bare essentials-uses repetition of melodic, rhythmic & harmonic patterns-very little variation-can be hypnotic and has been called "trance" music

2. Schoenberg and his followers-

had been very structured in compositions and their strict intellectual rules had lost much of the general listening audience

8. Gamelan-

music from Java and Bali & Sunda (Indonesia) metallic percussion instruments-very old musical form influential to composers from the 1940's until today

1. Postmodernism-

rejected the restrictions of modernism, artists & composers embraced neoclassical, minimalist, neoromantic (mixes styles from the past w/ contemporary ones & often used Quotation Music) & other ways to try & win the general public back to the arts

25. John Adams (b.1947)-

the best known minimalist composer-educated at Harvard, moved to San Francisco, famous for his operas-Nixon in China (1987), Death of Klinghoffer (1991) El Nino (2000) Doctor Atomic (2005) hailed as his most masterful work-it delves into the life and times of Dr. J.Robert Oppenheimer and the launching of the first Atomic Bomb June 16th 1945

10. Gyorgy Ligeti-Hungarian composer-

tried to broaden Schoenberg's heritage with recent trends, wrote with dissonances, tone clusters, blocks of sound, Atmospheres in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey