Terms - Final Exam - Music History II

Tin Pan Alley

refers to the New York City music publishing district that was a hub for popular music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was specifically located on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The term is also used more broadly to describe the overall period and the popular music genre that emerged from this district.

Ragtime

a syncopated music genre that emerged in the late 19th century, primarily associated with piano music, though also performed by bands and orchestras. It's characterized by a march-like rhythm in the left hand and a syncopated (off-beat) melody in the right hand. Ragtime's influence extended to early jazz, Harlem stride piano, and European classical composers.

Blues/12 - Bar Blues Harmonic Form

a fundamental chord progression and musical form in blues and many other genres. It's a structure of 12 bars, each containing four beats, and is based on a sequence of three primary chords: the tonic (I), subdominant (IV), and dominant (V). This pattern is repeated throughout a song, providing a framework for both melody and improvisation

Swing

a prominent jazz style, originated in the late 1920s in the United States and gained immense popularity throughout the 1930s. It's characterized by a distinct rhythmic feel, often accentuated on beats 2 and 4, and the use of a "walking bass line". The music is known for its strong groove and danceability, with many dances, such as the jitterbug and Lindy Hop, emerging alongside it.

Contrafact

a song or melody where the original lyrics are replaced with new lyrics or text, while the original melody and chord progression are retained. In jazz, a contrafact specifically refers to a new melody written over the chord progression of a pre-existing song. This practice has roots in medieval music but is particularly common in jazz.

Lead Sheet

a simplified form of sheet music that provides the essential elements of a song: the melody, chord symbols, and sometimes lyrics. It's a single-page document that allows musicians to quickly grasp the structure and harmony of a song, leaving room for improvisation and interpretation. Historically, they were particularly popular in jazz, where they were used to guide musicians in creating individual parts within a collective improvisational context.

Second Viennese School

a group of 20th-century composers, centered around Arnold Schoenberg, who sought to break away from traditional tonality and explore new methods of musical organization. They are known for introducing atonality, twelve-tone technique, and serialism into classical music. The key figures include Schoenberg, his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and other composers who were influenced by their ideas.

Atonal

characterized by the absence of a tonal center or key, meaning it doesn't adhere to traditional Western harmonic structures. Instead, it explores the full chromatic scale, with all 12 notes treated equally and no single note or chord dominating the piece. This results in a sound that can be perceived as dissonant or "unharmonious" compared to traditional tonal music.

Pantonal

music that is not in one tonality or key, but shifts freely among many or all keys

Emancipation of Dissonance

a concept central to Arnold Schoenberg's music theory, describes the gradual acceptance and integration of dissonant intervals into music, eventually leading to atonality. It essentially involves re-evaluating the traditional role of dissonance, which was previously seen as a temporary deviation from consonance requiring resolution

Sprechstimme

a cross between speaking and singing in which the tone quality of speech is heightened and lowered in pitch along melodic contours indicated in the musical notation

Expressionism

an artistic and cultural movement that emerged in the early 20th century, characterized by its focus on conveying intense, often disturbing, emotions and psychological states through music. It's a reaction against the prevailing romanticism of the 19th century and the more impressionistic styles that followed

Serialism

a 20th-century compositional technique that involves organizing musical elements, like pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and timbre, into a systematic series or sequence. It's a method of structuring a piece of music by using a pre-determined order for various musical parameters, often including all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. It can be seen as a way to create a more structured and less tonally-based musical language.

Dodecaphonic

A method of composition that holds all twelve tones of the chromatic scale available for use, not restricting the music to those notes of major, minor, or other restrictive scale

12 Tone Technique

a method of musical composition that emphasizes the equal use of all twelve chromatic notes within a piece. It was developed in the early 20th century by Arnold Schoenberg as a way to create atonal music, where there is no single central pitch or key.

Permutations - Transposition, Retrograde, Inversion, Retrograde Inversion

12 Tone row can be manipulated in various ways, creating different forms like prime (original), retrograde (reversed), inversion (intervals reversed), and retrograde inversion (inversion then reversed). These transformations, combined with transposition (shifting the row to a different starting pitch), create 48 different possible row forms.

Klangfarbenmelodie

meaning "sound-color melody" in German, is a musical technique where timbre (the quality of sound) becomes a melodic element, often by fragmenting a melody or melodic line across different instruments. Arnold Schoenberg, a key figure in early 20th-century music, is credited with developing and popularizing this concept.

Primitivism

an artistic movement that emerged in the early 20th century, seeking inspiration from the art and culture of "primitive" societies, particularly folk music and non-Western influences. It often featured simple, clear-cut tunes, block-like harmonies, and a strong impulse towards a central tone, with a focus on rhythmic complexity and dissonance

Neoclassicism

20th-century movement where composers drew inspiration from and revived certain aspects of classical music (specifically from the 18th century), rather than the romantic or impressionistic styles prevalent at the time. This revival focused on elements like order, balance, clarity, and emotional restraint, often incorporating classical forms like sonatas, minuets, and rondos.

Neotonal

compositions where the traditional tonality of the common-practice period (functional harmony, tonic-dominant relationships) is replaced with nontraditional tonal conceptions. It's a 20th-century phenomenon where composers explore new ways of establishing a tonal center or sense of key.

Polytonal

involves the simultaneous use of two or more different keys or tonalities. It's considered a significant departure from traditional tonal music, which typically centers on a single key or tonal center. While primarily associated with the 20th century, there are earlier examples, including Mozart's "A Musical Joke".

Mirror Form - Palindrome

a sequence of notes or chords that sounds the same when played forward and backward. The concept of a palindrome in music shares the same meaning as in language, where it's a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward. Composers have used palindromes to create symmetrical and balanced musical structures.

Cumulative Form

a structure where each verse or section adds new material while retaining and incorporating the elements from previous sections. This creates a progressively longer and more complex musical idea as the piece unfolds, like "The Twelve Days of Christmas”

Les Six

a group of six French composers who flourished in the 1920s. They were known for their rejection of Romanticism, their embrace of neo-classicism, and their willingness to experiment with new musical ideas. The group consisted of Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre.

New Objectivity

a musical style that emerged in Germany during the 1920s, primarily characterized by a rejection of the sentimental and emotional excesses of late Romanticism and Expressionism. It favored a more sober, objective, and rational approach to composition, often employing a transparent and concise style

Gebrauchsmusik

meaning "utility music" or "music for use," refers to music composed not for its own sake (as in "art for art's sake") but for a specific purpose or use outside of the concert hall. It's often associated with music written for amateur groups, educational purposes, film scores, or to accompany other activities. Paul Hindemith was a prominent figure in the Gebrauchsmusik movement.

Socialist Realism

an artistic and literary movement that emerged in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, characterized by the glorification of communist ideals and the depiction of everyday life under socialism in a positive light. It became the sole criterion for measuring artistic works, including music, from the 1930s to the mid-1980s in the Soviet Union and its communist satellites.

Bebop

a style of jazz that emerged in the 1940s, characterized by fast tempos, complex harmonies, and a focus on individual virtuosity and improvisation. It's considered a reaction to the more danceable, big band swing music of the 1930s, shifting the emphasis to smaller ensembles and more abstract musical explorations. The name "bebop" is thought to have originated from the sound of nonsense syllables used in improvised scat singing.

Cool Jazz

a style of modern jazz that emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a reaction against the more intense, fast-paced bebop style. It's characterized by a relaxed, subdued sound, often with smoother melodies, softer dynamics, and a more reflective attitude. Cool Jazz often incorporates elements of classical music and classical forms, and it places emphasis on arrangements and compositions rather than complex, improvised solos.

Modal Jazz

a style of jazz that emerged in the late 1950s, is characterized by using musical modes (scales) instead of chord progressions as the foundation for improvisation. It gained popularity as a counterpoint to the chord-heavy bebop style.

Third Stream

a term coined by Gunther Schuller in 1957, describes a style that blends elements of jazz and classical music to create a new and distinct musical idiom. It involves a conscious attempt to synthesize the two musical traditions, drawing on jazz's improvisation, rhythmic drive, and language, while incorporating classical's instrumentation, forms, and compositional techniques

University as Patron

Musicians worked under the patronage system, meaning they had to find a patron (usually nobility, the church, or the government) to keep them under hire.

Tone Clusters

a musical chord comprising at least three adjacent tones in a scale. Prototypical tone clusters are based on the chromatic scale and are separated by semitones

Prepared Piano

standard piano that has been altered by inserting objects between the strings, altering the sound of the instrument. This technique was popularized by John Cage, who invented it to create a wider range of percussive and tonal effects, turning the piano into a miniature orchestra. 

Chance Music

also known as aleatoric music or indeterminate music, is a style of composition where elements of the music are left to chance, such as pitch, rhythm, or form. This introduces uncertainty and allows for a degree of freedom in performance, often leading to unique interpretations at each performance

Indeterminacy

also known as aleatoric music or chance music, is a musical concept where composers deliberately incorporate elements of chance or randomness into their compositions. This results in unpredictability and variation during performance, as the composer relinquishes precise control over certain aspects of the music. Indeterminate music is characterized by the composer leaving some choices to the performer, chance procedures, or a combination of both.

4’33”

a famous composition by John Cage, known for its revolutionary concept of silence and its impact on the history of music. The piece requires the performer to remain silent on stage for the duration, challenging traditional notions of what constitutes music.

Total Serialism

20th-century compositional technique that extends the principles of serialism, which was developed by Arnold Schoenberg and his followers, to all musical parameters, not just pitch. In total serialism, not only pitches are organized into a series, but also duration, dynamics, articulation, and other musical elements are arranged in predetermined sequences

Musique Concrete

meaning "concrete music" in French, is a genre of electroacoustic music that utilizes recorded sounds, often natural or deliberately generated, as raw material for musical compositions. It involves manipulating and combining these sounds, sometimes through electronic means, to create a sound collage or montage.

Electronic Production of Sound - Theramin, Electronic music studios, synthesizers

also known as electronic music or electroacoustic music, refers to music created or processed using electronic instruments, technologies, or software. It encompasses genres like experimental art music and popular genres like electronic dance music.

Minimalism - Phase Music, Tape Loops, Phasing

a movement starting in the 1960s, features repetitive, simple musical patterns and gradual changes to create a hypnotic, immersive experience. A key technique in minimalism, "phase music," involves subtly shifting the timing of repeated musical phrases, creating dynamic textures and effects. Tape loops were a significant tool in early minimalist compositions, allowing for the precise repetition and phase manipulation needed for this style.

Post-minimalism

a term applied to music that emerged after and in response to traditional minimalist music, loosens some of the structural and stylistic constraints of minimalism while incorporating influences from other musical genres. It often features a steady pulse, a tonal rather than functional tonality, and a greater range of dynamics and emotional nuance compared to strict minimalism.

Post-modernism

music produced in the postmodern era, characterized by a questioning of modernist ideals and a focus on embracing complexity and individual interpretation. It's a period in music history following modernism, where composers explored various compositional methods, including those that challenged traditional norms and those that drew inspiration from the past.

Polystylism

the practice of combining or mixing multiple musical styles within a single piece or composition. It's essentially a "style collage," where elements from different historical periods or genres are juxtaposed.

Neo-Romantic

a movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked by a return to the emotional expression and grand structures of Romantic music. It's essentially a revival of Romantic musical elements within a more modern context.