20th Century Music - Final Exam Review

This set contains vocabulary flashcards covering the key concepts and terminology related to 20th-century music, including various styles, composers, and musical definitions.

Impressionism

A French musical style from the late 19th/early 20th century that stresses tone color, atmosphere, and fluidity.

Tone Color

The quality of sound that distinguishes different types of sound production.

Fleeting Moments

The idea in Impressionism to capture brief, transient experiences in music.

Scales

In music, scales are sequences of notes in a specific order that can obscure traditional major/minor harmonies.

Expressionism

A musical style that depicts intense inner feelings like anxiety, grief, or outrage and is meant to shock the audience.

Atonality

A musical approach that avoids establishing a tonal center, lacking major or minor tonality.

12-tone Music

A method of composing music that uses all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale equally.

Primitivism

A musical style characterized by repetitive rhythms and harsh dissonances, inspired by 'primitive' cultures.

The Rite of Spring

A 1913 ballet by Stravinsky that shocked audiences and led to riots due to its unconventional music.

Neoclassicism

A movement that draws inspiration from classical and baroque forms while sounding modern.

Emotional Restraint

Maintaining composure and control in expressing emotions in music.

Tonality

The organization of music around a central tone or note, often using major and minor scales.

Jazz

A musical genre that blends elements from various cultures and emphasizes improvisation.

Improvisation

The spontaneous creation of music during performance, a key feature in jazz.

Swing

A style of jazz music characterized by a strong rhythmic feel and lively tempo.

Bebop

A complex and fast style of jazz developed in the 1940s, focusing on improvisation.

Cool Jazz

A style of jazz known for its relaxed tempos and sophisticated harmonies.

Minimalism

A music style characterized by repetitive patterns and minimal materials.

Repetitive Pulses

Consistent and repeated rhythmic patterns commonly found in minimalist music.

Experimental Music

An umbrella term for music that explores new techniques, often prioritizing unusual sounds.

Chance Music

Music composed through random selections of pitches and rhythms, also known as aleatory music.

Microtone

An interval smaller than a half-step, used in some contemporary music.

Prepared Piano

A piano that has been altered by inserting objects between its strings to modify sound.

Sprechstimme

A vocal style between singing and speaking, commonly used in expressionism.

Pentatonic Scale

A musical scale consisting of five tones, creating a sound that can imply both major and minor qualities.

Whole-Tone Scale

A six-tone scale where each note is a whole step apart, lacking a definite tonality.

Claude Debussy

A French composer associated with Impressionism, known for his innovative harmonies.

George Crumb

An American composer known for his experimental music techniques.

Philip Glass

An American composer recognized for his contribution to minimalism and pop music.

Igor Stravinsky

A Russian composer known for his works in Primitivism and Neoclassicism.

Arnold Schoenberg

A German composer who pioneered atonality and twelve-tone techniques.

Sergei Prokofiev

A Russian composer associated with Neoclassicism and known for his tonal works.

Steve Reich

An American composer celebrated for his minimalist music and rhythmic structures.

John Cage

An influential American experimental composer known for his innovative approaches to music.

Musical Impressionism

A style that emphasizes creating a mood or atmosphere rather than traditional themes or structure.

Fluidity

The quality of being able to flow or change smoothly, often applied in music composition.

Harsh Dissonances

Clashing or discordant sounds that create tension in music.

Balance in Music

The principle of creating equilibrium in dynamics and textures within a composition.

Soundscape

The acoustic environment as it pertains to the use of sound in music.

Tonal Center

The main note or chord in a piece of music around which the composition is centered.

Rhythmic Patterns

Repeated sequences of beats or accents in a musical piece.

Cultural Blending

The combining of different cultural elements, especially evident in jazz.

Musical Atmosphere

The overall feeling or mood created by a piece of music.