 | Note: This is an organic document! It will change. You are responsible for what is on this page, not a copy you made at the beginning of the semester. The dates given in the right column are the due dates, not the day we will work on assignments in class. | | If there is ever a problem with an assignment (technology problem, don't understand it, can't find it, etc.) do not wait until the due date (or time) to explain your problem. This class is offered every OTHER spring semester. You can't afford to fail it, so don't get behind. 
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Assignment Notes: I will not accept assignments done in ink. Please do not use miniscule notes or printing. If something is not clear to you, ASK ME. My schedule is on my door (122) or use the email hyperlink at the bottom of the page.
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Week 1 (beginning January 19) Overview of 20th Century Music When music became modern Chapter 1: The Twilight of the Tonal System Chromaticism out of control? The decline of tonality What is the composer thinking? | Eb | Cm | Fm | Db | Gb | D7 | G | | I | vi | ii | bVII | bIII | VII7 | III | | I | vi | ii | V/Gb | Gb | V7/G | G |
Define music 12-tone YouTube Nuages gris (Gray Clouds): Liszt Chromatic Mediants (p. 3) See "How to" below | Assignments Due:  | Tue | Put this webpage link on your desktop | | Tue | Set email preferences in Blackboard | | | | Blackboard setup Log into Blackboard here Choose "My Settings" at the top Click on the "My Tool Options" tab and check the box that says "Forward all mail messages to the e-mail address in my profile" Click on "My Settings" again Click on the "My Profile" tab, and then "Edit Profile" Fill in the E-mail address that you actually check and save. Click "Done"
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I. The challenge for the survival of 21st Century Art Music
A. Concert halls have become museums
B. Audiences are aging and younger generation has little interest in art music
C. Composers have and still are alienating audiences
D. Performers, conductors and educators are watering down the repertoire in order to attract new audiences
II. The Solution
A. Composers need to get back to writing "mainstream literary music" and competitions need to reward composers writing in this style
B. Performers and conductors need to program "mainstream literary music"
C. Educators need to teach the value of "mainstream literary music" and not equate it with "vernacular" music.
D. Audiences need to be educated by performers, composers, and conductors speaking to them about the music.
E. Government funding for performing and creating "mainstream literary music" should increase (Dr. Sy Brandon, Composer) |
Week 2 (beginning January 25) Note: There are 30 class meetings this semester. Each one counts 3 points in TR (points come off the top, so you get the extra 10). Tardies deduct 1 point each. Chapter 2: Scale Formations in 20th-Century Music Alternative Scale Structures Pentatonic improvisation (flash) Poor Wayfaring Stranger (D#) Amazing Grace (C#) Nobody Knows (A#) Others? Octatonic scales Modes (Scorch) Modes Scales use in real music Make your own scale Microtones Pitch Inventory Exercise Part B: Analysis BBC Radio Program "Out of Tune" | Assignments Due:
| Thu | Assignment 1 Last section: Use chromatic mediants in each blank | | | How to find Chromatic Mediants: Find all mediants (M3 and m3 above the root of the original chord and M3 and m3 below the root of the original chord) Build "like" chords (If the original chord is major, the 4 chromatic mediants will be major; if the original chord is minor, the 4 chromatic mediants will be minor)
How to find Doubly Chromatic Mediants: Look at the 4 chords you have above and change the quality (major to minor, or minor to major) Doubly Chromatic Mediants must be the opposite of the original chord (major or minor) Of these chords, only 2 will work because NO notes in the resulting chord can be the same as the original chord.
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Debussy:String Quartet, Op. 10 Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, IV Debussy: Preludes, Book 1, No. 6, "Footprints in the Snow" ("Des pas sur la neige") Debussy: The Joyous Isle (L'isle joyeuse) mm.145 @ 44sec Grieg: "Shepherd Boy," Op. 54, No. 1 Resphighi: The Pines of Rome, "Pines near a Catacomb" mm6-9 of Mvt 2@3:47 Casella: Eleven Children's Pieces, "Siciliana" Debussy: Preludes, Book I, "Sails" (Voiles") mm.38-44@1:52 |
Week 3 (beginning February 1) Chapter 3: Vertical Dimensions Modern Harmonizations of "O Sacred Head" Non-tertian Harmony Extended Tertian Harmony Debussy: Preludes, Book 11, "Heaths" ("Bruyeres") (score p. 48) Prokofiev: Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 94, I (score p. 49) Added Notes Debussy: Preludes, Book 1, "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" ("La fille aux cheveaux de lin"), m. 23-24@1:14 (score p. 50) Debussy: Preludes, Book II, "Canope," mm.29-33@2:10 (score p. 50) Stravinsky: Suite Italienne, "Introduction" (score p. 51) Menotti: The Telephone, mm.41-43@1:20 (score p. 51) Split Chord Members Debussy: Preludes, Book II, "La Puerta del Vino", m9-15@0:16 (score p. 52) Copland: Vitebsk (score p. 54) Open 5th ChordsOrff: Carmina Burana, "Veris leta facies" (score p. 55) Quartal and Quintal Chords Copland: Piano Fantasy, mm.20-24@0:45 (score p. 57) Secundal Chords Ives: Piano Sonata No. 22 (Concord), II (score p. 60) Mixed Interval Chords Example, p. 62 Whole-tone Chords Scriabin Etude p. 64 (no soundfile) Polychords Stravinsky: Petrushka, Second Tableau @0:38 (score p. 65) Chapter 4: Horizontal Dimensions wide range large leaps Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), Op. 40 (score p. 77) chromaticism Bartok: Music for String Instruments, Percussion, and Celesta, I (score p. 78) less vocal (angular) melodies Boulez: Le marteau sans maitre (The Hammer without a Master), IX (score p. 79) Romantic influence remains Walton: Violin Concerto, I (score p. 80) Motives (pitch class cells) Webern example in textbook p. 81 (no soundfile) 12-tone melodies (score p. 82) Schoenberg example p. 82 (no soundfile)
Voice-leading Barber: String Quartet No. 1, Op 11, II (Adagio) (score p. 84) Chapter 5: Harmonic Progressions and Tonality Planing Debussy: Preludes, Book I, "Dancers of Delphi" m.11@1:04 Debussy: Preludes, Book I, "The Engulfed Cathedral" Pitch-centricity Britten: Serenade for Tenor Solo, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31, "Sonnet" m.33@3:00 Piston: Flute Sonata, I last 6 ms.@ 5:00 Polytonality Debussy: Preludes, Book II, "Fireworks" ("Feux d'artifice") m.91@3:50 Polytonality Atonality Boulez: Le marteau sans maitre (The Hammer without a Master), IX Pandiatonicism Stravinsky: Serenade in A, I m.52 @ 1:55 | Assignments Due: It is conceivable that what is unified form to the author or composer may of necessity be formless to his audience. ~ Charles Ives 
| Heads up! Be thinking about your first composition assignment. Due: Week 5 | | | |
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Week 4 (beginning February 8) Piano Puzzler DebussyLondon Bridge Yesterday Ain't Misbehavin' This Land Is Your Land Skip to My Lou Silent Night Happy Birthday RavelAlouette Home on the Range Nowhere Man Aaron CoplandAuld Lang Syne Oh Shenandoah Happy Birthday Bela BartokJingle Bells This Old Man Camptown Races Richard StraussI've Been Working on the Railroad StravinskyFascinatin' Rhythm You Get a Line and I'll Get a Pole I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair Auld Lang Syne Fiddler on the Roof/If I Were a Rich Man Messiaen Every Night When the Sun Goes Down Summertime No class on Thursday | Assignments Due: For the creative spirit, limits are useful.~ Leon Fleisher Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Cadenza) |
Week 5 (beginning February 15) | Assignments Due: |
Week 6 (beginning February 22) Chapter 6: Developments in Rhythm Perceived rhythm Chopin: Prelude, Op.28, I Webern: Variations for Piano, Op. 27, II Score p. 116 Polymeter Bartok: String Quartet No. 3, II Score p. 121 Polytempo Ives: The Unanswered Question Info p. 131 Isorhythm Create a "color" by selecting a set of pitches (for example, the 5 pitches: B, E, C#, D, G) Create a "talea"* by selecting a set of durations (for example, the first 6 durations that comprise the rhythm of 'Happy Birthday') Put them together, cycling both over and over Eventually, the beginnings of the 2 will coincide again which will complete the 'isorhythmic cycle.'
If the color and the talea have equal parts, that is an ostinato! *a medieval term for rhythmic pattern (as opposed to a melodic one). Graphic notation It is not possible to compose or perform "outside the box" Examples Artikulation (Ligeti) Meta HP (Xenakis) Herma (Xenakis) Students write graphic notation Epitaph for Moonlight Vocal music Al encuentro del Silencio (Vargas) Gravity (Matsumoto) Open Me (Ewen) Your (so called) 'music' Shepard tone Discrete Shepard tone with perfect fifths Shepard tones (detectable) Audio illusion1 Audio illusion2 | Assignments Due: | Tue | no assignment due | | | | | | | | |
Added values 
Formula for Tempo Modulation The following formula illustrates how to determine the tempo before or after a metric modulation, or, alternately, how many of the associated note values will be in each measure before or after the modulation: | new tempo | = | number of pivot note values in old measure | | old tempo | number of pivot note values in new measure |
Thus if the two half notes in 4/4 time at a tempo of quarter note = 84 are made equivalent with three half notes at a new tempo, that tempo will be: x = 126 Procedure 3 Stage Format - Determine the regular division of the beat
- “Transition” or “pivot” using an irregular division of the beat
- Complete the modulation: the irregular division of the beat becomes the regular division of a new beat (you must maintain the earlier duration, but now it has a new tempo)
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Week 7 (beginning March 1) Review for MidTerm Exam MidTerm Exam Thursday | Assignments Due: |
Week 8 (beginning March 8) Chapter 6: Rhythm, cont. Chapter 8: Neoclassicism "A reaction against the style of late Romanticism" Stravinsky Rite of Spring Scroll toward middle Example 3 Contrast with Tchaikovsky Swan Lake | Assignments Due: |
Week 9 (beginning March 22) Chapter 9: Non-serial atonality Set Theory Explanation Set Theory Overview Set Theory PowerPoint Set Theory PowerPoint II Set Class List 
| Assignments Due: | Tue | None |
Schoenberg: Three Piano Pieces (1909), Op. 11, No. 2 Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2, Mvt. 4 (Assez rapide) Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2, Mvt. 1 reminds me of Twilight Zone Webern: Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 9 (1913), V Crumb: Madrigals, Book 1 (1956), No. 1 Interval Vectors Quick Set Theory (straight to the prime form) Line up pitches in ascending order and add the octave Find the largest interval and place those two notes on opposite ends Assign numbers both ways and the best direction wins
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Forte numbers |
Week 10 (beginning March 29) Chapter 9: Non-serial atonality, cont. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) tonal music (1895-1910) atonal music (1910-1920) serial music (1920-1951)
(1933 came to U.S. and taught from 1936-1945) Chapter 10: Classical serialism 12-tone Technique The Matrix Link for 4 forms of tone row Simple 12-tone example Schoenberg: Suite for Piano (Op. 25), Prelude Dallapiccola: Musical Notebook for Annalibera (1952), "Fregi" Matrix generator | Assignments Due: | Tue | Assignment 5 Grade in class | | | | | | Tue | Handout (Schoenberg "Tot") 12-tone Matrix handout | | | | | | | | |
A set containing tonal cells (row from Violin Concerto, Alban Berg, 1935) Analysis Audio explanation  |
Week 11 (beginning April 5) Schoenberg: Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 15 #6 ("Jedem Werke Bin Ich Furder Tot") Arnold Schoenberg's Twelve-Tone Method (YouTube) Schoenberg Piano Puzzler 12-tone Greatest Hits | Assignments Due: | Tue | Assignment 6 Handout (Schoenberg "Tot") | | | | | | Tue | Work on compositions in lab | | | | |
Schoenberg: Suite for Piano, Op. 25 (Prelude) |
Week 12 (beginning April 12) Chapter 11: Timber and Texture: Electronic music Synchronisms No. 9 Davidovsky (p. 258) | Assignments Due: 
Stravinsky's view of the evolution of music Stravinsky Some historians feel that the
single most important composition of the 20th Century was Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps The Rite of Spring Premiered in Paris in 1913 The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution. ~ Igor Stravinsky |
Week 13 (beginning April 19) Chapter 13: Serialism after 1945 Integral serialism Three Compositions for Piano (Babbitt) p. 266 earliest examples of "total" serialism Structures (Pierre Boulez) p. 270, 280-81 Read paragraph summary on p. 279 Chapter 14, 15: Chance, Choice; Minimalism 
In Bb | Assignments Due: | Thur | Compose an aleatory composition that can be performed in class | | | | | | | | |
What can be left to the performer's choice? Instrumentation and/or number of performers Dynamics Rhythm (Ex: proportional durations p. 125) Tempo Pitch (Ex: general instructions of high or low) Form (Ex: choosing the order or selecting sections)
Stockhausen (Klavierstuck X) p. 289 (read) and p. 290 (score) Scores can be traditional graphic text (p. 296)
Read Chapter 14 for other ideas. |
Week 14 (beginning April 26) Beyond Minimalism: Amalgamation of techniques Tavener: The Protecting Veil (Score p. 312) Svyati Boje (1995) "Holy One" Setting the Stage for the 21st Century Future composers? | Assignments Due: | Tue | Bring examples of 21st century "art music" | | Thu | Bring radios to class We will perform Imaginary Landscapes #4, then write your own piece with a partner (12 meas., 48 beats using graphic notation) | | | | | | | | |
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Week 15 (beginning May 3) Last class day: Tuesday, May 4 Final Exam Study Guide Set Theory Worksheet Final Exam: Tuesday, May 11 8:00-11:00am | Twentieth Century Terms from Kostka 20th Century Music in 16'54" Who are the Successors? More of Group A Group C Group D Group E 
It really is! |
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20thCenturyMusicQuiz |
| | Mikrokosmos score (Bartok) | |
Schoenberg Klavierstucke Op. 11, No. 1 (flash file) George Crumb Whale Songs | Piano Puzzler Satie (March 30, 2005) | |
Staff Paper Staff Paper/Keyboard |
Seating Chart
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