Modern Composition Final Study Guide

Open-note test (no text books or photocopies of texts allowed)

CONCEPTS:
1. Scales of various types with transpositions
Modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.
b. Pentatonic: 5 notes. 1,2,3,5,6 is Major (C). 1,3,4,5,7 is Minor (A)
a. c. Whole tone: Whole steps apart. Two augmented triads whose
roots are a major second apart.
b. d. Octatonic: Scale that has eight notes and is constructed from
alternating half-steps (H) and whole-steps (W). The twelve tones of
the chromatic scale are covered by three disjoint diminished seventh
chords. The notes from exactly two such seventh-chords
combination form an octatonic collection. Because there are exactly
three ways to select two from three, there are exactly three
octatonic scales in the twelve-tone system. Bartok Debussy
2. Extended tertian sonorities: triads with notes extended, or added,
beyond the seventh. Ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords are extended
chords. The thirteenth is the farthest extension diatonically possible as, by
that point, all seven tonal degrees are represented within the chord. In
practice however, extended chords do not typically use all the chord
members; when it is not altered, the fifth is often omitted, as are notes
between the seventh and the highest note (i.e., the ninth is often omitted
in an eleventh chord; the ninth and eleventh are usually omitted in a
thirteenth chord), unless they are altered to give a special texture. Chords
extended beyond the seventh are rarely seen in the Baroque era, and are
used more frequently in the Classical era. The Romantic era saw greatly
increased use of extended harmony. Extended harmony prior to the 20th
century usually has dominant function as V9, V11, and V13, or V9/V,
V13/ii etc. Extended chords always have at least one octave between their
lowest pitch, and extended note, otherwise the extended factor would be
considered an added pitch. Extended chords usually must be resolved
when used in a dominant function, whereas added chords are most often
textures added to a tonic.
3. Polychords: a bichord or polychord consists of two or more chords, one
on top of the other. The use of polychords may suggest bitonality or
polytonality.
4. Quartal and Quintal harmony: quartal harmony is the building of
harmonic structures with a distinct preference for the intervals of the
perfect fourth, the augmented fourth and the diminished fourth. Quintal
harmony is harmonic structure preferring the perfect fifth, the augmented
fifth and the diminished fifth. Quintal harmony (the harmonic layering of
fifths specifically) is a lesser-used term, and since the fifth is the inversion
 or complement of the fourth, it is usually considered indistinct from quartal
harmony.
5. Polyrhythms: simultaneous use of two or more conflicting rhythms, that
are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple
manifestations of the same meter.[2] The rhythmic conflict may be the
basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rhythm), or a momentary
disruption. Polyrhythms can be distinguished from irrational rhythms,
which can occur within the context of a single part; polyrhythms require
Cross-rhythm refers to systemic polyrhythm. The New Harvard Dictionary
of Music states that cross-rhythm is: "A rhythm in which the regular
pattern of accents of the prevailing meter is contradicted by a conflicting
pattern and not merely a momentary displacement that leaves the
prevailing meter fundamentally unchallenged" (1986: 216).[5] The
physical basis of cross-rhythms can be described in terms of interference
of different periodicities. A simple example of a cross-rhythm is 3 evenly
spaced notes against 2 (3:2), also known as a hemiola. Two simple and
common ways to express this pattern in standard western musical
notation would be 3 quarter notes over 2 dotted quarter notes within one
bar of 6/8 time, quarter note triplets over 2 quarter notes within one bar of
2/4 time. Other cross-rhythms are 4:3 (with 4 dotted eight notes over 3
quarter notes within a bar of 3/4 time as an example in standard western
musical notation), 5:2, 5:3, 5:4, etcat least two rhythms to be played
concurrently, one of which is typically an irrational rhythm.
6. Asymmetrical meters: use of meters that have an odd number of
subdivisions, which means that the measure cannot be divided into equal
beats. This type of meter is easy to recognize, since the top number is an
odd number. Asymmetrical meters may behave like simple or compound
meters, however, if the lower number is 2 or 4, it usually will behave like
simple, if 8 or greater, it usually will behave like compound.
7. The golden mean (or ratio): two quantities are in the golden ratio if their
ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two
quantities. As a musical interval the ratio 1.618 and composers make
music around it.
8. Atonality: Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center,
or key. Atonality, in this sense, usually describes compositions written from
about 1908 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a
single, central tone is not used.
9. Pitch class sets: pitch class (p.c. or pc) is a set of all pitches that are a
whole number of octaves apart. Pitch classes are used to discuss pitches
independent of octave displacement and enharmonic spelling. Pitch class
is important because human pitch-perception is periodic. A "Pitch Class
Set" is a list of pitch class numbers: [0, 4, 7, 10] (note the square
brackets)These are also called "PC Sets". The PC Set for a C minor triad:
[0, 3, 7]The PC Set for a G major triad: [7, 11, 2].
10. Mod 12: based a circular system that starts back at the beginning
once it reaches the twelfth number.
 11. Normal order: has a lot in common with the concept of triad root
position. Among other things, root position is a standard way to order the
pitch-classes of triads and seventh chords so that we can classify and
compare them easily. Normal order does the same, but in a more
generalized way so as to apply to chords containing a variety of notes and
intervals. Normal order is the most compressed way to write a given
collection of pitch classes. In cases of a tie, write the ordering implied by
each tie and calculate the interval from the first to the penultimate pitch
class. The ordering with the smallest interval is the normal order.
12. Serialism 12-tone method: Twelve-tone technique orders the
twelve notes of the chromatic scale, forming a row or series and providing
a unifying basis for a composition's melody, harmony, structural
progressions, and variations. Once a note is played, it cannot be played
again until all twelve notes are played.
13. Serial matrix: To facilitate composing or analysis of serial music, it is
useful to represent all four transformations of a row in each of the
transpositions (thus 48 possible forms) in a 12 x 12 matrix. Prime 0 row,
P0. Also, notice that the main diagonal of the matrix consists of the pitch
class number 0. Other prime rows are read left to right and are indexed by
the leftmost entry of the row. For example, look at P6. Retrograde
transformations are rows read right to left and are indexed by the leftmost
entry of the row. For example, look at R9. Inversion transformations are
columns read top to bottom and are indexed by the topmost entry of the
column. For example, look at I8. Retrograde-inversion transformations are
columns read bottom to top and are indexed by the topmost entry of the
column.
14. Prepared piano: prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound
altered by placing objects (called preparations) on or between the strings.
Although theoretically any object could be used to prepare a piano, in
practical application preparation objects are usually expected to have
certain characteristics: They are applied directly to the piano strings. They
must fit in the desired location inside the piano.
They (usually) should not move from their location during playing. They must be
reversible (that is, when a properly prepared piano has been "unprepared", it
should be impossible for anyone to tell that it had ever been prepared; no
permanent damage is done to the piano). Additionally, most preparations will
change the timbre of the string in such a way that the original pitch of the string
will no longer be perceptible, though there are occasional exceptions to this.
15. Graphic notation: is the representation of music through the use of
visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic
notation evolved in the 1950s, and it is often used in combination with
traditional music notation.[1] Composers often rely on graphic notation in
experimental music, where standard musical notation can be ineffective.
16. Indeterminacy: allows the players to arrange the fragments of music
in a number of different possible sequences. Cowell also used specially
 devised notations to introduce variability into the performance of a work,
sometimes instructing the performers to improvise a short passage or play
ad libitum. John Cage is regarded as a pioneer of indeterminacy in music.
Beginning in the early 1950s, came to refer to the (mostly American)
movement which grew up around Cage. Any part of a musical work is
indeterminate if it is chosen by chance, or if its performance is not
precisely specified. The former case is called 'indeterminacy of
composition'; the latter is called 'indeterminacy of performance.
17. Minimalism: style that uses pared-down design elements. repetition
and iteration such as those of the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry
Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. The term minimalist often
colloquially refers to anything that is spare or stripped to its essentials.
repetition of slowly changing common chords. melodic patterns, consonant
harmonies, motoric rhythms, consonant harmony, steady pulse (if not
immobile drones), stasis or gradual transformation, and often reiteration of
musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells. It may
include features such as additive process and phase shifting which leads to
what has been termed phase music.
18. Phasing: a compositional technique in which the same part (a
repetitive phrase) is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not
identical tempi. Thus, the two instruments gradually shift out of unison,
creating first a slight echo as one instrument plays a little behind the
other, then a doubling with each note heard twice, then a complex ringing
effect, and eventually coming back through doubling and echo into unison.
Phasing is the rhythmic equivalent of cycling through the phase of two
waveforms as in phasing. Note that the tempi of the two instruments are
almost identical, so that both parts are perceived as being in the same
tempo: the changes only separate the parts gradually. In some cases,
especially live performance where gradual separation is extremely difficult,
phasing is accomplished by periodically inserting an extra note (or
temporarily removing one) into the phrase of one of the two players
playing the same repeated phrase, thus shifting the phase by a single beat
at a time, rather than gradually.
19. Aural Spectrum: range describes the range of frequencies that can
be heard by humans or other animals, though it can also refer to the range
of levels. The human range is commonly given as 20 to 20,000 Hz, though
there is considerable variation between individuals, especially at high
frequencies, and a gradual loss of sensitivity to higher frequencies with
age is considered normal. Sensitivity also varies with frequency, as shown
by equal-loudness contours. Routine investigation for hearing loss usually
involves an audiogram which shows threshold levels relative to a normal.
20. Micro-tone/ quarter-tone: A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between
the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide
(aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone.
Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones
intervals smaller than a semitone, which are also called "microintervals". It
 may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in
the customary Western tuning of twelve equal intervals per octave.
VOCABULARY
1. Planning: In music, parallel harmony, also known as harmonic parallelism,
harmonic planing or parallel voice leading, is the parallel movement of two
or more lines. Lines with parallel harmony can be viewed as a series of
chords with the same intervallic structure. Parallel means that each note
within the chord rises or falls by the same interval. In the example to the
right, we see a series of quartal chords in parallel motion, in which the
intervallic relationship between each consecutive chord member, in this
case a minor second, is consistent. Each note in the chord falls by one
semitone in each step, from F, B, and E in the first chord to D, G, and C
in the last.
2. Pandiatonicism: Pandiatonicism is a musical technique of using the
diatonic (as opposed to the chromatic) scale without the limitations of
functional tonality. Pan-diatonicism sanctions the simultaneous use of any
or all seven tones of the diatonic scale, with the bass determining the
harmony. The chord-building remains tertian, with the seventh, ninth, or
thirteenth chords being treated as consonances functionally equivalent to
the fundamental triad.
3. Palindrome: A palindrome in which a recorded phrase of speech sounds
the same when it is played backward.
4. Ostinato: a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical
voice, usually at the same pitch. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic
pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in itself.[3] Both ostinatos
and ostinati are accepted English plural forms, the latter reflecting the
word's Italian etymology. Strictly speaking, ostinati should have exact
repetition, but in common usage, the term covers repetition with variation
and development, such as the alteration of an ostinato line to fit changing
harmonies or keys.
5. Prime Row: transposition up or down, giving P.
6. reversal in time, giving the retrograde (R)
7. reversal in pitch, giving the inversion (I).

Suppose the prime form of the row is as follows:

Then the retrograde is the prime form in reverse order:

The inversion is the prime form with the intervals inverted (so that a rising minor third becomes a
falling minor third, or equivalently, a rising major sixth):

And the retrograde inversion is the inverted row in retrograde:

P, R, I and RI can each be started on any of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, meaning that 47
permutations of the initial tone row can be used, giving a maximum of 48 possible tone rows.
However, not all prime series will yield so many variations because transposed transformations may
be identical to each other. This is known as invariance. A simple case is the ascending chromatic
scale, the retrograde inversion of which is identical to the prime form, and the retrograde of which is
identical to the inversion (thus, only 24 forms of this tone row are available).

Prime, retrograde, inverted, and retrograde-inverted forms of the ascending chromatic scale. P and RI
are the same (to within transposition), as are R and I.

In the above example, as is typical, the retrograde inversion contains three points where the sequence
of two pitches are identical to the prime row. Thus the generative power of even the most basic
transformations is both unpredictable and inevitable. Motivic development can be driven by such
internal consistency.

COMPOSERS know representative works, styles and concepts by which they

composed

1. Debussy: 1.Glittering passages and webs of figurations which distract from

occasional absence of tonality;
2. 2.Frequent use of parallel chords which are "in essence not harmonies at
all, but rather 'chordal melodies', enriched unisons", described by some
writers as non-functional harmonies;
3. 3.Bitonality, or at least bitonal chords;
4. 4.Use of the whole-tone and pentatonic scale;
5. 5.Unprepared modulations, "without any harmonic bridge
Used modes The Submerged Cathedral
2. Stravinsky: Polychords. C Major/F-sharp Major Polychord used in Patruska.
Quartal and Quintal harmony: The Rite of Spring is notable for its relentless
use of ostinato. bitonality (the use of two different keys simultaneously). He
 took this technique further in Petrushka, but reserved its full effect for The
Rite where, as the analyst E.W. White explains, he "pushed [it] to its logical
conclusion".[117] White also observes the music's complex metrical
character, with combinations of duple and triple time in which a strong
irregular beat is emphasised by powerful percussion
3. Bartok: Employed quartal harmony in his work Mikrokosmos. octatonic
4. Bernstein:
5. Messiaen: Turangalla-Symphonie, a six-note combination is constructed in
pieces from fourths and tritones, much like in the music of Schoenberg and
Scriabin. Much of Messiaen's work applies quartal harmony. For a short period
Messiaen experimented with the parametrisation associated with "total
serialism", in which field he is often cited as an innovator Prludes.
Developments in modern French music were a major influence on
Messiaen, particularly the music of Claude Debussy and his use of the whole-
tone scale (which Messiaen called Mode 1 in his modes of limited transposition).
Messiaen used non-retrogradable (palindromic) rhythms. Messiaen used modes
which he called modes of limited transposition.[71] They are distinguished as
groups of notes which can only be transposed by a semitone a limited number of
times. Messiaen abstracted these modes from the harmony of his improvisations
and early works.[91] Music written using the modes avoids conventional diatonic
harmonic progressions, since for example Messiaen's Mode 2 (identical to the
octatonic scale used also by other composers) permits precisely the dominant
seventh chords whose tonic the mode does not contain. As well as making use of
non-retrogradable rhythm and the Hindu dec-tlas, Messiaen also composed
with "additive" rhythms. This involves lengthening individual notes slightly or
interpolating a short note into an otherwise regular rhythm (see Danse de la
fureur, pour les sept trompettes from the Quatuor pour la fin du temps.), or
shortening or lengthening every note of a rhythm by the same duration (adding
a semiquaver to every note in a rhythm on its repeat, for example).[93] This led
Messiaen to use rhythmic cells that irregularly alternate between two and three
units, a process which also occurs in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, which
Messiaen admired. Quatre tudes de rythme
6. Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony Op. 9 (1906) displays quartal harmony.
His first explicitly atonal piece was the second string quartet, Op. 10, with
soprano. The last movement of this piece has no key signature, marking
Schoenberg's formal divorce from diatonic harmonies. Other important works
of the era include his song cycle Das Buch der Hngenden Grten, Op. 15
(19081909), his Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16 (1909), the influential Pierrot
Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912), as well as his dramatic Erwartung, Op. 17 (1909). The
urgency of musical constructions lacking in tonal centers, or traditional
dissonance-consonance relationships, however, can be traced as far back as
his Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (1906), a work remarkable for its tonal
development of whole-tone and quartal harmony, and its initiation of dynamic
and unusual ensemble relationships, involving dramatic interruption and
 unpredictable instrumental allegiances; many of these features would typify
the timbre-oriented chamber music aesthetic of the coming century.

Third period: Twelve-tone and tonal works[edit]

In the early 1920s, he worked at evolving a means of order that would make
his musical texture simpler and clearer. This resulted in the "method of
composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another"
(Schoenberg 1984, 218), in which the twelve pitches of the octave
(unrealized compositionally) are regarded as equal, and no one note or
tonality is given the emphasis it occupied in classical harmony. He regarded it
as the equivalent in music of Albert Einstein's discoveries in physics.
Schoenberg announced it characteristically, during a walk with his friend Josef
Rufer, when he said, "I have made a discovery which will ensure the
supremacy of German music for the next hundred years" (Stuckenschmidt
1977, 277). This period included the Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 (1928);
Piano Pieces, Opp. 33a & b (1931), and the Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942).
Contrary to his reputation for strictness, Schoenberg's use of the technique
varied widely according to the demands of each individual composition. Thus
the structure of his unfinished opera Moses und Aron is unlike that of his
Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 (1949).

Ten features of Schoenberg's mature twelve-tone practice are characteristic,

interdependent, and interactive (Haimo 1990, 41):
Hexachordal inversional combinatoriality
Aggregates
Linear set presentation
Partitioning
Isomorphic partitioning
Invariants
Hexachordal levels Harmony, "consistent with and derived from the properties of
the referential set"
Metre, established through "pitch-relational characteristics" Suite for Piano
(German: Suite fr Klavier), Op. 25, is a twelve tone piece for piano composed
between 1921 and 1923.
The work is the earliest in which Schoenberg employs a row of "12 tones related
only to one another" in every movement:[citation needed] the earlier 5 Stcke,
Op. 23 (192023) employs a 12-tone row only in the final Waltz movement, and
the Serenade, Op. 24 uses a single row in its central Sonnet.
Multidimensional set presentations
7. Berg: of chromaticism, whole-tone scales, and wandering key centers,
giving the tonality a very unstable feel, which only resolves in the final few
bars. The structure of the piece is traditional sonata form, with an exposition,
development and recapitulation; however, the composition also relies heavily
on Arnold Schoenberg's idea of "developing variation", a method to ensure
the unity of a piece of music by deriving all aspects of a composition from a
single idea. In this case, much of the composition can be traced back to the
two opening gestures.
8. Webern: wrote his Four Pieces for Violin and Piano Op. 7, using quartal
harmony as a formal principle, which was also used in later works.
9. Cage: Graphic notation aleatoric or chance-controlled music,
10. Crumb: Graphic notation He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres,
alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal
techniques. Black Angels (1970) is another piece which displays Crumb's
interest in exploring a wide range of timbres. The piece is written for electric
string quartet and its players are required to play various percussion
instruments and to bow small goblets as well as to play their instruments in
both conventional and unconventional ways. It is one of Crumb's best known
pieces, and has been recorded by several groups, including the Kronos
Quartet. Another of Crumb's best known works are the four books of
Makrokosmos.[12][not in citation given] The first two books (1972, 1973), for
solo piano, make extensive use of string piano techniques; the third, known
as Music for a Summer Evening (1974), is for two pianos and percussion; the
fourth, Celestial Mechanics (1979), was written for piano four-hands. The title
Makrokosmos alludes to Mikrokosmos, the six books of piano pieces by Bla
Bartk; like Bartk's work, Makrokosmos is a series of short character pieces.
Apart from Bartk, Claude Debussy is another composer Crumb
acknowledged as an influence here; Debussy's Preludes comprise 2 books of
12 character pieces, whose titles appear at the end. Crumb's first two books
of Makrokosmos for solo piano contain 12 pieces, each bearing a dedication
(a friend's initials, however he also wittily dedicates a piece to himself) at the
end. On several occasions the pianist is required to sing, shout, whistle,
whisper, and moan, as well as play the instrument conventionally and
unconventionally. Makrokosmos was premiered by David Burge, who later
recorded the work
11. Reich: Reich's style of composition influenced many composers
and groups. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing
patterns (for example, his early compositions It's Gonna Rain and Come Out),
and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for
instance, Pendulum Music and Four Organs). These compositions, marked by
their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have
significantly influenced contemporary music,
12. Babbitt: Serial and Electronic