Modern Music: 20th Century and Blues PDF

# Modern Music ## The 20th Century The 20th century was an exciting, experimental era when music was taken in many different directions. Today's musicians continue to create new sounds and styles. ## Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) - Born in the Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. His father owned...

# Modern Music ## The 20th Century The 20th century was an exciting, experimental era when music was taken in many different directions. Today's musicians continue to create new sounds and styles. ## Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) - Born in the Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. His father owned a small shoe store. - By age nine, he was already playing the violin and composing. - Aged 17, he began working in a bank to support his mother and pay for music studies in the evenings. - Joined the orchestra Polybymnia and met composer and conductor Alexander von Zemlinsky. - Left the bank a year later and became a conductor and chorus master. - Converted from Judaism to Protestantism. - Taught at Schwarzwald School; among his students were Alban Berg and Anton Webern (who used the 12-tone system in their compositions). - Traveled in Europe and Russia as a conductor and lecturer from the age of 38. - Founded the Society for Private Musical Performances to promote contemporary music. - Left Germany to live in the US because of the anti-Jewish Nazi government. - Became a professor at the University of California and a US citizen in 1941. - Died aged 77, leaving his 12-tone opera Moses and Aaron unfinished. ### Musician's Influences - **Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)** used a large orchestra in his later symphonies. They were theatrical and full of contrasts and shifting parts. - **Expressionist art** Early 20th-century artists experimented with the new idea of abstract art, using vivid colors and shapes to express emotions in paintings. ## The Music of Pierrot Lunaire - Unlike previous Western music, the music of Pierrot Lunaire *is not set in any key* and *has no tonic*. - This is called *atonal* and makes the music feel unsettled and strange. - Eight years later, Schoenberg was to invent a system of composing using *all 12 notes in an octave*, making all the notes of equal importance. ## Fun with Drums - In the 20th century, musicians began experimenting with percussion instruments and using rhythm in new ways in music. - One group of percussion, **drums**, has been used around the world since prehistoric times. - Known as **membranophones**, drums make a a sound when the stretched membrane is struck with an object, such as a rounded stick or the tips of fingers. ## The Blues - Blues music grew from the folk music of enslaved Black people in the southern states of the US. - Blues songs are very emotional, featuring *sad themes* with simple tunes based around *three chords*. - This genre of music influenced the development of jazz, rock, and R&B music. ### Call & Response Songs - Enslaved people in the southern US states used **field hollers** to communicate in field and **work songs** to keep time when performing a task. - They used the African **call-and-response form**, in which a lead singer sang a melody line and the rest responded with a different line. ### How Did it Happen - Enslaved people expressed their suffering and hope for a better life through spiritual songs. - African rhythms and harmonies were combined with Christian songs. - Variations of the melody line were repeated over and over through humming, clapping, and altering the pace. ### The First Recording - The first Black American recording was made in 1895 with George W. Johnson's *Laughing Song*. - It was promoted as "race music". - This style of music was made by Black people for themselves. ### W.C. Handy (1873-1958) - While waiting at a train station in Mississippi, Handy overheard a man singing while scraping a knife across a guitar. - This sound, known as a *slide guitar*, influenced Handy to write some of the first folk blues music. ## Blues Singers Moved Around the US - As blues singers moved around the US, a range of regional styles developed, and electric guitars gradually replaced acoustic guitars as the lead instrument. ### Country Blues - **Delta Blues:** Charley Patton (1891–1934), known as the Father of the Delta Blues, came from the very poor area of the Mississippi Delta. He often played loudly on an acoustic slide guitar in strange positions and sang in a rough voice about hard times. - **Texas Blues:** In the 1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893–1929), known as the father of the Texas blues, played with a more relaxed, swing feel. He had a high-pitched voice and used guitar solos, known as "licks," within his songs. ### Electric Blues - **New Orleans Blues:** This style was played by Professor Longhair (1918–1980) and can be recognized for its upbeat, cheerful Caribbean rhythms played, on either a piano or a horn rather than a guitar or a harmonica. - **Louisiana Blues (Swamp Blues)**: This style was played by Lightnin' Slim (1913–1974). It has a laid-back, simple guitar style and slow rhythms, which makes the music feel dark and foreboding. - **Piedmont Blues (East Coast Blues):** Piedmont blues became a distinctive finger-picking method of playing the guitar. The style used by Blind Boy Fuller (1904-1941) also has highly syncopated, ragtime rhythms. - **Chicago Blues:** In the 1950s, McKinley Morganfield (1913-1983), nicknamed Muddy Waters, amplified his guitar to play the Delta blues in a more striking way. Drums, bass, piano, and saxophone played with the guitar and harmonica in this blues. - **Blues Rock:** Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, due to his powerful booming voice and large imposing figure. The blues rock sound combined the three-chord blues with boogie rhythms and rock and roll style. - **Soul Blues:** Ray Charles (1930-2004) pioneered the development of soul music in the 1960s. He used a combination of R&B (Rhythm and Blues), gospel music, and traditional blues to create a distinct, new sound. ## Types of Drums - **Tsuzumi:** This hourglass-shaped drum has cords attached to each end. Players tap it wtih their hands, squeezing or releasing the cords to alter the pitch. - **Rattle Drum:** These drums are prehistoric and North American. They have dried seeds inside and are used by Indigenous peoples during various ceremonies. - **Tabor:** This drum is from 13th century Europe. It is a two-headed drum that a player taps with drumsticks. This type of drum makes a crisp rat-a-tat-tat sound, popular in military bands. - **Timpani:** Also known as kettle drums, these drums are from the 13th century Middle East. They are orchestral percussion instruments. Modern timpani have a foot pedal system to tighten of loosen the tension of the membrane, so altering the pitch of the note. - **Darbuka:** The goblet-shaped darbuka is a single-headed drum played with the hands. It is used in various types of ceremonies and festivities, including weddings and engagement celebrations. - **Bongos:** These drums are from 19th century Cuba. They are two single-headed drums, one larger than the other. They are attached together and used in lively Latin American music such as salsa. - **Pellet Drum:** This drum is from Asia and the date is currently unknown. It is half drum, half-rattle. This Asian instrument is used as a toy, or rattled by street vendors, to attract attention. - **West Indian Steel Drum:** This drum is from Trinidad and dates to the 1930s. Different areas on this metal drum make different notes, unlike other drums, it can be used to play a tune.