MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY
LESSON TEN, ELEVEN & TWELVE:
Sudoku anyone?! Seriously. Serialism!?
Sudoku anyone?! Seriously. Serialism!?
![Picture](/uploads/1/8/5/5/18552840/6813807.jpg?243)
Welcome to our final chapter in our learning unit 'Classical Music of the 20th Century'!
At last we arrive at the music of the Serialist composers, most notably, Arnold Schoenberg.
For the next few lessons we we will give particular attention to the 'Twelve-Tone' composition technique that Schoenberg pioneered, and even compose a piece ourselves using his revolutionary ideas and methods.
Schoenberg believed that no note should be more important than any other, and with this idea in mind he set out to write music that broke the mould of the 'Tonal' music that had preceded him. This new type of music was referred to as 'A-Tonal' music.
We're going to write our own piece of Serial Music as our major assessment for this unit, and will then perform this piece for the class on a 'Prepared piano'.
'Prepared Piano' was another way composers in the 20th Century experimented with modifying traditional sounds. The photo below shows a piano that has been 'prepared' with broken pegs, in order to distort the sound that the piano will produce when played. Prepared piano involves placing objects on or between the piano's strings, hammers and dampers for varied effect.
At last we arrive at the music of the Serialist composers, most notably, Arnold Schoenberg.
For the next few lessons we we will give particular attention to the 'Twelve-Tone' composition technique that Schoenberg pioneered, and even compose a piece ourselves using his revolutionary ideas and methods.
Schoenberg believed that no note should be more important than any other, and with this idea in mind he set out to write music that broke the mould of the 'Tonal' music that had preceded him. This new type of music was referred to as 'A-Tonal' music.
We're going to write our own piece of Serial Music as our major assessment for this unit, and will then perform this piece for the class on a 'Prepared piano'.
'Prepared Piano' was another way composers in the 20th Century experimented with modifying traditional sounds. The photo below shows a piano that has been 'prepared' with broken pegs, in order to distort the sound that the piano will produce when played. Prepared piano involves placing objects on or between the piano's strings, hammers and dampers for varied effect.
Serial music is all about patterns and counting, and is simply the product of a series of mathematical equations. You simply choose an order for the 12 notes in one single chromatic octave, and the 'rules' take it from there.
Here are the main
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A 12-Tone Matrix...You can have a play with writing up a 12-tone Matrix using this easy calculator on the internet:
http://composertools.com/Tools/matrix/MatrixCalc.html ![]()
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Listening:
Piano Concerto Op. 42, by Arnold Schoenberg
This Piano Concerto by Schoenberg is an example of music written from a 'tone row'... Don't worry!
More info to come about this 'different' way of composing music that was explored in the mid-1900's!
Piano Concerto Op. 42, by Arnold Schoenberg
This Piano Concerto by Schoenberg is an example of music written from a 'tone row'... Don't worry!
More info to come about this 'different' way of composing music that was explored in the mid-1900's!
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