Modernism 1920 onward

-classical music was now five hundred years old, it was getting more and more challenging to find new inspiration-therefore, when new ideas were tried, they often reached FAR beyond the boundaries of what had been tried before-popular music such as jazz and eventually rock’n’roll had taken much of the audience for classical music-Modernist music focused on the theories, philosophy, and new sounds to ask the audience “What is Music” This music didn’t focus on traditional elements of music such as melody, harmony, beat and rhythm

“What is music?” became the big question for many new composers.

“Where does music come from?”

-daily events become inspirations for music. Factories, traffic, wildlife, and hockey games just to name a few

-invention of electronic instruments created new possibilities for sound

-the recording studio created new ways to capture sound

Charles Ives 1874 -1954 Often had

musicians respond to his ideas with laughter of outrage

“The Unanswered Question”

John Cage 1912-1992 “What is Music” was

his primary concern He went far beyond

what had been done before

Variations 4

John Cage’s “Water Walk” Aren’t you glad I learned how to use

YouTube!!!

4’33’ was his most famous piece inspired by a trip to an anechoic chamber.

But it wasn’t all weird….  The invention of film and television

gave music a new purpose to fulfill -composers watch the film to create

soundscapes. The first ones being piano players in

silent picture houses at the turn of the century

Piano or organ players would watch the film and improvise music to match what they saw on the screen

John Williams Conductor and

Composer of the Boston Pops Orchestra

Has written the film scores for dozens of films

Such as…

Danny Elfman

and he did