Music 190W Week 15

Music of the Twentieth Century, Part II

and

Music in Today's Society

Reading

chapters 15 & 16

Listening

CD 2, tracks 46 & 47

Chapter 15 concentrates on 20th century music in the U.S., and includes music by women and African-American composers. It also mentions European trends in composition that have been influential in the U.S. Keep in mind, as always, that this is just a small sample of 20th century music, and you will find much on concerts of recent music that is different from what is presented here. Even a selection of thirty 20th century pieces rather than three would not be able to represent the diversity of 20th century music.

Chapter 16 deals with the music industry, music and the media, and music in the community. I will base one class in week 15 on questions drawn from this chapter, but there won't be any questions from chapter 16 on the final. Please read the chapter in preparation for class discussion.

Study questions for chapter 15

  1. According to the text, when did there start to be a split between popular and classical music audiences in the U.S.?
  2. What new music influenced popular music around the time referred to in question 1?
  3. What aspect of U.S. society increased the demand for popular music and for accessible classical music?
  4. What is the source of patronage for many art music composers of today?
  5. When someone's taste in music includes classical, rock, folk, and world music, we describe that person's taste as ________.
  6. According to our text, which style of European art music become most popular in the U.S. in the 19th century?
  7. Which aspect of 19th century music making was most popular with U.S. audiences?
  8. In the 1920s, France became an international musical center. Prominent U.S. composers like Aaron Copland studied with which important French teacher of composition?
  9. In the 1930s and after, the U.S. benefited from the presence of European immigrant composers including Arnold Schoenberg. What was one important reason many of them wanted to move to the U.S.?
  10. When listening to experimental U.S. music, such as that by Henry Cowell or John Cage, how should listeners listen differently?
  11. Who is the best-known of the Americanist composers (those who incorporated American vernacular musics into their art music compositions)?
  12. What famous "firsts" is Amy Beach responsible for?
  13. Describe Ruth Crawford's career.
  14. Who composed the Afro-American Symphony?
  15. What is unique about Charles Ives's career? What is distinctive about his music?
  16. Besides Ives, who is another important American nationalist composer?
  17. How, exactly, does music "sound American"?

Listening review

"Toccata for Piano" (1979) by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927), track 46

Listen for the new tone colors for piano, for percussive playing, for the dramatic use of silence. This listening guide refers to the description on pp. 301-2.


"Preludes for Piano, No. 1" (1926) by George Gershwin (1896-1937)

Piano music in Americanist style. Rhythmic feel is similar to tango, with jazz blue notes. Listen to the entire track (track 47).


Hacker review for the final

Here are two examples of the sort of questions on writing you're likely to see on the final.

Quiz

The week 15 quiz does not contain writing prompts, since there is no week 15 essay. Questions from the week 15 quiz will be included on the final exam, however, so it's advisable to take it until you score 100%.


Music 190W page
This file was last modified on 16 May 2000.