National 5

1. National 5 20th Century Styles

2. Learning Intentions By the end of this unit you will be able to identify 20th Century music by listening to it You will be able to explain some of the cultural influences that have helped create the music

3. Atonal Atonal music is music without a set key It can sound ‘crunchy’ and dissonant Atonal music was experimented with at the beginning of the 20th century Listen to PierrotLunaire by Schoenberg

4. Cluster A cluster is a group of notes, which clash and are played together This would be like playing C C# D and D# all together on the keyboard Listen to your teacher playing this Clusters are often used in atonal music

5. Composers Composers that are famous for using atonal methods are: Schoenberg Webern Berg

6. Minimalism/Minimalist Minimalist music is when there are hardly any changes This could mean a chord repeating over and over again and then changing one note or music developing by adding instruments

7. Minimalism Listen to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and listen to how the changes are made by adding and taking away instruments rather than changing chords Music for 18 Musicians

8. Impressionism Impressionist music is a form of music that came about at the beginning of the 20th century It is term borrowed from painting in which brief musical ideas merge and change to create a rather blurred, hazy and vague outline Look at this painting by Monet and discuss with your group what you think the artist does to create the image:

9. Monet

10. Impressionism The same techniques are used when composing in an impressionist style. No clear musical lines are composed, instead lots of fragments are played by different instruments to create an atmosphere Impressionist music is also very expressive and has a lot of subtle changes. Listen to La Mer by Debussy and listen for the many instruments playing important parts: La Mer

11. Gospel Gospel music is religious It is sung in churches and originated in the USA The origins of gospel are from the African American community in America Watch the gospel choir sing. What features can you see/hear? Gospel Choir

12. Celtic Rock Celtic Rock mixes Celtic folk music and rock music together It has a mixture of instruments which include traditional instruments and rock instruments Listen to Runrig’s Loch Lomond: Loch Lomond

13. Walking Bass A walking bass is usually found in Jazz and Blues music It is when the performer plays a bass line (usually on piano, double bass or bass guitar) that moves mainly by step Listen to this example Walking Bass Look at how this example is written out:

14. Reverb Reverb is an electronic effect which can give the impression of different hall acoustics Reverb can make a piece of music sound as if the performance is taking place in a cathedral when it is actually in a small room Watch this example of reverb and what effect it has: Reverb Example

15. 20th Century Now that you have all of the information you need for National 5 20th Century Music you need to investigate a little further Your teacher will hand out a work sheet where you have to use compositional techniques to demonstrate your understanding of the topics You will then get a short vocabulary test on each of the words