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Offline ca88313

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on: December 25, 2017, 06:59:53 PM
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Offline klavieronin

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #1 on: December 26, 2017, 01:11:47 AM
I don't think polystylism is the mainstream musical trend of the 21st century. The fact that game and film soundtracks (sometimes) use many styles of music is more a result of the production process. Film and game composers aren't given total freedom over what they do. Often the director or producers will say "we want music that sounds like this in this scene" and it's up to the composer to write the music they want. So I don't think you can look to films and games to see what future trends are for music in general, and certainly not for the concert stage. If there is a trend in 21st C. music I'd say it is closer to individualism, where each composer tries to develop their own musical style/language, unique from everyone else's.

I couldn't begin to guess where music will go in the coming centuries but I think that polychromaticism is a very interesting idea;



Also, when is our assignment due? ;D

Offline anamnesis

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #2 on: December 26, 2017, 01:28:00 AM
Music has been developed extensively over multiple centuries which has increased its diversity. For example, tonality was established, atonality was emancipated.

"Dissonance" was emancipated. 

Atonality is just a combination of plain laziness in the face of complexity, a refusal to take an interpretative stand, simply the result of using a non-viable audiation method for difficult music, and/or a limited theoretical approach (Oh, where are the chord progressions and cadences! Guess it's "atonal"!). 

 





Offline klavieronin

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #3 on: December 26, 2017, 02:52:04 AM
Atonality is just a combination of plain laziness in the face of complexity, a refusal to take an interpretative stand, simply the result of using a non-viable audiation method for difficult music, and/or a limited theoretical approach (Oh, where are the chord progressions and cadences! Guess it's "atonal"!).

Are you saying it's the laziness and/or limited theoretical approach of the composer or of the person doing an analysis of the music?

If you are saying it's the person doing the analysis, does that mean that atonality doesn't actually exist?

If you are saying it's the composer, I'm honestly not sure that any of what you said makes sense when you look at the first explorations of atonal music (e.g. Liszt's 'Bagatelle Sans Tonalité') and why early 20th composers started to head in that direction.

Offline anamnesis

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #4 on: December 26, 2017, 03:41:13 AM
Are you saying it's the laziness and/or limited theoretical approach of the composer or of the person doing an analysis of the music?

If you are saying it's the person doing the analysis, does that mean that atonality doesn't actually exist?

If you are saying it's the composer, I'm honestly not sure that any of what you said makes sense when you look at the first explorations of atonal music (e.g. Liszt's 'Bagatelle Sans Tonalité') and why early 20th composers started to head in that direction.

The listener.  "Analysis" here is simply what it takes to audiate every note of a piece.  

Tonality is fundamentally an aesthetic, mental procedure that has levels of skill.

Atonality, doesn't really exist as a "property" of music.  You'll often find that composers who write music normally given this description, not being fond of the term.

The fact that complex music requires extremely high levels of the skill is just a natural feature of such music.  Obviously, not all music is meant for "casual listening", and the extreme examples require actual score study and learning.

20th century composers have simply gotten to the point that their music requires a skill level that makes it impossible to confuse with music written for mass consumption.

Offline klavieronin

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #5 on: December 26, 2017, 06:32:33 AM
Tonality is fundamentally an aesthetic, mental procedure that has levels of skill.

Atonality, doesn't really exist as a "property" of music.  You'll often find that composers who write music normally given this description, not being fond of the term.

I think we probably have different definitions or tonality/atonality. For me, tonal music is music that follows the conventions of the 'common practice period' - late baroque to romantic periods - where the music revolves around a 'tonic' note which is defined (more or less) by an authentic cadence. Atonal music, in that case, is simply music without a tonal center or tonic.

Tonality/atonality isn't a dichotomy either because you can have all sorts of music; tonal, atonal, polytonal, modal, polymodal, chromatic, polychromatic, symmetric, mircotonal, serial music, etc…

I'm curious to know in what sense you would say that twelve tone serial music isn't atonal when it was specifically designed to abandon the tonal center, making each of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale equally important.

Offline rachmaninoff_forever

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #6 on: December 26, 2017, 06:50:05 AM
"Dissonance" was emancipated. 

Atonality is just a combination of plain laziness in the face of complexity, a refusal to take an interpretative stand, simply the result of using a non-viable audiation method for difficult music, and/or a limited theoretical approach (Oh, where are the chord progressions and cadences! Guess it's "atonal"!). 

 
Sounds like you have a limited understanding of theory

Just because something is atonal it doesn't mean that it lacks complexity.  In fact sometimes it's more complex than tonal music.

Additionally *insert everything klavieronin said about tonality/atonality not being a dichotomy*


Anyways check this out this is atonal but it's also pretty accessible to the listener
Live large, die large.  Leave a giant coffin.

Offline ca88313

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Reply #7 on: December 26, 2017, 10:34:16 AM
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Offline ahinton

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #8 on: December 26, 2017, 12:04:10 PM
We could develop synthetic chords and scales. Scriabin famously created his Prometheus chord by altering the whole tone scale. In terms of creating a new genre, music has already become very fragmented so new genres may be likened to or included within existing genres. Therefore, it is quite difficult to create music that is truly innovative nowadays. Polychromaticism is probably the first step towards achieving this in the 21st century
The origins of Scriabin's so-called "mystic chord" are not what you state that they are; the six notes of that harmony are the first six notes in the harmonic series.

Roslavets devised a similar approach to harmony and there were other composers leading up to Schönberg's declaration of having devised his own system of composing with twelve tones who explored similar concepts and techniques.

Best,

Alistair
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Offline ahinton

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #9 on: December 26, 2017, 12:06:41 PM
I don't think polystylism is the mainstream musical trend of the 21st century.
It isn't - and it was around well before the dawn of the 21st century in any case.

The fact that game and film soundtracks (sometimes) use many styles of music is more a result of the production process. Film and game composers aren't given total freedom over what they do. Often the director or producers will say "we want music that sounds like this in this scene" and it's up to the composer to write the music they want. So I don't think you can look to films and games to see what future trends are for music in general, and certainly not for the concert stage. If there is a trend in 21st C. music I'd say it is closer to individualism, where each composer tries to develop their own musical style/language, unique from everyone else's.
I'd go along with most of that.

I couldn't begin to guess where music will go in the coming centuries
Who could?!

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline ahinton

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #10 on: December 26, 2017, 12:08:13 PM
"Dissonance" was emancipated. 

Atonality is just a combination of plain laziness in the face of complexity, a refusal to take an interpretative stand, simply the result of using a non-viable audiation method for difficult music, and/or a limited theoretical approach (Oh, where are the chord progressions and cadences! Guess it's "atonal"!).
And your evidence and evidential basis for these frankly bizarre statements is...?...

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline ahinton

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age Of Polystylism
Reply #11 on: December 26, 2017, 12:10:52 PM
Are you saying it's the laziness and/or limited theoretical approach of the composer or of the person doing an analysis of the music?

If you are saying it's the person doing the analysis, does that mean that atonality doesn't actually exist?

If you are saying it's the composer, I'm honestly not sure that any of what you said makes sense when you look at the first explorations of atonal music (e.g. Liszt's 'Bagatelle Sans Tonalité') and why early 20th composers started to head in that direction.
If it's anyone's "laziness" it's that of anamnesis in terms of doing him/herself and his/her readershiop the favour of giving serious concentrated thought to the subject before pouring forth what are at best rash and unevidenced generalisations.

You meantion Liszt; one might wonder of what his Prélude Omnitonique consisted...

Best,

Alistair
Alistair Hinton
Curator / Director
The Sorabji Archive

Offline cuberdrift

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age of Polystylism and Electicism
Reply #12 on: January 04, 2018, 03:55:36 PM
Huh? "Polystylism"? Didn't Mozart do that too, when he combined "Storm style" with "Hunting style" with "Bach style" or something?

Offline ca88313

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Reply #13 on: January 04, 2018, 06:34:44 PM
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Offline fftransform

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Re: 21st Century Art Music: The Age of Polystylism and Electicism
Reply #14 on: January 16, 2018, 08:29:37 AM
Boss fight music is the 21st century


and cyber
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