Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [modern-music]

For questions about music written since approximately 1900. Please also use the requisite tag for any particular compositional techniques (e.g., "atonal") involved.

25 questions
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How often is the Sostenuto pedal used in classical and modern Piano Music?

In most of the pianos that we see today, the Sostenuto pedal does not exist. Only the pianissimo (una corda) and the sustain (damper) pedals can be seen. Throughout the time that I've been studying music, I have never come across any place to use…
ViviRukisha
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1 answer

How is this dissonant harp sound achieved?

In "L’Impatiente de Balfour" for viola and harp by Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, there are some harp notes that sound somehow dissonant and metallic, almost like a prepared piano. In this video by the Ensemble Intercontemporain it starts at around…
All Ears
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10
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1 answer

Why is contemporary music for the recorder so weird?

Im a recorder enthusiast and I love playing early music. There is so much music from that time that fits for the recorder, but it is still limited. So I would like to go for more modern / contemporary music. According to van Hauwe (Source: The…
S. M. Roch
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4 answers

We love the Second Viennese School, but daughter's practice of Boulez's music is wearying us. How can we appreciate Boulez?

We love and listen to the Second Viennese School like Berg, Schoenberg, Webern — even before my daughter was born! My daughter's studying music at university. To guard privacy, I don't want to write more details on her or our family. But starting…
user26407
8
votes
4 answers

Penultimate chord in Messiaen's Regard du Pere seems to break the pattern

I have a question about a particular chord in “Regard du Pere,” the first piece in the Vingt Regards Sur L'Enfant Jesus by Messiaen. I am using the 1947 Editions Durand and don’t know of any other source. First some context. This piece is written…
jah
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8
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3 answers

Are there physical dangers to preparing a prepared piano?

A prepared piano is a piano that has various objects applied directly onto (and perhaps into) the strings. The concept is most famous from John Cage, and his Sonata No. V is a common favorite; it's a one-man tribal gamelan! I'm wondering if…
Richard
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6 answers

I am confused about modes. Can someone explain it in these terms?

The way I remember modes is, for example, that I know that the Lydian mode is the major scale two half-steps up from the root. That is, I would play in the D major scale if I wanted to play in C Lydian, or I would play in the G major scale if I…
Ricky Bascom
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7
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3 answers

How to notate popular/contemporary song structures?

A problem I repeatedly run into when notating (either composing or arranging) popular/contemporary (i.e. not classical) music is notating the song structure using an efficient combination of repeats and jumps. The most that I can manage to notate is…
micheal65536
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6
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2 answers

Messiaen's techniques of "Valeurs progressivement ralenties" and "Valeurs progressivement accélérées"

I was passively analyzing Olivier Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus and I came across the marking Valeurs progressivement ralenties (resp. Valeurs progressivement accélérées) accompanied by a sixteenth note being appended to (resp. dropped…
Jack DeSerrano
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4
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1 answer

Is Escala's «Clubbed to Death» a passacaglia?

Escala's Clubbed to Death seems to be a passacaglia. It has a repetitive line throughout, over which counterpoint is added. In fact, it sounds similar to Biber's Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa: Partita No. 5 in G Minor: V. Passacaglia.
Geremia
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4
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3 answers

What are inner and outer voices in music of late 20th century and 21st century?

In many textbooks voices are classified as inner and outer. Outer voices are the highest voice (soprano) and the lowest voice (bass), and the inner voices are all the other voices that are between the two outer voices. This classification is very…
user11655900
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4
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1 answer

Can Reich's Piano Phase be emulated with a delay unit?

Assuming a very clean digital delay with a "repeat n times" mode set to one repeat (like "Multi" on the EHX Canyon), mix at 50/50, and time starting at zero ms and increasing from there, could one convincingly emulate Piano Phase? What am I missing…
JohnnyApplesauce
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2 answers

Do there exist contemporary composers writing in the style of Viennese classical music?

Do there exist known contemporary composers who work in the style of the so-called Viennese classical period, and if so, who?
guest
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3
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2 answers

Popular examples of the ♭III in modern rock music?

In the chorus of one of the last songs, "Goodbye", off of Bo Burnham's special Inside, Bo uses the following progression: Key Signature: G Major Chord Progression: C - B♭ - G I believe that this B♭ is a borrowed chord -- the ♭III of G, making the…
Nate Diamond
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3
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Exercises for 21st century piano sightreaders

There is already a large body of technical exercises for pianists based on common-practice music, such as major and minor scales and arpeggios or the books of Czerny, Hanon, etc. These exercises are indispensable for my own practice of…
Joshua Mundinger
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