20th century music
...differently from anything before and is based on repeating rhythms, dynamics, tones or timbres. Not much at all in the way of instruments was invented in the first half of the Twentieth century. There was, however, the invention of an entirely new instrumental family. The synthesizer was the first instrument to use electricity to make sound. Thousands of circuits allow the instrument to actually create its own sound, with distinguishable timbre, tone, pitch, and volume. This creation of sound makes it an electronic instrument, as opposed to electric, which either amplifies a sound or reproduces a recorded sound. At the turn of the century, it was a period of excitement for the American music scene. Plays on Broadway, motion pictures, gramophones, and animated cartoons were just being developed. The important musical elements of the 20th century became recording and audio production. Music became for available to a wide range of people. This is because recording became very popular. Western music began to reach out to people all over the world. Hearing different music, people could experience a wide range of culture which would broaden their experiences. Mixing many different cultures values in music enriched the 20th century’s values of music. There were many new instruments used throughout the world. Homophonic textures became the center of all the popular music in the western world on music. Composers fine use for any harmonic combination. These combinations formed some of the most popular music. Composers found a way to make use of microtonal intervals and extreme dissonance in their music. Form can be controlled to an almost infinite degree, or it may be the result of improvisation and chance. Some of the famous composers during this time were: Charles Ives, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartoke, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Serge Prokofieve, and Lillian Harden. Popular music such as jazz, country and rock music became the ...