Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
REGION I
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF CANDON CITY
Candon City, Ilocos Sur

MUSIC 10
Quarter 1 – Week 4 - Module 4:
Prepared by: Analyn R. Galus

Lesson Music of the 20 Century th

1 Electronic and Chance Music

I. OBJECTIVES:
1. Relates 20th Century music to other art forms and media during the same time period.
(Week 4-5 MU10TC-Ia-g-3)
2. Discuss the musical styles of the 20th century.
3. Identify the composers/performers under each style.

II. GUIDE QUESTIONS:

1. Who is the French composer known as the “Father of Electronic Music”?

2. What are some of the new musical approaches of cage?

3. What is meant by musique concrete used by Stockhausen?

III. DISCUSSION:

20TH CENTURY MUSICAL STYLES: ELECTRONIC and CHANCE MUSIC

The musical styles that evolved in the modern era were varied. Some of these
were-lived, being experimental and too radical in nature, while others found an active blend
between the old and the new.
New inventions and discoveries of science and technology lead to continuing
developments in the field of music. Technology has produced electronic music devices such
as cassette tape recorders, compact discs and their variants, the video compact disc (VCD)
and the digital video disc (DVD), MP3, MP4, ipod, iPhone, karaoke players, mobile phones

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and devices are used for creating and recording music to add to or to replace acoustical
sounds.

NEW MUSICAL STYLES

Electronic Music
The capacity of electronic machines such as synthesizers, amplifiers, tape
recorders, and loudspeakers to create different sounds was given importance by 20th century
composers like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Mario Davidovsky. Music that
uses the tape recorder is called musique concrete, or concrete music. The composer records
different sounds that are heard in the environment such as the bustle of traffic, the sound of
the wind, the barking of dogs, the strumming of a guitar, or the cry of an infant. These sounds
are arranged by the composer in different ways like by playing the tape recorder in its fastest
mode or in reverse. In musique concrete, the composer is able to experiment with different
sounds that cannot be produced by regular musical instruments such as the piano or the
violin.

The following are the artists of the new Musical Style

EDGARD VARESE (1883–1965)
Edgard (also spelled Edgar) Varèse was born on
December22, 1883. He was considered an “innovative
French-born composer.” However, he spent the greater part of
his life and career in the United States, where he pioneered
and created new sounds that bordered between music and
noise.
The musical compositions of Varese are
characterized by an emphasis on timbre and rhythm. He
invented the term “organized sound,” which means that
certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together to
capture a whole new definition of sound. Although his
complete surviving works are scarce, he has been recognized to have influenced several
major composers of the late 20th century.
Varèse’s use of new instruments and electronic resources made him the “Father of
Electronic Music” and he was described as the “Stratospheric Colossus of Sound.” His

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musical compositions total around 50, with his advances in tape-based sound proving
revolutionary during his time. He died on November 6, 1965.

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN (1928– )

Karlheinz Stockhausen is a central figure
in the realm of electronic music. Born in Cologne,
Germany, he had the opportunity to meet Messiaen,
Schoenberg, and Webern, the principal innovators at
the time. Together with Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen
drew inspiration from these composers as he
developed his style of total serialism.
Stockhausen’s music was initially met
with resistance due to its heavily atonal content with
practically no clear melodic or rhythmic sense. Still, he continued to experiment with
musique concrete.
Some of his works include Gruppen (1957), a piece for three orchestras that
moved music through time and space; Kontakte (1960), a work that pushed the tape machine
to its limits; and the epic Hymnen (1965), an ambitious two-hour work of 40 juxtaposed
songs and anthems from around the world.
The climax of his compositional ambition came in 1977 when he announced the
creation of Licht (Light), a seven-part opera (one for each day of the week) for a gigantic
ensemble of solo voices, solo instruments, solo dancers, choirs, orchestras, mimes, and
electronics.
His recent Helicopter String Quartet, in which a string quartet performs whilst
airborne in four different helicopters, develops his long-standing fascination with music
which moves in space. It has led him to dream of concert halls in which the sound attacks the
listener from every direction. Stockhausen’s works total around 31. He presently resides in
Germany.

Chance Music
Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece always sounds different at every
performance because of the random techniques of production, including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements that become a part of the music. Most of the sounds emanate

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from the surroundings, both natural and man-made, such as honking cars, rustling leaves,
blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing phone. As such, the combination of external
sounds cannot be duplicated as each happens by chance.
An example is John Cage’s Four Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds (4’33")
where the pianist merely opens the piano lid and keeps silent for the duration of the piece.
Amidst the seeming silence, the audience hears a variety of noises inside and outside the
concert hall.

JOHN CAGE (1912–1992)

John Cage was known as one of the 20th century
composers with the widest array of sounds in his works.
He was born in Los Angeles, California, USA on
September 5, 1912 and became one of the most original
composers in the history of western music. He challenged
the very idea of music by manipulating musical
instruments to achieve new sounds. He experimented
with what came to be known as “chance music.”

In one instance, Cage created a “prepared”

piano, where screws and pieces of wood or paper were
inserted between the piano strings to produce different
percussive possibilities. The prepared piano style found its way into Cage’s Sonatas and
Interludes (1946–1948), a cycle of pieces containing a wide range of sounds, rhythmic
themes, and a hypnotic quality. His involvement with Zen Buddhism inspired him to
compose Music of Changes (1951), written for conventional piano, that employed chance
compositional processes.

He became famous for his composition Four Minutes and 33 Seconds (4’33"), a
chance musical work that instructed the pianist to merely open the piano lid and remain silent
for the length of time indicated by the title. The work was intended to convey the
impossibility of achieving total silence, since surrounding sounds can still be heard amidst
the silence
of the piano performance.

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 Cage also advocated bringing real-life experiences into the concert hall. This
reached its extreme when he composed a work that required him to fry mushrooms on stage
in order to derive the sounds from the cooking process. As a result of his often-irrational
ideas like this, he developed a following in the 1960s. However, he gradually returned to the
more organized methods of composition in the last 20 years of his life.

More than any other modern composer, Cage influenced the development of
modern music since the 1950s. He was considered more of a musical philosopher than a
composer. His conception of what music can and should has had a profound impact upon his
contemporaries. He was active as a writer presenting his musical views with both wit and
intelligence. Cage was an important force in other artistic areas especially dance and musical
theater. His musical compositions total around 229. Cage died in New York City
on August 12, 1992.

IV. EXAMPLES OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC

Loudspeakers
https://www.google.com/search?q=loudspeakers&source

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 tape recorder
https://www.google.com/search?q=tape+recorder

Synthesizers
https://www.google.com/search?q=synthesizers

Amplifiers

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 https://www.google.com/search?q=amplifiers

V. GENERALIZATION:
The new musical styles created by 2oth century classical composers were truly unique
and innovative.Among the resulting new styles were electronic and chance music. Edgard
Varese’s, Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage are the icons of this styles.

From France, Edgard Varese’s use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his
being known as the “Father of Electronic Music” and a description of him as “The
Stratospheric Colossus of Sound”.

From Germany, there was Karlheinz Stockhausen, who further experimented with
electronic music and musique concrete. Stockhausen’s electronic sounds revealed the rich
musical potential of modern technology.

From the United States, there was John Cage with his truly unconventional composition
techniques. Cage’s works feature the widest array of sounds from the most inventive sources.

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IV. Exercises:
Name: ____________________________ ___ Date:________________
Grade & Section: _______________________ Score: _______________

Activity 1: Identify Me!

Directions: Identify the word or group of words being described in each of the following
statements. Write your answer on the space provided.
______________1. It refers to a style in which the piece sounds different at every
performance because of the random techniques of production, including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements that become a part of the music.
_____________2. This refers to a music that uses the tape recorder.
_____________3. He is known as the” Father of Electronic Music” and considered an
“innovative French-born composer.”
_____________4. These are the two new musical
_____________5. styles of the 20th century.
_____________6. He is considered as a central figure in the realm of electronic music born in
Cologne, Germany.
_____________7. His works feature the widest array of sounds from the most inventive
sources.
_____________8. It means that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together in order
to capture a whole new definition of sound.
_____________9. An ambitious two-hour work of 40 juxtaposed songs and anthems from
around the world.

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_____________10. Work of John Cage, where the pianist merely opens the piano lid and
keeps silent for the duration of the piece.

Activity 2: Enumerate Me One by One!

A. Musical works of Stockhausen
1.
2.
3.

B. Musical works of Cage

4.
5.
C. Electronic devices in music
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

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 References:

Sunico, Raul M. 2015. Music and Arts Appreciation for Young Filipinos.
Philippines: Tawid Publications.

https://www.google.com/search?q=loudspeakers&source
https://www.google.com/search?q=tape+recorder
https://www.google.com/search?q=synthesizers

https://www.google.com/search?q=amplifie

Answer Key:
Activity 1
1. Chance music
2. Musique concrete or concrete music
3. Edgard “Edgar” Varese
4. Electronic
5. Chance music
6. Karlheinz Stockhausen
7. John Cage
8. Organized sound
9. Epic Hymnen (1965)
10. Four minutes and Thirty-three seconds (4’33”)

Activity 2
Work of Stockhausen (in any order)
1. Gruffen (1957)
2. Kontakte (1960)
3. Hymnen (1965)
Work of Cage (in any order)
4. Cage”s Sonatas and Interludes (1946-1948)
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5. Music of Changes (1951)
Electronic devices(in any order)
6. cassette tape recorders
7.CD’s
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