Module No.

1
GRADE 10- UNDERSTANDING THE MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY

MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Prepared by: MISS LILET I. BADAYOS

Learner’s Name: ____________________________Section: ______________

WE CRAFT YOUR FUTURE THE PAULINIAN WAY!

 CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Content Standards
 The learner demonstrates understanding of 20th century music styles and
characteristic features.

Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs)

 Describe distinctive musical elements of given pieces in 20 th century styles.
 Explain the performance practice (setting, composition, role of
composers/performers, and audience) of 20 century music.
th

 Relate 20th century music to other art forms and media during the same time
period.
 Perform music sample from the 20th century.
 Evaluate music and music performances using guided rubrics.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
As a Junior High School learner:
 I can describe distinctive musical elements of given pieces in 20 th century
styles.
 I can explain the performance practice (setting, composition, role of
composers/performers, and audience) of 20 th century music.
 I can relate 20th century music to other art forms and media during the same time
period.
 I can perform music sample from the 20th century.
 I can evaluate music and music performances using guided rubrics.

Life Performance Outcome (LPO)

Conscientious, Adept PERFORMER & ACHIEVER

I am a conscientious, adept performer and achiever, competently implementing my
mission in life.

Essential Performance Outcome (EPO)

Cultivate specialized knowledge and skills in at least one area of my life that I can
apply in a variety of situations with facility and ease

The changes that took place during the twentieth century could not be compared to
the developments in any of the previous periods in music history, both in number and
magnitude. Diverse trends, techniques, and styles sprung and were developed, or invented
during this period. Composers of art music were coming from different parts of the world
and not just from European countries.
Aside from the great quantity of music composed since the 1900s, studying music
has become more and more difficult due to much greater complexity of rhythm, melody,
tonality, harmony, texture, and form employed in the music. These elements were combined
and used in a subtler and different manner than the traditional way of composing, as in the
earlier periods, had been almost abandoned.

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 In this module, musical styles and trends such as impressionism, expressionism,
indeterminacy, and electronic music will be discussed. Composers with such styles will also
be introduced. So, study on and drink your fill of knowledge!

Note: This self-learning module will be given weekly and be returned the following week.
You are expected to answer the different activities and submit them on time. Other
requirements like video or pictures may be sent through my email address,
badayosleth10@gmail.com or through messenger/fb account Lee lhieth Alemania Badayos.

Here ‘s a simple guide for you in going about the module:

1. Read and follow carefully the instructions.
2. Be a conscientious, adept performer and achiever, competently
implementing your mission in life by doing all the activities provided in this
unit to ensure your maximum learning.
4. Take the self-tests at the end of each lesson. Be a resourceful explorer and problem
solver by going back to some parts of the lesson that seem unclear to you.
5. Finally, take the post-test in your Aralinks account.

DISCUSSION AND ACTIVITIES

Explore

ACTIVITY 1: LET’S Get Ready!

1. What do you know about the music of the 20th century?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________ .
2. What do you think would be its influence in the music of the 21 st century?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________.

Firm-up

Music of the 20th century?

The 20th century marked the invention of the gramophone records.

The mass market of this invention made musical compositions available
to many. Prior to this period, during the 19th century, only the elites or the
rich could listen to live classical music concerts in theaters. When the
phonograph was invented and mass produced sometime in 1890s, both
the middle class and the lower class could have the chance to listen to
less expensive recorded concerts.

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 Radio broadcasting which was first
commercially done sometime in 1920 also allowed
many people to listen to classical music and opera
music. Because of the innovation of time, there
were dramatic changes in the forms and styles of
the music of the period. Many composers,
musicians, and songwriters explored new forms.
They challenged the established music rules of the
18th century. They introduced the so-called altered
chords and extended chords; example is the bebop
jazz in 1940s, the invention of loud guitar amplifiers and sound system also contributed to
the new trend in music.

Historical and Cultural Background of the Music Produced in the 19th Century
The Art Movement in Europe: Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism is a movement in painting that started in France in the 1860s. It is
characterized by visual impression of the moment in terms of the shifting effect of color and
light. Impressionist artists paint with many colors and their usual subjects are the outdoors;
for example, nature’s landscape. They want to capture images without subtle details but
through the use of bold colors. Thus, their paintings can be very bright and vibrant.

Impressionism in Music
Impressionist music may be described generally as having refinement, delicacy, and
vagueness. Just like the effect of impressionistic painting, this type of music projects a hazy
atmosphere and dreamlike quality. Popular examples of impressionist music are the works
of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel of France. Their music refers to those that have sounds
that “call forth such images as moonlight, waterfalls, and fireworks.”

In the Philippines, Dr. Antonio Molina was one of the 20 th-century Filipino composers
who wrote art music. He was called the ‘Claude Debussy of the Philippines’ for first
introducing several important devices which are technically characteristics of impressionist
music.

Characteristics of Impressionism in Music

1. The rhythm of impressionism music is irregular in terms
of phrases.
2. It avoids the traditional harmonic progression.
3. It has unresolved dissonance.
4. It uses the whole-tone scale, uses the 9th chord,
and also frequently uses modality and exotic scales.

Dissonance is the lack of agreement and consistency in the progress of harmony of music.
Modality is derived from the word “modal”, a general term used with reference to melodic
and harmonic formations based on the church modes, as opposed to those based on the
major and minor modes (tonality).

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Notable 20th-Century Composers and Musicians that belong to the Genre of
Impressionism in Music

In the 20th century, many musical styles coexisted with impressionism. This movement
is represented by the two best composers of this era, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

Claude Debussy Maurice Ravel

How does impressionism music sound like?

Listen to the music composed by the famous impressionist composer, Claude Debussy’s
“Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun,” which made him popular. This is how impressionism
sounds like.

Listen to Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvvSj992cbE

Introduction: Introduction -
https://www.dreamstime.com/illustration/formal-introduction.html
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Achille-Claude Debussy was born in France on the 22nd of
August 1862. His parents were Manuel-Achille Debussy and Victorine
Manoury. Debussy’s mother was a very independent woman who kept
him and two of his siblings in the care of his mother’s sister-in-law.
He was the favorite among the siblings and was sent to his first formal
school at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 10.
Debussy’s first documented musical experience dates back from
1870-1871, during the visit of his aunt Clementine in Cannes.
Debussy entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1872. On the 25 th of
October 1872, Debussy attended his first Conservatoire piano class
under Jean-Francois Marmontel, who was a highly regarded piano
professor during that period. All in all, the early years of Debussy’s stay in Conservatoire
were remarkably successful due to the fact that he won several piano competitions. A winner

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of the 1884 Prix de Rome with his composition,” L’enfant prodigue,” Debussy received a
scholarship to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, which included a four-year residence at the
Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome, to further his studies (1885-1887)

All of Debussy’s musical pieces were instrumental in the development of this classical
music until this age. The “Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun” was his orchestral height. Other
famous orchestral parts include “La Mer,” “Nocturne,” and “Images.” His string quartets are
pleasing and their practical difficulty is astounding. His only opera, which is also famous, is
“Pelleas et Melisande.”
Debussy died on the 25th of March 1918 due to rectal cancer, but he died with his great
compositions like the “Engulfed Cathedral” and “Claire de Lune”.

What made Claude Debussy’s work known to the world?

These are the following characteristics of Claude Debussy’s work:
1. He used special melodic passages which at times did not have specific tonality or key
center.
2. He often used parallel chords which are just really chordal melodies and enriched
unisons.
3. The use of bitonal chords; whole tones and pentatonic scales. (Whole-tone is a scale
in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step.)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Joseph Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 to Marie
Delourat and Joseph Ravel in the town of Ciboure, France. He
was baptized in a Catholic ceremony in the local parish church
of Saint Vincent, and then after three months, he and his
family moved to Paris.

Maurice Ravel’s deepest emotional tie of his entire life was

his attachment to his mother who sang Spanish folk melodies
to him. And through her, he inherited a love of the Basque
Country, its people, and its folklore, as well as a deep
sympathy for the music of Spain.

In 1882, shortly after his 7th birthday, Maurice took his first piano lesson under Henry
Ghys, who observed his young pupil to be “intelligent” and gave the youngster his first lesson
in harmony, counterpoint, and composition. Among his earliest essays were several pieces
for piano: variations on a chorale by Schumann, the movement of a sonata, and variations
on a theme from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt.” He had his first public performance on June 2, 1889
where he performed an excerpt from Moscheles’s “Third Concerto.”
His career in the Paris Conservatoire began on November 4, 1889 when six of the faculty
members of the Conservatoire made a unanimous decision to accept Ravel in the preparatory
piano division; his audition piece was an excerpt from Chopin’s Concerto.
In the piano competition held on July 10, 1980, Maurice Ravel was awarded second
place, making his initial year at the Conservatoire rather successful. The following year,
Maurice’s performance of Schuman’s Sonata resulted to the grand prize in July of 1891.
He died on December 28, at the age of 62 in Paris. The famous works of his lifetime of
compositions are “Bolero,” “La Valse,”” Ma mèrel’oie,” and “Miroirs.”

The Art Movement in Europe: Expressionism

Expressionism and its History

Expressionism is a modernist movement that started in Germany at the beginning of
the 20th century and was initially an expression in painting and poetry. This evokes moods
and ideas for which the artist seeks to express meaning or emotional experience rather than
physical reality.

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 In Germany, expressionism became identical with the denunciation of the Western
principles of naturalism, and it started to symbolize the idea of modern and radical art.
In relation to music, expressionism conveys true emotions in exaggeration through the
application of atonality and dissonance or the lack of agreement and consistency in music.
One of the famous composers who applied this technique in composition was Arnold
Schoenberg.

Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was a great American composer born in
Austria on September 13, 1874 and died in Los Angeles, California,
USA on July 13, 1951. As a composer, his method of organizing
his music was the use of 12 different tones, which was greatly
influenced by the modern technique and development in
composition during that era.
He studied in Viennas’s Realshule and learned to play the
cello and the violin. When his father died, he sought a job and
became a bank clerk and used his earnings to continue his passion
in arranging song and opera scores. The “Three Piano Pieces” is
one of his first original composition in 1894. He also studied counterpoint under Alexander
von Zemlinsky.

Arnold Schoenberg was also known for his radical sound of music. He also completely
abandoned tonality. One of his most popular expressionist compositions was the ‘Pierrot
Lunaire” in which he applied the style that you call Sprechstimme- half-sang, half-spoken.
He also introduced the use of 12-semitone scale.

Below are the chromatic tones in upward and downward series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq8OccYocdA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iAHo2GZP8Q

Using this sample scale of 12 semitones, try to play it using a keyboard or a tablet,
if available, or a smartphone with a keyboard application in atonal form. These are the four
basic forms.

1. Original form (forward)- Play it from the first note to the 12th note.

C G E F# B F A C# D F# A# D#

2. Retrograde form (backward) Use the 12th note as the 1st one, going the first as the
last one. Play it from the 12th note to the 1st note.

C G E F# B F A C# D F# A# D#

3. Inversion- changing all ascending intervals to descending intervals.

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 BƄ E D F EƄ B F# A D# C A AƄ

4. Retrograde inversion (played backward)

BƄ E D F EƄ B F# A D# C A AƄ

Musical composition of Schoenberg uses an atonal system.

The best example of the atonal composition is Pierrot Lunaire composed by Arnold
Schoenberg that used 21 selected poems for its lyrics and used the technique called
Sprechstimme, which means half-sang, half-spoken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVXSizNHGw

Electronic Music and Chance Music

Electronic Music
Electronic music came about as a result of transition from
traditional musical instruments and the use of recording
materials like vinyl records, compact cassettes, and compact
discs to the current digital technology in music and recording.
Electronic music is the process of creating music using
computers in synthesizing or producing digital audio signals.
Using this electronic way of producing sound, music is
produced out of the range of traditional musical instruments
and can create other sounds from nature and the
environment which are of larger range, higher pitch, and
with different qualities of sound. The musical sounds that are
produced or composed can be played at a slow speed, fast speed, and can be forwarded or
rewound.

Who is the father of electronic music?

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse (1883-1965) is
considered as the “Father of Electronic Music.” He is a French
composer who spent most of his career and life in the United
States of America.

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 Varèse’s music highlights rhythm and timber. He was the
proponent of the word “organized sound,” which means
grouping of rhythms and timbers to define music itself. He
added one layer of sound to the polyphony to create a new
form of sound.

To further your understanding of electronic music, listen and watch

the music video of the 2 Unlimited band with their songs “Tribal
Dance” and “Music Mix” and observe what are common to them.
Once the similarities of the two musical compositions are noticed,
try to relate it to the synthesized performance using the computer
and synthesizer and compare it to the two compositions that have
been played and to which you have listened to initially.

It’s Net Time!

Just with a few clicks on the Internet you can find “2 Unlimited” and “Music Mix” and find
out how synthesizers are used.

What are synthesized sounds?

Unlike other sounds, synthesized sounds can be defined as sounds generated by
electronic signals of different frequencies. Sounds can be modified by the use of sound
synthesizers. The synthesizers use different programmed algorithms to generate sound to
different waveform. It is a combination of polyphonic tones and another layer of sound and
mixed to produce a different kind of sound. This is the reason why the traditional composers
created another kind of notation because of the
unconventional sound produced by electronic music.
This gave birth to canon, as a response to electronic or
synthesized music.

What is canon?
A canon is a musical piece which consists of two or
more voices or instruments that are being played or
started at different intervals. A round is also a canon which is a repeated song followed by
another voice in which the first started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es_3F3TLJS0

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 The canon in D major is performed by three singers or instrumentalists. This starts
with the first singer or instrumentalist player and at a certain period, followed by the second
performer of the same musical piece from the starting point, and followed again by the third
performer of the same musical piece in a clockwise performance.

What is chance music?

Many musical compositions are arranged logically according to the composer’s
perception or to the influence of another composition. In chance music, it is different. Chance
music is also called aleatory music, which is derived from the Latin word “alea,” meaning
“dice.” As the name suggests, it is a composition created by chance rather than its logical
order. It may also be called indeterministic music.
It is a style of music where different sounds, musical or nonmusical, are assembled and
combined together to create any kind of musical composition based on chance.
The result of the experimentation by chance is the composed song to be played, and
that will result to aleatoy or chance music.

John Cage (1912-1992)

John Cage, an American avant-garde composer,
was the son of an inventor. He was considered the “Father
of Indeterminism.” To escape being influenced by his son’s
own likes and dislikes, he then sought to remove the
creative process from his composition, often relying on
coin flips and dice rolls to decide where or how to place a certain note.

How is chance music created?

To create chance music, a musician needs to think of a source to get the desired melody
from available resources. This can be from a mobile phone number or from pages of a book.
To illustrate, if you choose a phone number, like +6396-487-2765, and used the digits as
your musical notes and placed it on the staff, then the sequence becomes the beginning of
your composition by chance. Using the above numbers and considering number “2” or the
lowest number is the “C” (+6396-487-2765), then this is what have become of your
composition.

6 3 9 6 4 8 7 2 7 6 5

Deepen
A. At this point, you are given the chance to choose one song from the given
pieces in 20th century styles and analyze the musical elements present in your
chosen music.

Prelude to the Afternoon of Faun Pierrot Lunaire

by Debussy by Schoenberg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvvSj992cbE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVXSizNHGw

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 Bolero by Ravel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJnXPPzXX6s

Title of the Song :

Musical
Elements
Rhythm

Melody

Harmony
and Texture
Form

Timbre

B. Answer the following questions.

1. How should a 20th-century musician be able to effectively convey ideas, emotions,
and expressive contents during his or her performance?
2. As a young Filipino millennial, how would you convince your fellow Filipino students
who are used to the pop music culture, to appreciate 20 th- and 21st-century music
styles such as impressionistic music, expressionistic music, chance music, and
electronic music of the masters? How would you go about it?

TRANSFER
You may choose one of the following options that you are comfortable
doing with regard to 20th-century music.

Option 1: Listening and Composing

Listen to other music composition in expressionism form. Once you have become
familiar with the pattern through listening, try to create your own retrograde inversion scale.
Use a familiar poem as your lyrics in the scales you created just like what Schoenberg used
in his composition, like the Pierrot Lunaire.

Option 2: Music Mixes

Use the music of your choice that you’re going to mix and create a new kind of
electronic music using Windows Movie Maker or other music-mixing computer application.
Combine the selected music and follow the pattern of the sample music listened to in the
previous discussion.

Option 3: Composition by Chance

Choose how to create chance music, either by using a phone number or pages on a
book or other things that you know can be used to create a composition by chance. Once a

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process is selected like the use of phone numbers, lace it on the staff to display the
composed music. Once the manual composition is complete, transfer it to the computer
application or smartphone that generates the composed sound or you may play it manually
using the keyboard.

Option 4: Art Interpretation

You are going to create a visual interpretation regarding to 20th-century art and
music.

Before you head on the next lesson, I would like to

congratulate you for successfully finishing this module.

Sources
A. Books
Cipriano, Eduardo V., et al. (2018). The 21st Century MAPEH in Action 10 Worktext.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store, Inc.
Cipriano, Eduardo V., et al. (2015). The 21st Century MAPEH in Action 10 Worktext.
Quezon City: Rex Book Store, Inc.
Concha, Argie A., et al. (2018). Achieve Creative Experiences and Skills in MAPEH
Teachers Wraparound Edition10. Quezon City: Sibs Publishing House Inc.
Concha, Argie A., et al. (2016). Music, Art, Physical Education, and Health Learning Guide
with Curriculum Map 10. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House Inc.,
Concha, Argie A., et al. (2016). Music, Art, Physical Education, and Health 10. Quezon
City: Phoenix Publishing House Inc.,
B. Websites
B. Website
file:///C:/Users/TN-18-2224/Downloads/MUSIC%208%20Learner's%20Material.pdf
Introduction: https://images.app.goo.gl/emSdRfc2ESaGUBfMA
Explore: https://images.app.goo.gl/UnLgYyWqei7SQ6J69
Firm-up: https://images.app.goo.gl/FV7hFLivqiRAn34g9
Gramophone:https://st.depositphotos.com/1471335/3956/i/950/depositphotos_395
65933-stock-photo-vinyl-records-and-musical-notes.jpg
Radio broadcasting: https://images.app.goo.gl/8mgmyBcPkDgh9uR96
Sunrise: https://images.app.goo.gl/XbZsmAZ1NCeoNXD7A
Debussy: https://images.app.goo.gl/AEXLRHNVjG4ecpHc8
Ravel: https://images.app.goo.gl/JJFKiFGM87rmiEBw7
Prelude piece: https://images.app.goo.gl/ewfStJFc3E51xQ2S7
Prelude performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvvSj992cbE
Debussy: https://images.app.goo.gl/maRDzGjdhSLUx9iL9
Ravel: https://images.app.goo.gl/hKzk1e5kDZGwntTv5
Schoenberg: https://images.app.goo.gl/dGmtDbFJbtxpxfyr9
Pierrot Lunaire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVXSizNHGw
Electronic music: https://images.app.goo.gl/5ZqEMP3A8aYMMqPD7
Edgard Varese: https://images.app.goo.gl/ZdQc2xY2zxfECCzn8
Synthesizer: https://images.app.goo.gl/7nnaSKvmvbCwa6r17
Canon: https://images.app.goo.gl/9qY6dngeSrWeSeoN8
Canon performance: https://youtu.be/es_3F3TLJS0
John Cage: https://images.app.goo.gl/N4Dd5LrxSsD5ajrs9
MuseScorePortable
Meriam 2015

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