How The Traditional Compositional Devices Used To Demonstrate A Vast Change To Traditional Conventions

In the period from 1945-1990, composers demonstrate a vast change to the traditional conventions that are built from traditional conventions in their work. The breaking away from the compositional devices traditionally used originated from the broad variety of the concepts of music that become part of ‘the music of the next century’. These concepts created unconventional features, used to investigate new formations in composers works.
These new unconventional and traditional compositional devices that are investigated in this era can unmistakably be seen in ‘The Monk and His Cat’, Hermit songs, Op.29: No.8, for vocal and piano, Composed by Samuel Barber, ‘Images 4 and 5’ of ‘Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land’, for the electric
The Monk and His Cat’. At the beginning of the piece, Barber has chosen to abandon the time signature and unclearly state the rhythm (see figure 1). He ignores the metre throughout the piece, and seems to be fluctuating beats freely, per measure to follow the accents of the text. This is represented when the key changes pitch from A minor to F sharp major in bars 27-29 (see figure 2). The piano shifts many different time signature throughout the song. This is another example of the duration markings in the score which are a significant aspect of the untraditional musical compositions of the period as all the concepts become equal. Corresponding to this ‘Black Angels: Danse macabre’, composed by George Crumb, also lacks a time signature but uses the untraditional numerology throughout the score to indicate the Pitch and Duration of rhythms (see figure 3). The score contains numerous references to the numbers 7 and 13. These ‘fateful numbers’ are highlighted by Crumb to create a nightmarish manner, reflective of the ‘Dark Land’ responding to the conflict of the Vietnam War and the questioning of cultures and religions, such as Christianity, up until the 1970’s. These concepts are earlier represented in the beginning of the piece where Crumb expresses techniques via symbols breaking conventions to more simply inform the performer how to interpret the piece. He uses a zigzag line to denote the wide vibrato to be played on the violin (see figure 4). Instead of indicating pitch and expressive techniques on the stave Crumb uses an asterisk to inform the performer to gradually increase their bow pressure until pitch becomes pure noise. This is indicated in a key at the bottom of the page (see figure 5) to instruct the performer