20th Century Music

Being a musician, I am somewhat familiar with the music of the 20th century. I can also attest to the dissonant nature of this music. Each part, when played by itself makes no sense compared to what I am used to hearing from playing classical composers and even current artists. When it is all put together, though, it sounds amazing. I used to think that was due to the talents of the composers who were able to pull off a pleasing sound made up of chaotic, interwoven parts. If it caused riots at its introduction, that might not be the case. I might be used to hearing that kind of music. Still, there must be some talent involved because some of the stuff I have heard just sounds terrible. Unless my ear is not as adjusted as I would like to think, which I will admit could very well be the case.

Of course for the same reason, that is my background as a musician, I can see why people would have started to break the "rules" of composing. In music theory, we have learned that early music was all written for the church and certain conventions must be followed by these composers. Staying inside these rules results in a limited amount that one can do with music. That means that after a while, it would become impossible to write a song that does not sound like the work of an earlier composer. Being new meant being different to the popular taste. This is probably true in any field of art.