Much of the music composed in the twentieth century was written by composers striving to break the traditional rules. Experimentation with new sounds and ways of writing music has been attempted, although not many have gained ground with the public. However, they have influenced other composers significantly.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

 

 

American pianist Scott Joplin is known as the “King of Ragtime.”  Ragtime, a musical style that has syncopated rhythms (“ragtime” is short for “ragged time”) and often lively, danceable melodies.  Ragtime is known as a uniquely American genre, and paved the way for the emergence of jazz and swing music during the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Joplin was born into a musical family that worked on the railway in Texas and eventually learned to play mandolin, guitar, and piano.  Some of his most famous compositions for piano are The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag, and appear frequently on soundtracks for movies and TV shows as well as commercials. Joplin’s music was tailor-made for the emerging music publishing industry, and publishing his individual compositions allowed for a steady income stream. 

Listen to the example below:

Joplin, Scott, and Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin's New Rag. [Jazz Classics, 19] Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

 

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) is an American composer and conductor who integrated the sounds of American folk songs into his compositions, like his European counterparts Liszt and Chopin did with the music of their own native countries Hungary and Poland,  Copland also had a career as a music critic and teacher, and while studying in Paris for a time became part of a circle of illuminaries that included such writers, thinkers and artists as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and Pablo Picasso. 

Among Copland’s most famous works are his ballet scores for Appalachian Spring,Billy the Kid and Rodeo, the orchestral work Fanfare for the Common Man, and his opera The Tender Land.

 

Listen to the examples below:

 

Attribution: Copland, Aaron, and United States Marine Band. Fanfare for the Common Man. unpublished, Washington, DC, 2000. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.100010429.

 

"Hoe-down" from Rodeo Aaron Copland Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra Pops In Love Concert - February 13, 2011

 

 

Link to: https://youtu.be/3ghjDIXcqwE