Modern era

Modern Era is about 1900 until now


With the coming of the 20th century another evolution in the musical world emerged. While some of the early 20th century music can be seen as extensions of the late Romantic style, much of 20th century music can be seen as a rebellion.


Composers created music freely and used sounds that went against the current grain. Twentieth century music can be described as being more refined, vague in form, delicate, and having a mysterious atmosphere.


Twentieth century music is an era that is hard to define in terms of musical style. Th easy way to define 20th century music is it does not fit into the Romantic era's requirements. And because of its own expression and orchestral technique it does not fit into any other category but its own.


 In 20th century musical styles traditional forms and structures were broken up and recreated or composed using non-Western musical techniques and abstract ideas. Technology also became an important factor in the music making during this time period. Composers have been known to use recording tape as a compositional tool


Electronically created sounds are used in combination with other electronic sounds or played together with traditional music instruments. Most recently, the use of computer technology has affected the world of music making. Ways in which computers currently alter the face of the music world are by manipulating the performance of instruments in real time.