During each period composers try to express themselves in new ways. They break the rules of the previous period and try new forms, harmonies, and rhythms. In the Modern Period, composers experimented more than in most periods. For instance, Twentieth Century music includes jazz, rock and roll, electronic music, whole-tone and twelve-tone scale music, computer music, and even "chance" music.

"Chance" music reminds me of some modern paintings which look like the artist threw paint at the canvas and called the results art. I think some musicians throw notes at the staff, let them land where they may, and then call the results music! John Cage "composed" music by letting four radios, tuned to different stations, play at once. He would also "prepare" the piano for a piece by putting items such as tape, chewing gum, thumb tacks, coins, cloth, and paper on the strings and hammers in order to create new sounds. He wrote one piece called 4'33". The pianist opens the lid of the piano, sits at the keyboard for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. He then closes the piano without touching a key. I think he must be joking! I've never heard whether audiences clap for him. I wonder if some children practice their lessons in the "Cage style"!

Why do composers want to experiment? They want to find new ways to express their ideas. A good composer will write high quality music reflecting the times in which he lives. He will express the human experience of his time. If he succeeds, his music will endure. If the work has no depth, like some popular music, it will likely be forgotten.

Modern music uses a lot more dissonance than earlier music. A dissonant sound is one that clashes, that may sound "wrong" to our ears. In modern music we have become quite accustomed to dissonant sounds in music. Prokofiev's March from "The Love for Three Oranges" is delightfully dissonant.

Modern composers also use rhythms that are more jagged and syncopated, and meters that change from bar to bar. Scott Joplin's piano rags make continuous use of syncopation. Syncopated music accents the weak beats. It is hard to sit still when you hear it.

Stravinsky's ballet, "The Rite of Spring" - caused a riot in the theater at its first performance. the people thought it was brutal primitivism and not suited for the concert hall. His "Infernal Dance" in "The Firebird" is also extremely syncopated and dissonant. But even adults gradually adjust to new sounds in music and begin to accept them as normal.

Musicians sometimes looked back to very early music. If you have played an instrument, you have certainly played major and minor scales. The early church modes are seven different scales that can be played on the white keys of the piano. Start on any white key of the piano and play eight consecutive white keys (an octave). You have played a modal scale. Each scale has a Greek name, but we won't bother you with that information now. Some composers and Jazz musicians use the church modes in their music.

While some press forward with new ideas, others cling to the past and present. It has always been so, but we continue to accept the new while keeping the best of the past.