The Importance Of Avant-Garde Music

I would say that this question has two arguments, as there are no rules to say that avant-guard music has to be confined to people who have those particular skills. Isn’t half the point of being a musician being able to learn new techniques and expand your musical vocabulary? When you start playing an instrument, you do not have any skills and it is your teacher that shows you how play and instructs you on the best ways to do this. Depending on what type of performance they are interested in changes the skills you develop therefore if you are allowed to gain these specialized skills then, why are you not allowed to progress and expand now. As you play the contemporary music, you will pick up the skills and who is to say you will not choose …show more content…
When Stravinsky composed Rite of Spring, this sent the music industry and society into mayhem due to its clashing and chromatic chords. The piece starts with a choked bassoon melody, whilst woodwind instruments quivering and moving above. The bassoon was payed so high; the audience did not know which instrument was playing, showing how this performance technique was very contemporary and new. These extended techniques qould have been foreign to the performers, however they still were able to perform it to a good standard. The most shocking part of this piece was the pulsating rhythms that almost appear animalistic in their aggressiveness however it was probably due to the high level of dissonance that the audience went into riot. A critic from the night wrote, “The music always goes to the note next to the one you expect,” showing just how new and controversial this music was. However, if we look at this piece of music today, though it is still shocking and dissonant, it is not considered outrageous or a piece that shouldn’t be played. This shows that this music should be open to any performer as this is how music develops, and if people did not play experimental music, we would not be in the place we are today in terms of …show more content…
Therefore, some could argue that it is almost impossible to develop specialized skills in modern music, as scoring will always differ therefore one would always have to practice and learn new ways of reading the music given. On the other hand, it could be said that with practice in recognizing what composers mean, and understanding the language they use, its automatically gives you an advantage in comprehending what a composer is looking for, as you have more knowledge and experience in reading symbols and diagrams.

Another advantage of having specialized skills in avant-guard music is that once you work with a composer, they will want to have use you again as you will know how to read and play their music. It cuts out the time of having to explain to ‘any’ performer about how they work and what their writing means. This is beneficial for both the composer and the performer as it enables them to move past trying to decipher the score and allows them to appreciate the music for what it is, rather than just learning how to play