Wednesday, July 23, 2008

12 tone music dedicated to Schoenberg

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Arnold Schoenberg, 12 tone music is one of his claims to fame.  (Assuming I understood correctly) Schoenberg felt that all twelve notes in the Western music scale should be treated equally, and devised a set of rules for composers to use that would make them appear in no particular order.  For listeners, the 12 tones aren't always received with equal regard when played together in this asequential sequence: http://youtu.be/fy6t8yXPcSQ


Here's my current list songs in twelve tone [tone deaf?] music hits dedicated to poking fun at Schoenberg...

Schoenberg's Reel
The Happy Birthday Song according to Schoenberg


If you want to hear a detailed, likely much more accurate story about 12 tone music, this person describes it at length in about 7 minutes: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/10/12/arts/1194817121260/12-tone-music.html

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