PostModernArt

=Post Modern Art and Music=

Postmodernism was a late 20th century movement that opposed the Modernist preoccupation with purity of form and technique, and aimed to elminate the divisions between art, popular culture, and the media. Postmodern artists displayed influences from an many past movements, applying them to modern forms. Postmodernists loved diversity and rejected the distinction between "high" and "low" art. Ignoring genre boundaries, the movement encourages the mix of ideas, medias, and forms to promote parody, humor, and irony.

Postmodern music is music which follows the postmodern ideology. As the name suggests, this movement formed partly in reaction to modern music. Because of this, Postmodern music is mostly defined in opposition to modern music, and a work can either be modern, or postmodern, but not both. The music is a "style" as well as a musical "condition." It contains characteristics of Postmodern Art. Postmodern music has many different genres and has no boundaries. As a "condition" the music does not have one style or form. It is a means of expression which allows the group/artist to identify themselves.

Jonathan Kramer, a music theorist, as well as a famous professor of Composition and Theory, outlined sixteen characteristics of postmodern music.
 * 1) is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
 * is, on some level and in some way, ironic
 * 1) does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
 * 2) challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
 * 3) shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
 * 4) questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
 * 5) avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
 * 6) considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
 * 7) includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
 * 8) considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
 * 9) embraces contradictions
 * 10) distrusts binary oppositions
 * 11) includes fragmentations and discontinuities
 * 12) encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
 * 13) presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
 * 14) locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

Philip Glass: creator of Philip Glass Ensemble, that began to evolve the new musical style called "minimalism." Glass studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School. He was dissatisfied with what was then modern music and began to study to develop his own. [] Laurie Anderson:an American experimental performance artist and musician. She plays violin and keyboards as well as sings. Her music can be closely classified as minimalism and are about postmodern ideas. []

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Scavenger Hunt

 * 1) According to Francis Berry, what is the difference between postmodern art and modern art? []
 * 2) What is the definition of conceptional art? []
 * 3) Postmodern music is either _ or _. []
 * 4) Who are 3 postmodern artists? []
 * 5) What is Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain?" []