2.8 Contemporary music

From the beginning of the 20th Century there has been a massive expansion of compositional style and technique. New harmonic and rhythmic developments, an expansion of the pitch spectrum and the development of a wide range of new instrumental techniques have been accompanied by a parallel evolution and expansion of musical notation. The purpose of this section is to provide references and information relevant to working with these new notational techniques.

2.8.1 Pitch and harmony in contemporary music

This section highlights issues that are relevant to notating pitch and harmony in contemporary music.

References for pitch and harmony in contemporary music

• Standard quarter-tone notation is addressed in Note names in other languages.
• Non-standard key signatures are addressed in Key signature.
• Contemporary practises in displaying accidentals are addressed in Automatic accidentals.

Microtonal notation

Contemporary key signatures and harmony

2.8.2 Contemporary approaches to rhythm

This section highlights issues that are relevant to the notation of rhythm in contemporary music.

References for contemporary approaches to rhythm

• Compound time signatures are addressed in Time signature.
• Basic polymetric notation is addressed in Polymetric notation.
• Feathered beams are addressed in Feathered beams.
• Mensurstriche bar lines (bar lines between staves only) are addressed in Grouping staves.

Tuplets in contemporary music

Contemporary time signatures

Extended polymetric notation

Beams in contemporary music

Bar lines in contemporary music

2.8.3 Graphical notation

2.8.4 Contemporary scoring techniques

2.8.5 New instrumental techniques

2.8.6 Further reading and scores of interest

This section suggests books, musical examples and other resources useful in studying contemporary musical notation.

Books and articles on contemporary musical notation

• Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook by Kurt Stone [W. W. Norton, 1980]
• Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice by Gardner Read [Taplinger, 1979]
• Instrumentation and Orchestration by Alfred Blatter [Schirmer, 2nd ed. 1997]

Scores and musical examples

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