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Electronic and Chance Music

Preprint · May 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.23248.23048

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Almighty C. Tabuena
Philippine Normal University
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Electronic and Chance Music

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Almighty Tabuena

Introduction
A revolution occurred in 20th-century music as listening to the new forms of media and
technologies developed in recording, capturing, reproducing, and distributing music gained
popularity worldwide. Moreover, people nowadays are able to be exposed to a wider range
of music than ever before, giving rise to the phenomenon of world music. This lesson will just
introduce electronic music and the Chance music popularized by John Cage.

Objectives:

 Describe and explain electronic and chance musical movements in 20th-century

music.
 Familiarize with the emergence of electronic music and technology in music
composition.
 Identify the music of John Cage and the Aleatory music.
 Draw a picture showing the characteristics of electronic and chance music styles.

Learning Competencies

The Learner:

1. listens perceptively to selected 20th-century music;

2. describes distinctive musical elements of given pieces in 20th-century styles;
3. relates 20th-century music to its historical and cultural background;
4. create short electronic and chance music pieces using knowledge of 20th-century
styles.

Electronic Music
Technology and music create another significant movement in the field of music education,
giving supplementary knowledge and skills to provide learners move toward 21st-century
occurrences, trends, and developments.

“I have been waiting a long time for electronics to free music from the
tempered scale and the limitations of musical instruments.” — Edgard Varese

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What is MIDI?

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The development of the MIDI system has
been a major catalyst in the recent unprecedented explosion of music technology. MIDI has
put powerful computer instrument networks and software in the hands of less technically
versed musicians and amateurs and has provided new and time-saving tools for computer
musicians.

One of the functions of MIDI is to set music with no big effort in the actual playing
performance, to provide music accompaniment whether played in a single line melody or in
an orchestrated form, by the use of computer-assisted music software and other devices
generated by “General MIDI.” Some examples of MIDI Arrangements could have listened to
my SoundCloud, the most used music example is my music arrangements of Papal
Songs when the Papal Visit happened in the Philippines in 2015. The mass repertoire was
arranged through software to produce a kind of accompaniment, a piece of orchestral
background music, for some holy mass purposes.

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Sample MIDI Arrangement by Almighty Tabuena using Finale PrintMusic 2014 software.
The title of the composition is Laudate Dominum by Fr. Manoling Francisco, composed for
the Papal Visit last 2015.

John Cage and his Aleatory Music

Chance music refers to a style wherein the piece always sounds different at every
performance because of the random techniques of production, including the use of ring
modulators or natural elements that become a part of the music. Most of the sounds
emanating from the surroundings, both natural and man-made, such as honking cars,
rustling leaves, blowing wind, dripping water, or a ringing phone. As such, the combination
of external sounds cannot be duplicated as each happens by chance.

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Indeterminacy in music is represented by three main tendencies:

 Chance music – indeterminacy at the level of composition. During the writing of the
piece, the composer employs a chance procedure. Once the work is finished, the score
is followed exactly in the same way all traditional music scores are.
 Aleatory music – indeterminacy at the level of performance. The performer is asked
to make decisions that will affect either details or even the form of the piece. In many
instances, elements of chance music and aleatory music coexist in the same work
(John Cage).
 Stochastic music – indeterminacy at the level of composition but involving strict
mathematical tools (stochastic distributions).

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John Cage’s 4′ 33” – a chance musical work that instructed the pianist to merely open the
piano lid and remain silent for the length of time indicated by the title. The work was
intended to convey the impossibility of achieving total silence since surrounding sounds can
still be heard amidst the silence of the piano performance.

Listen to some music of John Cage such as the 4′ 33” and the Ocean of Sounds, do they have
in common with other music in the 20th century?

1. Among the resulting new styles were electronic music and chance music. These
expanded the concept of music far beyond the conventions of earlier periods and
challenged both the new composers and the listening public.
2. From the United States, there was John Cage with his truly unconventional
composition techniques. Cage’s works feature the widest array of sounds from the
most inventive sources.

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Bibliography

Hass, J. (2010). “Chapter three: How MIDI works”. Indiana University Jacobs School of
Music.

Huber, D. M. (1991). The MIDI manual. Carmel, Indiana: SAMS.

Kaufmann, F. (ed) (2009). Twentieth-century music. Powered by MediaWiki: New World

Encyclopedia.

Kelly, T. F. (2013). Music then and now. United States of America: W. W. Norton & Company,
Inc.

Perez, V. V. et. al. (2006). Music, arts, physical education, and health – citizenship
advancement training (MAPEH-CAT IV). Quezon City: St. Bernadette Publishing House
Corporation.

Sunico, R. M. (2015). Horizons grade 10 learner’s materials, music and arts appreciation for
young Filipinos. Quezon City: Tawid Publications.

Swift, A. (1997). “A brief introduction to MIDI.” SURPRISE, Imperial College of Science

Technology and Medicine, 1997.

To cite this article (APA Style 7th Edition) - from Music Classroom Guide: Asian
and Contemporary Music:

Tabuena, A. C. (2018, May 28). Electronic and chance music. Music Classroom
Guide: Asian and Contemporary Music.
https://actmusicguide.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/electronic-and-chance/

Instruction to cite this article (APA Style 7th Edition) - from ResearchGate:

Replace the link (from the suggested citation above) with the DOI specified in the
article (located below the article title).

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