The Future of Modern Music by
James L. McHard has been named as a Finalist in the
2006 ForeWord
Magazine's Book of the Year Awards.
Available through Independent Publisher Group
800.888.4741 or orders@ipgbook.com
$19.95
Freelance composer, lecturer, and music history author James McHard presents
The Future of Modern Music,
a guide written for music lovers of all backgrounds - including the general
public, music educators, and the students
today who will be the composers of tomorrow. The Future of Modern Music looks at
dramatic recent changes in
composition through biographical snapshots of composers such as Iannis Xenakis,
Luigi Nono, Julio Estrada and
many more, over ninety total; each portrayal examines the new musical ideas that
shaped the composer's works.
Many of the composers studied have never been scrutinized before in a single,
concise text; The Future of Modern
Music remedies the oversight, allowing the reader to gain an effective
cross-perspective and overview of the artists
worldwide who are transforming the soundscape daily.
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW - James A. Cox Editor-in-Chief
Fans of modern music often find themselves in a distinct minority even
within the tiny and increasingly marginalized audience for concert music in
general. These days, it takes some chutzpah indeed to be a cheerleader for
Iannis Xenakis and Luigi Nono in an era of such transcendent ignorance that
most people, even regular concert-goers, are barely aware of the more
mainstream trends in contemporary music, let alone the brave new sonic
worlds those worthy iconoclasts tried to create. But in his book, THE
FUTURE OF MODERN MUSIC, James McHard does a good job of putting the
avant-garde in perspective, and giving the novice or curious listener an
excellent framework for exploring musical territory that deserves serious
consideration from all who value new and original means of musical
expression. The writing is clear and refreshingly free of academic jargon,
as the book is aimed at the general reader rather than professional
musicians or theorists. Modern music needs passionate advocates who will
plead its case before the public, and it certainly has one in Mr. McHard.
JACK GOGGIN Radio Host Classical Music Detroit - WQRS
Classical Music America.com
In his book, "The
Future of Modern Music," James McHard presents an
argument for a 'new' modernism in serious music. To my knowledge, this is
the first time such an argument has appeared in relation to music, though
it has been advanced in other fields, particularly architecture, in recent
years.
In architecture, the outline of the argument proceeds this way: The first
two decades of the 20th century saw the appearance of an amazingly fertile
assortment of new ideas, ideals and styles. But by the middle of the
1920's, and for a wide variety of reasons, a consolidation occurred which
largely reduced the range and scope of modern architectural tendencies to
those of Mies van der Rohe and his glass-box building style. It was this
single style then, not a profusion of styles, that came to dominate
architectural modernism on an international level, and it this style that
came to be most closely associated with the term modernism in architecture.
From riches to rags. The architectural conjecture is: couldn't the
intellectual ferment of those early days provide us fresh insight?
A parallel history can be described for music: From the heady, expansionist
decades of the early 20th century, music too experienced reductionist
tendencies. As a result, the 'golden age' of modern music came to largely
be associated with 12-tone and serial music. This was particularly true in
the United States. But with the 'golden age' of musical modernism over,
having been superceded by a suspect post-modernism, the question arises:
what of all those other fertile tendencies? Couldn't they too be worth a
second glance?
McHard's book charts the origins and the development of an on-going stream
of modernism that has generally been very poorly documented and examined
over the years. This tendency is best described as a concern with timbre
and the development and transformation of sound color over time. This
concern was described as a musical "third dimension" by composer Giacinto
Scelsi, and has been expanded upon as "sound-based" composition by composer
Gerard Pape, and as "composing in the continuum" by composer Julio Estrada.
The essential argument for this musical approach is that it is both related
to, and rooted in, nature: the nature of how we perceive and experience
sounds, emotions, fantasies, and our lives in the real world. A music
grounded in human perception, as opposed to mathematical abstractions, or
the ironies of post-modern eclecticism, carries with it new possibilities
for serious connection with listeners as well as new possibilities for
creative expression.
McHard's argument draws musical strength from Iannis Xenakis' early
critique of serial music. Xenakis' view was that serial music was bound to
fail because it based itself on 'out of time' structures and methods: you
may appreciate its abstract beauty, but that abstract beauty lies outside
the experience of the music: you can't hear it. Xenakis' view was, that to
be successful, to establish meaningful connection with listeners, a music
must be based on 'in time' structures and methods: it must allow us to
experience its beauty in the real-time, movie-like unfolding of the
listening experience.
With the recent events of September 11th, we are all aware that the media
has announced "the death of irony." Irony will probably linger a while
yet, but with this change in our world the recent era of post-modern
musical pastiche does seem to be air-puffed indeed: a perfect music for an
era known as the "end of history." But history has recommenced. Our
world, and our view of it, has fundamentally changed: something new is
required.
Composers and students who seek a new way to connect with audiences in an
expressive and meaningful way would do well to read this book. It provides
not just the history of a neglected branch of modernism, but argues for a
new, affective and vital musical modernism for the 21st century.
Randall Neal
Bennington College
James McHard has produced a work of two-fold usefulness, firstly
in its thesis, tracing the continuing vibrancy of a Modernist outlook
through several of the last century's most imaginative compositional
luminaries, and secondly in its layout, with chapter by chapter
summaries of the lives, philosophical directions and major works of
these composers. In the course of his exploration he shines new light
on some names whose contributions have been grossly underestimated, and
makes some surprising, though well supported juxtapositions. The
importance of the original Modernist ideals is shown in the context of
our current, often lost, vague and fragmented Post-Modernist,
Post-Structuralist malaise, and perhaps suggests the need for a return
to models that were never exhausted, nor adequately investigated. A
fine and thought-provoking book.
Dr. Douglas Henderson
Chair, Dept. of Sonic Arts, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
As a classical broadcaster for some thirty plus years in
Detroit, I am
enthused about adding James Mc Hard's "The Future of Modern Music" to my
reference shelf. As I read, I had the urge often to put on the music in
question. I am familiar with much of the music cited in this book, but Mc
Hard's insights are fresh, sometimes unexpected, and motivated a re-listen
to the work under discussion.
(Perhaps a future edition might be issued with an
illustration c.d. or
two?)
Modern music is a subject area of strong feeling and vitriolic opinion, it
even, as Mc Hard cites, has been the cause for several very real riots.
Given
this, and some of the caustic and highly opinionated scholarship that
abounds
in this field, I was particularly impressed by his balanced and even-hand
treatment of a very diverse group of composers. the book is an excellent
guide for further explorations and contains a generous bibliography for
additional research.
A large part of the book is devoted to consideration, in some depth, of
several dozen selected composers that Mc Hard feels exemplify the most
significant creative contributions made to modern art music. Some of these
choices are obvious like Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Cage, but Mc Hard also
cites some not so obvious or well known exemplars like Scelsi, Ruggles,
Malipiero, and Xenakis.
All have been significantly influential to music development in our era.
Mc Hard brings his special credentials as a scholar and active
composer-performer to this quest for the original and the truly creative in
current music.
With a practitioner's feel for the subject, he covers the style, the
influences, the impact, the major works, the uniqueness and a bit of
pertinent biography for each of these influential composers. Although some
musical terminology may be a bit unfamiliar to the casual reader, it is for
the most part accessible to the novice enthusiast of current music.
Philosophically, Mc Hard is a strong proponent of uniqueness in music and
the
encouragement of the individual's "Voice" and the different "Drum".
This is an encouraging, appreciative, wide-ranging, well-founded look at
modern music and its influence and importance. This would make an excellent
reference as adjunct to a college music or humanities course, music
department
or any library. I certainly welcome its contribution to my own collection.
Pat Mc Elroy
Program Host
Classical Music America.com
I have recently had the pleasure of reading James McHard's book "The Future
of Modern Music, " published by American University and Colleges Press.
I like the approach and basic premise of this book: it is intended for
interested audiences (be they professional or amateur), and attempts to look
at the composers discussed in the context of their time, their life experiences
and their response to the state of music presented to them by their
immediate predecessors and history. The fact that it also tries to search for a
way
of approaching the world of sound that leads to satisfying results for the
listener is laudable. McHard does not only try to present the musical history
of the 20th century as seen in a representative listing and discussion of
composers, but he attempts to show a mode of mentally and philosophically
approaching music whose results lead to the advancement of music as an art
form, aided by developments in the sciences (the ear mechanism, sound
production) and psychology (sound perception) of the 20th Century.
His chapters on Iannis Xenakis and Luigi Nono, in
particular, are
enlightening and well written. His book covers the proposed material in a
simple,
straight-forward manner, including much-needed commentary on the composers
of the 20th Century relevant to today's developments in music. His book
complements the Grout, handling information in a depth not found in the
Grout, yet imperative to today's musician, composer, or true student of music.
By
describing the composer's lives, important works, and particular stylistic
traits to adherences to trends, McHard helps the reader in placing each
composer in his proper domain of influence in the course of the development
of music in the 20th Century. McHard's book provides the reader with an argument
for the
possibility of modern, present music to continue to offer the audiences new
sound
environments that are meaningful. To him, "a return to the past is an
unnecessary
admission of defeat for both the composer and the listener" (p. 350). "Musical
composition, if approached from the proper perspectives-- keeping the value of
sound preeminent over the value of method, and keeping the audience
preeminent over ego -- can continue to fulfill its ancient role of pleasurably
educating." (p. 350).
I highly recommend it as an alternative to the usual
readings about music, as a
refreshing and candid view of selected composers of the 20th Century, and as
philosophical argument in favor of sound-based composition, using the
available technology and the research on human perception of sound to aid in the
development of meaningful music in the future.
Marina Ionescu
B.M. Michigan State University, 2001, Piano Performance, Theory and
Composition
President, Alliance of MSU Composers, 2001-2002
September 21, 2001
