Musical Practices In The Contemporary World

The purpose of this book is not to provide a scientific scrutiny of genres, but to make an overview of the important musical practices utilized by music composers, from the 70s until now. This involves also techniques which were never used to be part of the compositional practice in the past, such as video, installation and conceptual. The view is this of the composer, although emphasis is given to the historical evolution of these practices. Under this scope, this book can be characterized as a handbook with all the essentials a composition student should know providing arguments and examples from the repertoire. Therefore, it fulfills a pedagogical purpose as well, but certainly people with no formal music education who are interested in new music can read it. Some of the chapters include extended historical reports, others theoretical, but all include extended reports to composers and selected works - mostly living. In order for the reader to experience the book in full, listening to a big part of this repertoire is suggested.