As a great lover and listener of music, I prefer music that flows, has distinct melodies and is very appealing to listen to. However, I am very open to learning about other types of music. One of the most interesting I have found in this class is Avant-Garde. Literally translated it means "fore-guard, " or, music ahead of its time. It refers to experimental and innovative people and works with a driving force in respect to culture, art and or politics. Part of the experimentalism associated with this style is the fusing of unusual genres. Many of these combinations contain unique and original features varying from composer to composer. Something that I find truly fascinating about this style is that it leaves a lot up to the composer's imagination. It opens up a whole new world of innovation and exploration in music; each composer has a different and unique sound. .
For example, Morton Feldman was a revolutionary composer in this style. He was a friend and colleague of John Cage, a composer of very eccentric ˜music,' who influenced his writing. Feldman was considered a pioneer of indeterminate music, or, music that has the ability to be performed multiple ways with no clear instruction and performances are left up to chance. This makes playing his music quite challenging. He loved to write with free floating rhythms, unfocused and fuzzy tones with quiet and slowly evolving movements. He was greatly inspired by abstract impressionistic paintings and wrote incredibly long pieces. Another well-known composer is Conlon Nancarrow. There is not much to say about Nancarrow except that his music was quite literally impossible to play with any exactness. He was forced to turn to player piano so that his works could actually be heard how they were supposed to sound. .
The most eccentric composer that we discussed went by the name of Sun Ra. His real name is Herman Poole Blount but he believed and attempted to convince others, that he was a part of an angel race from Saturn.
