Pierre Boulez
1) Leading exponent of the "total control" school
2) Serializes all elements of composition ("total serialism")
3) Mostly instrumental works; when voice is used, it is integrated into the instrumental
     ensemble
4) Does not employ electronic instruments, although his emphasis on tone color contrast
     creates sounds that are similar to those of electronic music
5) Employs the angular "sprung" melodic line of the Schoenberg tradition

George Crumb
1) Uses unusual instruments (especially percussion) in unusual combinations and in
     an unusual manner
2) Does not use electronics except for amplification of otherwise inaudible sounds
3) Emphasizes delicate sounds with strong resonance (leading to an Oriental influence)
4) Reflects sentimentality in subject matter and a concern for dramatic music

John Cage
1) Leading exponent of the "total freedom" school
2) Axioms:
          a) Any event controlled by time is a musical event
          b) Art need not have a purpose (function or goal)
          c) Any group of artistic events may be combined at random and still produce an
               artistic effect
3) Active in the area of prepared piano
4) Often incorporates Oriental sounds and Oriental philosophy

György Ligeti
1) His early avant-garde works reflect the influence of the "total control" school as well as
     the Polish school, with its emphasis on clusters of blurred pitch ("micropolyphony")
     and shimmering sounds that produce "space-age" noises
2) More recently he has been concerned with rhythmic complexity, involving shifting and
     conflicting irregular pulses
3) This latter style involves three influences:
          a) African drumming from the sub-Sahara region, with its shifting pulses and
               cross-rhythms
          b) The experimental player-piano rolls of Conlon Nancarrow, with extremes of
               virtuosity and precision
          c) The experiments of the minimalist school in "phase music," in which sounds
               move in and out of coordination or "phase" with each other

Tan Dun
1) Noted as a composer of film music and opera
2) Blends various elements of traditional Chinese and Western styles in his orchestral
     music

Paul Lansky
1) His recent works are products of computer-synthesized tape
2) He combines a computer generated harmonic progression with textual material through
     the synthesizing process
3) The result is textual "chatter" that varies from total unintelligibility to near intelligibility

Joan Tower
1) Reflects New Romanticism in the tendency to include subjective, emotional material and
     return to traditional instruments
2) Although her compositional technique is called "quotation music," it is more a parody
     of the styles of earlier composers than direct citation
3) Her orchestral works range from those for full orchestra to those for small chamber
     ensembles
4) While her orchestra is basically traditional, she places an emphasis on brass and percus-
     sion instruments that reflects progressive style
5) Her harmony is basically tonal but includes a large amount of dissonance

Arvo Pärt
1) He represents "spiritual minimalism" through his emphasis on styles from early sacred
     music, especially medieval Gregorian chant (non-metrical choral music with an irregular
     pulse)
2) Minimalism is represented by the repetition of small melodic cells
3) His harmony reflects the sound of pealing church bells ("tintinnabulation")

John Adams
1) Good representative of minimalism through the repetition of small melodic cells
2) Often injects an emotional element back into minimalism ("Post-Minimalism")
3) Employs strong, driving, mechanical rhythms
4) Shows some evidence of Neo-Classicism in his use of reduced orchestration