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If you've ever thought of doing a spot of classical composition, here are a few tips. Ditch your pencil, paper and piano. Purchase one very large, powerful computer. Find one equally large, powerful new brain. Replace for your own. And get printing. For there's a new musical lingua franca and it relies on indescribably complicated computer printouts (spectrograms), wave analysis and new Pythagoreanism. Don't ask. What really matters is that it's called Spectralism, it's the future of classical music - and it actually sounds rather nice.

Music and Globalization in Turkey

Whether it's called micro house, minimal techno or minimal house, this dance-music style has become popular thanks in large measure to one Berlin-based DJ.

New York-based free jazz guitarist Bern Nix is one of the few people who are well-versed in Ornette Coleman's "harmolodics" style. He played with Coleman from 1975-1987, and now leads the Bern Nix Trio in New York City. In his compositions and his intriguing covers of standards, he is always looking in the corners of the music for something new.

Characteristics The following characteristics are shared between Iranian and other Central Asian music: * The music is mainly monophonic, with each instrument in an ensemble following one melodic scheme. * The music is based upon a modal system; with each mode engendering different melodic types, called gushehs in Farsi. The execution of the melodic types are left up to the musician. * The use of microtones divides the scales into more than twelve semi-tones. * A priority is given to ornamentation. * There are a number of substantial pauses in each piece. The following are characteristics which distinguish Persian music from other Central Asian music: * Melodies are concentrated on a relatively narrow register. * Melodic movement occurs by conjunct steps. * Emphasis is on cadence, symmetry, and motivic repetition at different pitches. * Rhythmic patterns are kept simple. * The tempo is often rapid, and the ornamentation is dense. * Vocal parts are often decorated with Tahrir, a vocal ornamentation similar to yodeling. * Also, Iranian music is unique in the Middle Eastern tradition in that the different melodic phrases, or gushes are supposed to model the rhythmic stamp and melodic pattern of poetry.