🎹 Baroque
- Harpsichord & clavichord
- Polyphonic; both hands equal
- One main mood throughout
- Constant rhythmic pulse
- Ornamentation; upper note trills
- Terraced dynamics
- Sequences & hemiola
- Modulation up/down a 5th
- Tierce de Picardie in minor keys
- Long phrases, few cadence points
🎼 Classical
- Fortepiano
- Homophonic; melody in upper voice
- Alberti bass accompaniment
- Short, balanced phrases
- Scale/broken-chord motifs
- Diatonic harmony
- Dynamic contrasts (not extreme)
- Discreet rubato only
- Pedal used sparingly
- Light, elegant, controlled
🌹 Romantic
- Pianoforte (developing)
- Thick texture; wide range
- Pedal essential
- Rubato required
- Long lyrical cantabile melodies
- Chromatic; 7th & 9th chords
- Modulation by 3rds
- Expressive dissonance
- Virtuosity important
- Wide dynamic range
🌊 Impressionist
- Pianoforte
- Light, ethereal texture
- Sustaining & una corda pedal essential
- Whole-tone, modal, pentatonic scales
- Avoid dominant-tonic cadences
- Parallel chords; chords for sonority
- 7th & 9th chords in parallel
- Pedal points & ostinati
- Bitonality sometimes
- Delicate, supple rhythms
🎸 20th/21st Century
- Huge diversity of styles
- Common practice often abandoned
- Serialism: 12 pitches equal
- Schoenberg — serial techniques
- Bartók & Prokofiev — percussive
- Strong accents, driving rhythms
- Very wide dynamic range
- Neoclassicists: blend old & new
🔑 Remember:
Baroque = polyphonic + ornamented + harpsichord
Classical = balanced + homophonic + fortepiano
Romantic = expressive + rubato + thick texture
Impressionist = atmospheric + colour + unusual scales
Modern = diverse + serial/percussive + atonal