Postmodern Music Theory: Jonathan Kramer

Jonathan Kramer

Media Theorist Jonathan Kramer says "the idea that postmodernism is less a surface style or historical period than an attitude. Kramer goes on to say 16 "characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices." 
According to Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17), postmodern music":

1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
4. challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
11. embraces contradictions
12. distrusts binary oppositions
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

Jonathan Donald Kramer (December 7, 1942, Hartford, Connecticut – June 3, 2004, New York City), was a U.S. composer and music theorist. 
Examples
2.The Lonely Island - Led Zeppelin copied many blues artists such as Bert Jansch, Willie Dixon and Spirit but were also copied and sampled themselves within many later hiphop tracks.
3.Kanye West using melody from 'Ironman' in the song 'black sabbath' on his 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' album. - Blame Game samples Aphex Twin 'Avril 14th' - ambient piano turned to rap/classical to rap.
4. Ellie Goulding 'Explosions' -Pachelbel Canon in D Major used in Coolio's 'C U When U Get There'.
5. Beyonce's 'If I Were a Boy' - Bright Eyes 'At the Bottom of Everything'.
8. The King Blues 'Save the World, Get the Girl' - Elton John 'Candle in the Wind' Princess Diana - U2 'Bloody Sunday'.