During the 20th century there was a large increase in the variety of music that people had access to.

Prior to the
invention of mass market gramophone records (developed in 1892) and radio broadcasting (first commercially done
ca. 1919–20), people mainly listened to music at live Classical music concerts or musical theatre shows, which were
too expensive for many lower-income people; on early phonograph players (a technology invented in 1877 which was
not mass-marketed until the mid-1890s); or by individuals performing music or singing songs on an amateur basis at
home, using sheet music, which required the ability to sing, play, and read music. These were skills that tended to be
limited to middle-class and upper-class individuals. With the mass-market availability of gramophone records and radio
broadcasts, listeners could purchase recordings of, or listen on radio to recordings or live broadcasts of a huge variety
of songs and musical pieces from around the globe. This enabled a much wider range of the population to listen to
performances of Classical music symphonies and operas that they would not be able to hear live, either due to not
being able to afford live-concert tickets or because such music was not performed in their region.
Sound recording was also a major influence on the development of popular music genres, because it enabled
recordings of songs and bands to be inexpensively and widely distributed nationwide or even, for some artists,
worldwide. The development of relatively inexpensive reproduction of music via a succession of formats including vinyl
records, compact cassettes, compact discs (introduced in 1983) and, by the mid-1990s, digital audio recordings, and
the transmission or broadcast of audio recordings of music performances on radio, of video recordings or live
performances on television, and by the 1990s, of audio and video recordings via the Internet, using file
sharing of digital audio recordings, gave individuals from a wide range of socioeconomic classes access to a diverse
selection of high-quality music performances by artists from around the world.[1] The introduction of multitrack
recording in 1955 and the use of mixing had a major influence on pop and rock music, because it enabled record
producers to mix and overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be
possible in a live performance.[2] The development of sound recording and audio engineering technologies and the
ability to edit these recordings gave rise to new subgenres of classical music, including the Musique concrète (1949)
and acousmatic[3] (1955) schools of electronic composition. In the 1970s, African-American hip hop musicians began to
use the record turntable as a musical instrument, creating rhythmic and percussive "scratching" effects by
manipulating a vinyl record on the turntable.
In Beethoven's and Felix Mendelssohn's time in the 19th century, the orchestra was composed of a fairly standard
core of instruments which was very rarely modified. As time progressed, and as the Romantic period saw changes in
accepted modification with composers such as Berlioz and Mahler, the 20th century saw that instrumentation could
practically be hand-picked by the composer. Saxophones were used in some 20th-century orchestra scores such
as Vaughan Williams' Symphonies No.6 and 9 and William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and many other works as a
member of the orchestral ensemble. Twentieth-century orchestras generally include a string section, woodwinds, brass
instruments, percussion, piano, celeste, harp(s),[4] with other instruments called for occasionally, such as electric
guitar[5] and electric bass.[6]
The 20th century saw dramatic innovations in musical forms and styles. Composers and songwriters explored new
forms and sounds that challenged the previously accepted rules of music of earlier periods, such as the use of altered
chords and extended chords in 1940s-era Bebop jazz. The development of powerful, loud guitar amplifiers and sound
reinforcement systems in the 1960s and 1970s permitted bands to hold large concerts where even those with the least
expensive tickets could hear the show. Composers and songwriters experimented with new musical styles, such as
genre fusions (e.g., the late 1960s fusion of jazz and rock music to create jazz fusion). As well, composers and
musicians used new electric, electronic, and digital instruments and musical devices. In the 1980s, some styles of
music, such as electronic dance music genres such as house music were created largely with synthesizers and drum
machines. Faster modes of transportation such as jet flight allowed musicians and fans to travel more widely to
perform or hear shows, which increased the spread of musical styles.