ABSTRACT
There is a view that music changes only as a result of its own internal dynamic and is unaffected by what goes on around it in ‘the real world’. Of course, this is no more true than the idea that plants or trees are unaffected by their environment. Organic forms grow according to predetermined codes but only inasmuch as external conditions remain relatively constant. When a weather system changes, certain plants no longer flourish while others come into their own. Some produce strange hybrid forms to adapt to the new conditions. Perhaps music works in similar ways: a musical style may seem to have a certain internal logic, yet is never entirely independent of the context in which it takes place. Towards the end of the twentieth century there were some clear signs of climate change in British music and it is perhaps to these that one should look for an explanation of changes in the music itself.
