At the beginning of the twentieth century, two major developments took place in America: first, the recognition and use of many elements alien to the common practices of Western music, such as Eastern material, newly created scales, and experiments with microtones; second, the development of a new concern for sonority, the invention of new instruments and unusual ways of dealing with ordinary instruments. Experiments such as these were perhaps more naturally suited to the American environment. In this hemisphere, alliance with the Western musical tradition was artificial — imposed from Europe by importation, rather than indigenous to the land; for this reason, the alliance was easier to dissol