Often regarded as the leading American composer of art music of the 20th century, Charles Edward Ives , 1874 – 1954 was among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with many new techniques including aleatory elements. His compositional 'montage' experimentation foreshadowed many musical innovations that were later more widely adopted during the 20th century and preceded the use of montage in photography. Although his work was widely ignored in his early years, he was to gain International recognition as a true American original. Perhaps one of his most famous compositions is 'Central Park In The Dark' .Inspired by the contrasting and conflicting noises that were audible across the pond in Central Park New York, Ives produced a  radical and new composition aimed at capturing a 'picture-in-sounds' . Within this, Ives juxtaposes the different sections of the orchestras in contrasting and clashing pairings (i.e. the ambient, static strings against the syncopated ragtime pianos against a brass street band). 

In Ives' composition 'The Unanswered Question' the three groups of instruments perform in independent tempos. The strings and trumpet play at 'largo molto Sempra' , as the wind instruments gradually accelerate and fall out of sync. These juxtapositions are a prevalent theme in the works of Ives, and are heavily influential in the experimental works of dumdum Score which they describe as the genre of 'Jar'.