The elements of Music

 

 

You are embarking on an adventure through musical time, and this journey will be more pleasurable if you first become familiar with some basic musical concepts.  Keep in mind that most new experiences require some initial adjustment and insight. The process is similar to visiting a distant country for the first time: You are instantly immersed in a different culture and surrounded by people who speak an unusual language or follow unfamiliar customs.  This new experience could be either very exciting—or quite unbearable—depending on your perspective.  If you were not prepared for this journey, your naive responses and actions might bring you embarrassment or instill the anger of others.  Worst of all, you would get very little from a potentially rewarding experience. 

These new ideas will be introduced gradually, systematically and actively, so for now, focus on learning the fundamental elements of music and their related terms Listen carefully for these aspects in the music you hear, and—in time—you will attain a heightened understanding that will open your ears, mind and soul to the deeper levels of musical thought.

 ELEMENT                            Basic Related Terms                                   

 

Rhythm:                     (beat, meter, tempo, syncopation)

 

Dynamics:                (forte, piano, [etc.], crescendo, decrescendo)

 

Melody:                      (pitch, theme, conjunct, disjunct)

 

Harmony:                  (chord, progression, consonance, dissonance,
                                          key, tonality, atonality)

 

Tone color:               (register, range, instrumentation)

 

Texture:                    (monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic,           

                                          imitation, counterpoint)

 

Form:                         (binary, ternary, strophic, through-composed)

 

 

RHYTHM

Rhythm is the element of "TIME" in music. When you tap your foot to the music, you are "keeping the beat" or following the structural rhythmic pulse of the music.  There are several important aspects of rhythm:

-DURATION: how long a sound (or silence) lasts.

-TEMPO:  the speed of the BEAT.

(Note: Tempo indications are often designated by Italian terms):

Largo = "large" or labored (slow)

Adagio = slow

Andante = steady "walking" tempo

Moderato = moderate

Allegro = fast ("happy")

Presto = very fast ("prestissimo" = more presto)

 

 

 

<——————————SLOWER  FASTER——————————>
Largo     Adagio             Andante                    Moderato         Allegro         Presto
 40-65       66-75              76-107                          108-119            120-167         168-208
Beats per minute

           NOTE: These tempos are not specific—but RELATIVE to each other.

 

You can explore different tempos with the online metronome at http://www.metronomeonline.com/ .  This metronome goes from largo to prestissimo (from 40 beats per minute up to 208 beats per minute).  Simply click into one of the small outer circles next to a number (beats per minute).  Try a few and notice the Italian tempo marking they relate to. Click the "Off" button to stop.

 

-METER:  Beats organized into recognizable/recurring accent patterns.  Meter can be seen/felt through the standard patterns used by conductors.

 


 

 

You can also explore these interactively on the McGraw-Hill Kamien site:

- Duple meter (2/4)     - Triple meter (3/4)     - Quadruple meter (4/4)

 

Elements of Music: Beat
The example starts at 60 beats per minute, but you can change the tempo with the "slower" or "faster" buttons, and you can play along by pressing the [s] button on your computer keyboard to play the rhythm sticks.

Elements of Music: Tempo
The ÒbeatÓ example above starts at a ÒtempoÓ (speed) of 60 beats per minute, but you can change the tempo by clicking in the ÒfasterÓ or ÒslowerÓ box and choosing a different tempo (shown to the right of the ÒfasterÓ button.  For fun, try tapping the [space bar] on your computer keyboard and see if you can keep ijn time with your chosen tempo. (As you tap faster, you will see the coffee cup on the right side of the tempo line increase in size and strength).

 

 

Other basic terms relating to Rhythm are:

Syncopation: an "off-the-beat" accent (played between the counted numbers)

Ritardando: gradually SLOWING DOWN the tempo

Accelerando: gradually SPEEDING UP the tempo

Rubato: freely and expressively making subtle changes in the tempo (a technique commonly encountered in music of the Romantic era).

 

 

DYNAMICS

All musical aspects relating to the relative loudness (or quietness) of music fall under the general element of DYNAMICS.

The terms used to describe dynamic levels are often in Italian: 

pianissimo         [pp]     =    (very quiet)

piano                    [p]        =    (quiet)

mezzo-piano      [mp]    =    (moderately quiet)

mezzo-forte       [mf ]    =    (moderately loud)

forte                     [f  ]       =    (loud)

fortissimo           [ff ]      =    (very loud)

 

<———————————— Quiet      LOUD————————————>
  (ppp)              pp         p           mp         mf       f           ff         (fff)

 

Other basic terms relating to Dynamics are:

Crescendo: gradually getting LOUDER

Diminuendo (or decrescendo) : gradually getting QUIETER

Accent: "punching" or "leaning into" a note harder to temporarily emphasize it.


 

MELODY

Melody is the LINEAR/HORIZONTAL presentation of pitch  (the word used to describe the highness or lowness of a musical sound). Many famous musical compositions have a memorable melody or theme.

 

THEME: a melody that is the basis for an extended musical work

 

Melodies can be derived from various scales (families of pitches) such as the traditional major and minor scales of tonal music, to more unusual ones such as the old church modes  (of the Medieval and Renaissance periods: c. 500–1600), the chromatic scale  and the whole tone scale  (both used in popular and art-music styles of the late 19th and 20th-century periods), or unique scale systems devised in other cultures around the world.

Melodies can be described as:

-CONJUNCT (smooth; easy to sing or play)

-DISJUNCT  (disjointedly ragged or jumpy; difficult to sing or play).

 

HARMONY

Harmony is the VERTICALIZATION of pitch.  Often, harmony is thought of as the art of combining pitches into chords (several notes played simultaneously as a "block").  These chords are usually arranged into sentence-like patterns called chord progressions.  

 

 

You can interactively explore basic harmony on the McGraw-Hill site:
- Elements of Music: Triad. 
At the start, three notes (C, E, G) are shown on a written musical staff. When you click "Play", you hear that C-E-G triad and see it on a piano keyboard. You can hit "reset" and then chose three different notes by clicking those piano keys—then hit "play" to hear the new triad.

The McGraw-Hill site also helps you understand the interrelationship of melody and harmony in the Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4 by Frederic Chopin. The melody is the slow moving higher notes played by the pianist's right hand, while the harmony is the faster lower chords played by the left hand.

 

Harmony is often described in terms of its relative HARSHNESS:

-DISSONANCE:  a harsh-sounding harmonic combination

-CONSONANCE:  a smooth-sounding harmonic combination

 

Dissonant chords produce musical "tension" which is often "released" by resolving to consonant chords.  Since we all have different opinions about consonance and dissonance, these terms are somewhat subjective. 

Other basic terms relating to Harmony are:

Tonality: harmony that focuses on a "home" key center.

Atonality: modern harmony that AVOIDS any sense of a "home" key center.

 

 

 

TONE COLOR  (or TIMBRE -pronounced "TAM-BER")

If you play a "C" on the piano and then sing that "C", you and the piano have obviously produced the same pitch; however, your voice has a different sound quality than the piano.

Although the scientific principles of musical acoustics are beyond the scope of this course, it is safe to say that each musical instrument or voice produces its own characteristic pattern of "overtones," which gives it a unique "tone color" or timbre. Composers use timbre much like painters use colors to evoke certain effects on a canvas.  For example, the upper register  (portion of the range or compass) of a clarinet produces tones that are brilliant and piercing, while its lower register gives a rich and dark timbre. A variety of timbres can also be created by combining instruments and/or voices.

 

EXAMPLE of ORCHESTRAL TONE COLORS
Benjamin  BRITTEN:
The Young Persons' Guide to the Orchestra

 

You can interactively explore basic harmony on the McGraw-Hill site:
- The Young Persons' Guide to the Orchestra 
An outline of the main sections of the piece are listed on the left. Click on any of the section labels to hear it and to see the specific instruments being featured. For "Variation 13" (for percussion) and for the "Concluding Section", click on the letters "a" through "f".

 

 

 

TEXTURE

Texture refers to the number of individual musical lines (melodies) and the relationship these lines have to one another. 

NOTE: Be careful not to confuse the number of musical lines with the number of performers producing the musical lines.

Monophonic  (single-note) texture:

Music with only one note sounding at a time (having no harmony or accompaniment).

 

 

 

 

 

Homophonic texture:

Music with two or more notes sounding at a the same time, but generally featuring a prominent melody in the upper part, supported by a less intricate harmonic accompaniment underneath (often based on homogenous chords—BLOCKS of sound).


 

Polyphonic texture:

Music with two or more independent melodies sounding at the same time. The most intricate types of polyphonic texture— canon and fugue—may introduce three, four, five or more independent melodies simultaneously!  This manner of writing is called COUNTERPOINT.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imitative texture:

Imitation is a special type of polyphonic texture produced when an idea is ECHOED from "voice" to "voice". Imitation is particularly prevalent in polyphonic art-music—especially from the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUSICAL FORM

The large-scale form of a musical composition can be projected via any combination of the musical elements previously studied.  Traditionally, however, musical form in Western music has been primarily associated with the order of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic events (or the text) in a piece.  Letters (i.e., A, B, C) are used to designate musical divisions brought about by the repetition of melodic material or the presentation of new, contrasting material.  Some of the most common musical forms are described below:

 

BASIC FORMS (more sophisticated forms will be covered later in this book)

 

Strophic Form: a design in VOCAL music, in which the same music is used for several different verses (strophes) of words. [Example: "Deck the Halls" has many verses of words sung to the same music.]

Verse 1 . . . Verse 2 . . . Verse 3 (etc.)

Through-composed: a structure in which there is no repeat or return of any large-scale musical section. [Example: Schubert's "Erlkonig".]

   A         B          C         D          E . . .

 

Binary Form: a two-part form (in which both main sections are usually repeated, as indicated in the diagram by "repeat marks").  The basic premise of this form is CONTRAST. The McGraw-Hill example does not repeat its "A" section.

 


Ternary Form: a three-part form featuring a return of the initial music after a contrasting section.  Symmetry and balance are achieved through this return of material:

 

 

 

 

 

MUSICAL STYLE

Knowing the traits of particular historical eras can greatly enhance your musical experience by offering clues about what the composer is trying to express, and what you can listen for.


The 6 Style-Periods of Western Art Music:

Explore these eras on McGraw-Hill's Interactive Music History Timeline.
Choose any era, then click on any composer's name or artwork to get more info.
To hear the musical examples, click on any "speaker" icon.
(Be aware that this timeline is rich with information and may take awhile to load on the screen)

 

Middle Ages (approximately 450-1450):
An era dominated by Catholic sacred music, which began as simple chant but grew in complexity in the 13th to 15th centuries by experiments in harmony and rhythm.  Leading composers of the later Middle Ages include Perotin and Machaut.

 

Renaissance (approximately 1450-1600):
A more personal style emerged in this era with a greater focus on Humanism, and a rebirth of learning and exploration.  During this "golden age of vocal music," the leading composers include Josquin Desprez, Palestrina, and Weelkes.

 

Baroque (approximately 1600-1750):
This era—the last great age of aristocratic rule— is represented by extremely ornate and elaborate approaches to the arts. This era saw the rise of instrumental music, the invention of the modern violin family and the creation of the first orchestras.  Great composers of the late Baroque include Vivaldi, Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

Classic (approximately 1750-1820):
The music of this politically turbulent era focused on structural unity, clarity and balance. The new expressive and dramatic approaches to composition and performance that were developed in this era became the standards that all "Classical" music are judged by. Great composers of the Classic era include Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

 

Romantic (approximately 1820-1900):
This era witnessed an explosion of flamboyance, nationalism, the rise of "superstar" performers, and concerts aimed at middle-class "paying" audiences.  Orchestral, theatrical and soloistic music grew to spectacular heights of personal expression.  Among the leading Romantic composers are Berlioz, Chopin, Wagner

 

Modern (approximately 1900-present):
Since approximately 1900, art-music has been impacted by daring experimentation and advances in musical technology, as well as popular/non-Western influences. Leading composers of the early 20th century were Debussy, Schoenberg and Stravinsky, while many of the most prominent composers since 1950 have come from the US.