Fundamental Elements Of Music

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SURVEY OF MUSIC

FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS

Listening to Music, Chapters 2 & 3

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FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC

Rhythm Pitch Timbre Texture Dynamics (Form)

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RHYTHM Rhythm: The

organization of time in music

We listen for regular beats

We listen for accents among the beats to define meter and measure

We listen for strength of accents to determine phrase

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RHYTHM Tempo governs the

rhythm’s pace or speed

Tempo may be steady or uneven (rubato)

Syncopation is accenting weak beats rather than strong

Rhythm can be dominant or subtle – implicit or explicit

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RHYTHM Time Signatures

Rhythmic notation

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Music’s Rhythm Code

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Music’s Rhythm Code

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PITCH Pitch: The highness or

lowness of a tone in music

Most instruments, including the human voice, are designed to produce various pitches

Pitches in rhythm are called notes

A sequence of notes in music is a melody

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PITCH Two or more pitches

sounding together create harmony

Pitches perceived to sound good together are consonant

Pitches perceived to sound bad together are dissonant

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PITCH: KEYS Pitches are organized in

musical scales, and scales define keys

In Western music we have 12 major and 12 minor keys

Within each key, there are positions: some at rest and some in tension

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PITCH: KEYS Positions within

keys are: Tonic Supertonic Mediant Sub-Dominant Dominant Sub-Mediant, and Leading Tone

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PITCH: KEYS Key Signatures

Modes: Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian

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Music’s Pitch Code Clefs anchor the

note locations on the staff

This is how performers know what note is supposed to be produced.

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Music’s Pitch Code

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TIMBRE Timbre: The

characteristics of the sound itself

We often use terms from the visual arts to describe musical timbre

Timbres often hold strong associations in our minds

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TIMBRE The sound of solo or

section instruments is also an aspect of timbre

Certain composers were so good at creating and combining tone colors, we say their “instrument” was the orchestra

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TEXTURE Texture: The

consistency of musical sounds

Monophonic texture means only one line of music sounding alone

Homophonic means one line leads and the others support it

Multiple independent lines happening together is called polyphonic texture

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FORM Form: The structure of a

musical composition

The primary elements of form are repetition, contrast, and variation

Forms range in scale from very small to very large

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FORMEight Basic Categories of

Form:1) Strophic2) Binary3) Ternary4) Rondo5) Theme & Variations6) Sonata7) Fugue8) Through-composed

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DYNAMICS Dynamics: The volume

or loudness of the music

This may refer to contrast among sections of a piece, the mix within a piece, or the overall presentation

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FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC

Rhythm Pitch Timbre Texture Dynamics (Form)