elements of music

04/12/23 1

IntroductionElements of Music

Listen to This By Mark Evan Bonds

PRENTICE HALL©2009 Pearson Education, Inc.Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

1-2Listen to This By Mark Evan Bonds

Melody: The Tune

A single line of notes heard in succession as a coherent unit Breaths correspond to the ends of phrases (poetry

and music). Points of arrival/rest = cadences; like the periods in

sentences. Melodic motion--stepwise (= conjunct) vs. leaps

(disjunct); usually a combination of both, but one predominates.

Contour--upward or downward movement or both




Melody: The Tune Derived from the notes of a scale--series of notes that

moves stepwise and covers a complete octave Melodic Interval--distance between two notes, one

after another Half steps--adjacent notes on the piano Whole steps--two notes apart on the piano (including

black notes) Tonic--beginning note of scale; most important note in

scale; defines the name of the key Modes--major and minor--half steps in different places in

the scale Major = often bright, happy Minor = often somber, darker, less optimistic




Melody: Acoustics

The science of sound Pitch--highness or lowness of sound; based

on frequency--number of oscillations/sec. Dynamics/volume--loudness or softness of

sound--based on amplitude or size of sound wave




Rhythm: Ordering of Music Through Time

Meter--underlying pattern of beats (pulses) that maintains itself consistently throughout a work Triple meter--beats grouped in 3’s (LONG-short-

short or STRONG-weak- weak) Duple meter--beats grouped in 2’s (LONG-short

or STRONG-weak) Measure--each unit of beats in a meter

Number and duration of notes within each unit can vary.




Harmony: Multiple Notes Played/Sung Simultaneously

Harmonic Interval--two notes sounding simultaneously

Chord--three or more notes sounding simultaneously

A melody can be harmonized (using chords) in more than one way.

When a melody is in a “key,” the first note of that scale’s key is called the tonic. Harmonies are centered on this main note.

Tonic--serves as a “home base.”




Texture--Number and Relationship of Musical Lines

Monophonic--one single melodic line with no accompaniment

Homophonic--a single melodic line with accompaniment; melody stands out above accompaniment, which is supportive

Polyphonic--multiple melodies of equal importance performed simultaneously




Timbre: The Color of Music

Timbre is what makes instruments/voices sound different, even when they perform the same notes.

Created by the fundamental and spectral content of the overtones/partials in the sound wave.

Frequency remains the same, but wave form is different.




Dynamics: Volume of Sound

Ranges from very soft to very loud.

Composers often use Italian terms/abbreviations to designate volume.

pp (pianissimo) = very soft

p (piano) = soft mp (mezzo piano) =

medium soft mf (mezzo forte) =

medium loud f (forte) = loud ff (fortissimo) = very

loud




Form: Structure of Musical Work

Way in which individual units are put together

Based on three strategies: Repetition--the same music over again Variation--the same music over again but

slightly different in some way Contrast--different music




Form: Structure of Musical Work

Subunits of Form are designated using letters. First section = A Second section = A, if the same

(repetition), A’ if slightly different (variation), B if different (contrast)

Subsequent sections, if different from A or B, are named C, D, etc.




Word/Music Relationships

In songs, how does the music relate to the words? Word painting--using musical elements to

“describe” a word or phrase Often the structure of the poetry matches the form

of the work; the poetry (lyrics) dictates the form. Repetitions/variations/contrasts in the poetry may

lead to repetitions/variations/contrasts in the music.




Genre: Category of a Work

Determined by combination of performance medium (solo voices, choir, orchestra, string quartet, band, etc.) and social function.

Sets up expectations in the listener--a symphony is different from a song.