The essential elements of music.   Hyperlinks clicked on this page open a new window, which may refer to demonstration features, such as buttons to play music, which are contained on another screen. Please refer to the menu sequence at the foot of that new window, if you wish to go to that other screen.

The principal elements of music are melody,    rhythm,    harmony,    form,    dynamics,   and texture.

Melody
A melody is a sequence of musical notes, of differing pitches, which is pleasing to the ear and memorable. A sequence of notes played at random will usually not be particularly pleasing or interesting, though occasionally it might be so. The ability to write a pleasing melody is an important part of the art of composition.

Some melodies are heard easily, because they are pitched high above the rest of the orchestra or musical group. These melodies are often called tunes, or themes. Frequently such tunes can easily be sung and remembered. Other melodies are less easily heard, because they are embedded in the orchestral texture, at a lower pitch or softer dynamic. Several melodies sounded together in this way create counterpoint.

Each note in a melody is characterized by its pitch (high or low note) and its duration (how long the pitch lasts). The distance between the pitches of two successive notes is called the interval. The pattern of these intervals is one of the two most important characteristics of a melody. The pattern of the durations of successive notes is called the rhythm, and this is the other important characteristic of every melody.

Rhythm
Rhythm is defined by note durations and their starting times, the pattern of long and short notes. It represents the time dimension in music. It also relates to the speed of music, called the tempo, and to the accented notes. 

Most western music has regular accents, which divide the music into bars or measures. The first beat in every bar is accented. The pattern of beats in each bar is measured by the time signature (or the meter in USA). This defines how many beats per bar, and how long each beat lasts. For example, 3/4 time means three crotchet beats per bar (In USA three quarter-note beats per bar).

The tempo can be indicated precisely, by specifying how many crotchet or quarter-note beats per minute. A typical moderate tempo is 100 crotchets per minute. The metronome is a device which can be set to any tempo, and it clicks loudly on the first beat of each bar, and less loudly on subsequent beats. In older times, composers were not so precise, rather they used Italian terms such as vivace (very fast), allegro (slightly fast), moderato (moderate speed), andante (slightly slow), largo (very slow)  to give a rough indication of speed.

Varying the speed or tempo while playing can give great emphasis and expression to the music. Composers use Italian terms such as Rallentando (Slowing) or Accelerando (Speeding up) to indicate variations to tempo.

Harmony
Harmony relates to the sounding together of several notes, in such a way that the combined effect is pleasing to the ear. When two or more notes are played together this forms a chord.  The nature and effect of the chord is determined by the intervals between each note in the chord. This is sometimes described as the vertical aspect of harmony.

The pattern formed by the changes in chords as the music plays, is the other essential aspect of harmony, called the chord progression - the horizontal aspect of harmony.  Certain chord progressions sound pleasing and natural, others sound disjointed or extremely strange.

Form
The form of a piece of music describes the structure and patterns of melodic fragments in the whole composition. Different melodic fragments may be alternated for contrast, or the same fragment repeated to establish a theme in the listener's mind. Compound patterns can be created by grouping smaller patterns using similar repetitive or contrasting techniques.

The simplest music, typified by folk songs, nursery rhymes, and popular songs, is often in binary form, in which one theme called A is followed by a contrasting theme called B. Each fragment may be repeated, creating a AABB pattern, or alternated, making an ABAB pattern.

More complex forms used in western music include sonata form, rondo form, and the theme and variations.  These building blocks can be combined in even longer patterns to create a large work in a Compound Form, such as a symphony, concerto,  string quartet, sonata, or suite.

Dynamics
The loudness and softness (the dynamics) of notes and chords in a composition combine to give expression to the music. In works for instrumental ensembles there is scope for some instruments to be louder whilst others are softer, and the alternation of these emphases gives great expressive possibilities to the composer.

There is a set of commonly used abbreviations of Italian terms used to represent dynamics on the musical staff.

Abbreviation or sign Italian term Meaning
f forte loud
p piano soft
ff fortissimo very loud
pp pianissimo very soft
mf mezzo forte moderately loud
mp mezzo piano moderately soft
fp forte piano loud, then soft
sf sforzando sharply accented
cresc. crescendo gradually louder
decres decrescendo gradually softer
dim. diminuendo gradually softer

Texture
In instrumental ensembles, there is a great deal of flexibility to contrast the sounds of different groupings of instruments. A mass of violins with the other stringed instruments of the orchestra, has a sweeping, majestic and flowing texture, which contrasts greatly with the more delicate sounds of the woodwinds, or the bold and powerful sounds of the brass. 

If you hear the same note played at the same loudness on a flute, a trumpet and a violin, you can easily hear the difference. This is called the tone colourtimbre or texture of the note. Scientifically, the difference is caused by the mix of different overtones or harmonics above the fundamental tone being played.. A flute is a fairly pure tone, with relatively few strong harmonics. An oboe has nearly all the harmonics, whereas the clarinet's distinctive tone is caused by its lack of the even-numbered harmonics.


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