ART OF LISTENING 7 Elements of music

Meter

Aspect of Rhythm Beats organized into recognizable/recurring accent patterns. Can be seen or felt through the standard patterns used by conductors. Duple meter - a 2-pulse grouping. Triple meter - a 3-pulse grouping. Quadruple meter - a 4-pulse grouping.

Syncopation

Aspect of Rhythm an off the beat accent (between counted numbers).

Rubato

Aspect of Rhythm freely and expressively making subtle changes in the tempo, a technique commonly used in the music of the Romantic era.

Ritardando

Aspect of Rhythm gradual slowing down the tempo.

Accelerando

Aspect of Rhythm gradual speeding up the tempo.

Tempo

Aspect of Rhythm the speed of the BEAT. Indications are often designated by Italian terms: Largo= 40-65, large or labored (slow). Adagio= 66-75, slow Andante= 76-107, steady walking tempo Moderato= 108-119, moderate Allegro= 120-167, fast, happy Presto= 168-208, very fast

Rhythm

BEAT, METER, TEMPO, SYNCOPATION The element of TIME in music. the organization of time using long and short note values.

Harmony

CHORD, PROGRESSION, CONSONANCE, DISSONANCE, KEY, TONALITY, ATONALITY The verticalization of pitch. the sounding of two or more musical notes simultaneously. 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.

Dynamics

FORTE, PIANO, CRESCENDO, DECRESCENDO _________ are all the musical aspects to the relative loudness (or softness) of music. an expressive element of music indicating varying degrees of volume.

Form

INARY, TERNARY, STROPHIC, THROUGH-COMPOSED (or musical architecture) Refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections. also referred to as musical form or musical architecture the organization and structure of a musical composition. 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 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 forms are described below: Musical Form can also be referred to as Musical Architecture.

Texture

MONOPHONIC, HOMOPHONIC, POLYPHONIC, IMITATION, COUNTERPOINT Refers to the number of individual musical lines (melodies) and the relationship these lines have to one another. the horizontal and vertical relationships of musical elements (melody, rhythm and harmony.

Melody

PITCH, THEME, MOTIVE, CONJUNCT, DISJUNCT The LINEAR/HORIZONTAL presentation of pitch. a linear succession of single notes, perceived as a single entity; a combination of pitch and rhythm 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.

Timbre

REGISTER, RANGE, INSTRUMENTATION (also referred to as tone or color) The character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity. also known as tone, color or tonal color, is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre: also tone, color, tonal quality or tonal color; is what makes a particular musical sound have a different sound from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. Ex. It is the difference in sound between a trumpet and a trombone playing the same note, in the same register, at the same volume.

7 Elements of Music

Rhythm, Dynamics, Melody, Harmony, Timbre, Texture, Form

Decrescendo (or diminuendo)

Terms related to Dynamics gradually decreasing volume.

Crescendo - gradually increasing volume.Decrescendo (or diminuendo) - gradually decreasing volume.Accent - temporarily emphasizing a note by punching or leaning into it.

Terms related to Dynamics gradually increasing volume

Accent

Terms related to Dynamics temporarily emphasizing a note by punching or leaning into it.

Register

The relative height or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument, or group of instruments. A higher register indicates a higher pitch.

Strophic Form

a design in vocal music, in which the same music is used for several different verses (strophes) of words. Ex. - "Deck the Halls..." has many verses of words sung to the same music. Verse 1 . . . Verse 2 . . . Verse 3 (etc.)

Ternary

a form consisting of three sections: the first section is followed by a contrasting section and then by an exact or nearly exact repeat of the first section: A - B - A. Sometimes called a song form.

Dissonance

a harsh-sounding harmonic combination.

Basic Forms

a melody that is the basis for an extended musical work.

Binary

a musical form where one section is followed by a contrasting section: A - B.

Homophonic texture

a musical texture with two or more notes sounding at 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, i.e. - blocks of sound). A typical example would be melody and accompaniment.

Consonance

a smooth-sounding harmonic combination.

Strophic

a song in which each verse uses the same melody. A - A - A - A

Through-composed

a structure in which there is no repeat or return of any large-scale musical section. Ex. - Schuberts' Erlkönig. A B C D E . . .

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. A - B - A

Binary Form

a two-part form in which both main sections are repeated (as indicated in the diagram by repeat marks). The basic premise of this form is contrast. ||: A :||: B :||

Heterophonic texture

a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. This type of texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody differently, either in a different rhythm or tempo, or with various embellishments and elaborations. Heterophony was initially introduced into systematic musicology to denote a subcategory of polyphonic music, though is now regarded as a textural category in its own right. Heterophony is often a characteristic feature of non-Western traditional musics - for example, Ottoman classical music, Arabic classical music, Japanese Gagaku, the gamelan music of Indonesia.

Quality (or Tonal Quality)

also known as timbre, is the character of musical tones with reference to their richness or perfection; the character of the effect produced by a harmonic combination of musical tones. A further example would be if you play a C on the piano and then sing that C, you and the piano have produced the same pitch: however, your voice has a different sound quality than the piano. The scientific principles of musical acoustics present in this case are that each musical instrument or voice produces its own characteristic pattern of overtones, which gives it a unique tonal color or quality, or timbre. Composers use timbre much like painters use colors to evoke certain effects on a canvas. For example, the upper register (altissimo) of a clarinet produces tones that are brilliant and piercing, while its lower register (chalumeau) gives a rich and dark timbre. A variety of timbres can also be created by combining instruments and/or voices (combinations).

Color (or Tonal Color)

also known as timbre, is the quality of a sound that is not characterized as frequency (pitch), duration (rhythm), or amplitude (volume).

Theme

aspect of melody a melody that is the basis for an extended musical work.

Motif/Motive

aspect of melody a short melodic or rhythmic figure that recurs throughout a composition; the smallest structural unit possessing thematic identity.

Disjunct

description of a melody that is ragged or jumpy; difficult to sing or play; melody containing unusual or awkward intervallic leaps.

Conjunct

description of a melody that is smooth; easy to sing or play; largely stepwise motion.

forte[ f ]

dynamic level loud

mezzo-forte[ mf ]

dynamic level moderately loud

mezzo-piano [ mp ]

dynamic level moderately quiet

piano[ p ]

dynamic level quiet

fortissimo[ ff }

dynamic level very loud

pianissimo [ pp ]

dynamic level very quiet

Modality

harmony created out of the ancient Medieval/Renaissance modes.

Tonality

harmony that focuses on a home key center.

Duration

how long a sound (or silence) lasts. Aspect of Rhythm

Repeat

i.e., musical repeat: signs that indicate a musical section should be repeated. ||: :||

Imitation texture

is a special type of polyphonic texture produced whenever a musical idea is echoed from voice to voice. Although imitation can be used in monophonic styles, it is more prevalent in polyphonic art-music; especially from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Counterpoint texture

is a texture in which the relationship between voices are harmonically interdependent (polyphony), yet independent in rhythm and contour. Most commonly identified in the European classical tradition, and strongly developed during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period, especially in the Baroque.

Range

is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch a musical instrument can play. For a singing voice, the equivalent is vocal range ( ex. - soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass). The range of a musical part is the distance between its lowest and highest note.

Atonality

modern harmony that avoids any sense of a home key center.

Monophonic texture

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

Polyphonic texture

music with two or more independent melodies sounding at the same time. The most intricate types of polyphonic texture are canon and fugue, and may introduce three, four, five or more independent melodies simultaneously. This is called counterpoint.

Through-composed

songs with new music composed for each stanza. A - B - C - D - E ...

Beat

structural rhythmic pulse of the music.

Instrumentation

the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually. Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration, however this is mis-leading as instrumentation is only one aspect of the process of orchestration.

Dissonant chords

under Harmony 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.