Elements of Music and Classification of Instruments

Music

Art of organized sounds in time

expresses EMOTIONS AND IDEA

Hornbostel-Sachs (or Sachs-Hornbostel)

is a system of musical instruments

classification devised by Erich Moritz von

Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in 1914.

Chordophones

sound is primarily produced by the

vibration of a string or strings that are stretched

between fixed points.

Aerophones

sound is primarily produced by

vibrating air

Membranophones

sound is primarily produced by

the vibration of a tightly stretched membrane

Idiophones

sound is primarily produced by the

actual body of the instrument vibrating

Electronophones

newest and fast-growing

category

Sound

Vibration of an

object

Rhythm

Ordered

duration of

sounds and

silences

PITCH

is a major auditory attribute

of musical tones

Melody

the unfolding in musical time of a principal

single line of pitches.

Harmony

occurs when two or more pitches are

sounded simultaneously

The Chromatic Scale

Division of a pitch continuum into 12 equal parts

within an octave

1st

Tonic

2nd

Supertonic

3rd

Mediant

4th

Subdominant

5th

Dominant

6th

Submediant

7th (leading note)

Leading tune

Triads

A triad consists of three consecutive

lines or spaces

Beat

a regularly recurring pulse

the most basic unit of musical

time

Tempo

how fast the beat moves

Duration

the length of time

we hold a pitch

DYNAMICS

the loudness or softness of

musical parts

TEXTURE

the interplay of musical parts

piano

soft

mezzo forte

moderately loud

mezzo piano

moderately soft

forte

loud

Crescendo

gets louder

Diminuendo

gets quieter

Monophonic Texture

single melody with nothing else (1)

Homophonic Texture

melodic line supported by chordal accompaniments.

Polyphonic Texture

literally means “many voices” (two

or more independent)

Timbre

the tone color, the characteristic sound produced by a voice or instrument

Musical Form

overall shape of a piece of music, and all musical

elements contribute to that shape

binary form, is a standard form where the

musical structure divides into two parts

ternary form is a musical structure in three

parts

Musical Style

the combination of the elements of

music that results in a sound that

characterizes a certain type of music.