The Elements

Pitch

The highness or lowness of a sound determined by the number of vibrations made by the sound-making instrument.

Tone

A sound that has a definite pitch.

Interval

The distance between any two tones.

Range

The distance between the lowest and highest tones that a voice or an instrument can produce.

Dynamics

The degree of loudness or softness (volume) in music, which can occur suddenly or gradually.

Accent

Emphasis in music.

Tone color

Also known as timbre; the unique quality of every sound.

Voices

A variety of types and styles according to range, quality, and type of music.

Instruments

Any mechanism, besides the voice, that produces musical sounds.

Register

A part of an instrument's total range, usually referred to as high, middle, or low.

Strings

Instruments like violin, viola, cello, and bass, which can be bowed or plucked.

Woodwinds

Instruments that include no reed (piccolo, flute), single reed (clarinet, saxophone), and double reed (oboe, bassoon).

Brass

Instruments like trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba that use valves and slides to change the length of tubing.

Percussion

Instruments that are struck, shaken, or rubbed, some with definite pitch and others with indefinite pitch.

Keyboard

Instruments such as piano, harpsichord, and organ.

Rhythm

The flow of music through time.

Beat

The regular pulse found in most music.

Measure

A group containing a fixed number of beats, with the downbeat being the first or stressed beat.

Meters

Common groupings of beats, including duple, triple, quadruple, and sextuple; less common are quintuple and septuple.

Syncopation

Stress or accent on an unexpected beat or part of a beat.

Tempo

The speed of the beat.

Melody

A series of single notes that form a recognizable whole, creating a melodic curve or contour.

Step

The interval between two adjacent tones.

Leap

An interval larger than a step.

Climax

The emotional focal point of a melody, often the highest tone.

Phrases

Parts of melodies that form a unit, often marked by a breathing point.

Sequence

Repetition of a melodic pattern at a higher or lower pitch.

Theme

The main melody of an extended piece of music.

Harmony

The construction and progression of chords.

Chord

A combination of three or more tones sounded at once.

Progression

A series of chords.

Consonance

A stable, restful tone combination.

Dissonance

An unstable, tense tone combination.

Triad

A three-tone chord created by alternate tones of the scale.

Tonic

The triad built on the first tone of the scale.

Dominant

The triad built on the fifth tone of the scale.

Subdominant

The triad built on the fourth tone of the scale.

Arpeggio

Individual chord tones sounded one after another.

Block chord

Chord tones sounded simultaneously.

Key

The centering of pitches around a particular pitch; tonality.

Keynote

The central tone of a key.

Scale

Pitches arranged from low to high.

Major and minor scales

Arrangements of whole and half steps.

Chromatic scale

A scale made entirely of half steps.

Modulation

A shift from one key to another within a composition.

Tonic key

The main key of a composition, even with modulations.

Texture

How different layers of sound relate to each other.

Monophonic texture

A single unaccompanied melodic line.

Polyphonic texture

Two or more melodic lines of approximately equal importance sounded simultaneously.

Homophonic texture

One main melody accompanied by chords.

Form

The organization of musical elements in time.

Repetition

The repetition of melodies or extended sections.

Contrast

Different melodies or extended sections.

Variation

A melody repeated with some features changed.

Ternary form

A musical form with statement, contrast, and return (A B A).

Binary form

A musical form with statement and counterstatement (A B).