Elements of Music: In-Depth Notes

KEY

  • Tonic: The central or basic pitch around which a melody develops.
  • Scale: An ordered group of consecutive pitches.
  • Key: The basic pitch and scale around which a melody is based.
    • Major and Minor Scales: C major scale and C minor scale are standard examples.

THE CHROMATIC SCALE

  • Chromatic Scale: The Western scale where the octave is divided into twelve half steps.

RHYTHM AND METER: MUSICAL TIME

  • Rhythm: The pattern of sound durations that propels music forward.
  • Types of Notes: Different types indicate different rhythmic values.

TEMPO & TEMPO MARKINGS

  • Tempo: The basic pace of the music, indicating the speed.
  • Tempo Markings: Common terms include:
    • Allegro: Fast, lively tempo.
    • Adagio: Slow tempo.
    • Metronome: Device that denotes beats per minute.

BEATS AND MEASURES

  • Beat: The basic pulse of the piece.
  • Meter: Organizes groups of beats into measures (or bars).
  • Measure: Contains a fixed number of beats.
  • Bar Lines: Vertical lines that designate measures.
  • Metrical Pattern: Regularly recurring patterns of beats, dependent on accents.
    • Downbeat: The first accented beat of each pattern.
    • Upbeat: The weak beat that precedes a downbeat.
    • Syncopation: An emphasis on beats that may not be typically accented, e.g., stressing the second and fourth beat of each measure.

SIMPLE AND COMPOUND METERS

  • Time Signature: Specifies meter; e.g.,
    • Simple Duple: 2 beats per measure.
    • Simple Triple: 3 beats per measure.
    • Simple Quadruple: 4 beats per measure.
    • Compound Meters: Grouping of beats into larger units.

TEXTURE

  • Three Basic Musical Textures:
    • Monophony: One musician performing a single line of music, or multiple musicians performing in unison.
    • Polyphony: Multiple sounding lines, including counterpoint (imitative and non-imitative) and canon.
    • Homophony: A texture with a single melodic line accompanied by harmonies.

HARMONY

  • Harmony: The vertical combination of pitches that produce chords.
  • Triad: A three-note chord, created by stacking two-thirds together.
  • Harmonic Progression: Rules governing how chords progress.

TONALITY

  • Tonality: A system of musical organization based on a network of harmonic relationships centered on consonant triads.

DYNAMICS

  • Dynamics: Refers to the loudness or softness of the music.
  • Dynamic Marks: Indicate degree of loudness:
    • PP: pianissimo (very soft)
    • P: piano (soft)
    • mp: mezzopiano (moderately soft)
    • mf: mezzoforte (moderately loud)
    • F: forte (loud)
    • FF: fortissimo (very loud)
    • fp: fortepiano (loud then soft)
    • Crescendo: Gradual increase in loudness.
    • Decrescendo/Diminendo: Gradual decrease in loudness.
    • Sforzato (sf): A sudden strong accent.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

  • John Cage: Modern American composer known for his philosophy that music consists of both sound and silence.