Introduction to the Elements of Music

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Introduction to the Elements of Music

• Year 10 IGCSE

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What are they?

• All music can be described in relation to the
  elements of music, which are different
  _______________ of music.
• These include
• Dynamics
• Rhythm/Metre
• Pitch/Melody/Harmony
• Instrumentation/Timbre
• Texture
• Tempo
• Structure/Form
• Context

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Easy Way to Remember These

• D R. P I T T S C

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Dynamics

• Change in volume, musical expression, determining
  partly the mood of the piece. This indicates the
  loudness/softness of a piece of music, and the
  way to attack certain notes (ie. Accents)
• These are notated using abbreviations or symbols.

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Some Common Dynamic Markings

• ppp - pianissinissimo
• pp pianissimo (softer than piano)
• p piano (soft)
• mp mezzo piano (stronger than piano, but still
  soft)
• mf mezzo forte (medium strong)
• f forte (strong/loud)
• ff fortissimo (stronger than forte)
• ARTICULATIONS
• lt - accent
• - sustain (sustenuto)
• . staccato (short note)

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Some Common Dynamic Markings

• lt Crescendo (cresc.) getting louder
• gt decresceno (decresc.) getting softer
• Sfz surprise! suddenly loud

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Rhythm/Metre

• Your definition The arrangement of musical time.
  Music is arranged in beats grouped into measures.
  Meter is the grouping of strong and weak beats.
  Rhythm is the arrangement of note lengths in a
  piece of music.
• Rhythm is shaped by metre

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Pitch/Melody/Harmony/Tonality

• PITCH
• Music is produced through VIBRATIONS. The
  frequency of these vibrations produce sounds of
  varying lowness or highness.
• Slowly vibrations/bigger objects
• Faster vibrations/smaller objects

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Pitch/Melody/Harmony/Tonality

• MELODY
• This is the arrangement of series pitches in
  musical time. This can be considered the
  recognizable tune of the piece.
• This is the HORIZONTAL aspect of music

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Pitch/Melody/Harmony/Tonality

• HARMONY
• This is a group of notes (chords) played together
  and the relationship between a series of chords.
  
• This usually supports the melody, played
  simultaneously or as broken chords, giving music
  its TEXTURE.
• This is the vertical aspect of music.

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Pitch/Melody/Harmony/Tonality

• TONALITY
• Also known as the key. A piece can be centered
  around a certain set of pitches (major and minor
  scales), where there is a sense of completion
  when the CHORDS return to the TONIC, from the
  DOMINANT (Key of C returning from G to C)

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Instrumentation/Timbre

• What is producing the music. This describes what
  instruments or voices are heard. This will
  greatly affect the mood of the piece.
• Timbre is also known as TONE COLOR, which is the
  quality of sound that is used to distinguish
  between instruments

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Texture

• This describes the layers in music and how they
  relate to each other. This is also related to
  the VERTICAL aspect of music.
• THICK/THIN
• MONOPHONIC
• POLYPHONIC
• HOMOPHONIC

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Tempo

• How fast or slow music is played. This is usually
  marked using with symbols or italian terms
• Some Common Tempo Markings
• Largo
• Andante
• Allegro
• Allegretto

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Structure/Form

• This explains how music is organized into
  sections. The structure of the piece is an
  overall picture of how the piece progresses (in
  sections, using repetition, phrase structure
  etc).
• Some common musical forms
• Binary
• Ternary
• Rondo
• Through-Composed
• Strophic
• Sonata Allegro
• Theme and Variation

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Context

• This allows you to appreciate music for where it
  was originally created, and for the purpose it
  was created.
• This adds meaning to the music you hear, and will
  give explanations for why certain elements of
  music are used in distinct ways.
• Ie. How can you tell the difference between a
  piece by piano Bach and a piece by Chopin?
• Ie. How can you tell the difference between a
  piece from Korea and a piece from Spain?