THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC...the most important elements, especially in music that uses instruments...
Transcript of THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC...the most important elements, especially in music that uses instruments...
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THE ELEMENTS OF
MUSIC
WORKBOOK
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INTRODUCTION The different kinds of music played and sung around the world are incredibly
varied, and it is very difficult to define features that all music shares; one piece
might be characterised as a melody supported by an accompaniment of chords,
but another might have neither melody nor harmony (chords) but still be
regarded as music.
When we try to get inside music and understand how it works, we usually do this by identifying different
‘elements’ that can be described separately – while remembering that in reality we hear all of these
elements simultaneously.
The first thing we can do in defining these elements is to distinguish the ways in which sounds are
differentiated from each other from the arrangement of these different sounds in time. The ways in which
sounds can be distinguished from each other are many (pitch, timbre/sonority, loudness and so on) and
they need to be picked apart a little further. Pitch is defined by the frequency of vibration of a sounding
body (a string, a column of air, a metal plate, etc.). Faster vibrations give rise to ‘higher’ pitches, slower
vibrations to ‘lower’ pitches. The description of pitch as relatively ‘high’ or ‘low’ is reflected in the
notational convention of indicating higher pitches (those involving faster vibrations) higher on a musical
staff than low pitches. A succession of pitches gives rise to melody; simultaneous pitches define harmony.
Most real-world sounds comprise not a single frequency of vibration but a complex mixture of frequencies,
and this combination gives rise to the perception of timbre/sonority: timbre/sonority is one of the principal
elements that allows us to distinguish a clarinet from a trumpet, for example, or to distinguish between the
voices of two singers. Although usually considered rather lower down in the list of elements,
timbre/sonority plays an essential role alongside melody and harmony in western music, and can be one of
the most important elements, especially in music that uses instruments without definite pitches.
Similarly, dynamic contrasts (between louder and softer sounds) are important in many kinds of music. As
for the ways in which different sounds are arranged, this gives us the broad category of musical time
(under which come rhythm, metre, tempo and pulse). This is also linked to other phenomena, such as
melody and harmony, since they involve the arrangement of sounds in time, as noted above; melody and
harmony are placed among the most important elements in western music.
Finally, we must consider the ways in which different voices and instruments combine. This is partly a
matter of timbre/sonority (since different combinations of instruments have distinctive timbral/sonorous
characteristics) and partly of dynamics (i.e. dynamic levels and their variations), but it can also be much
more than that; the ways in which different lines of the music combine together is described as its texture,
which is another important aspect of music that we can investigate. This gives us the following list of
musical ‘elements’ which can be grouped in related
clusters, in the order in which they are discussed in the
following section:
• TIME: DURATION, PULSE, METRE, TEMPO,
RHYTHM.
• PITCH: MELODY, TONALITY, HARMONY.
• TEXTURE, TIMBRE/SONORITY, DYNAMICS.
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TIME - DURATION PULSE METRE
TEMPO AND RHYTHM The way music proceeds through time is defined in several basic ways, of
which the most important are DURATION, PULSE, METRE, TEMPO AND
RHYTHM. Perhaps the easiest of these concepts to grasp is DURATION: any
performance of a piece of music lasts a particular length of time. A song can
be short, as little as two or three minutes. An opera or a musical religious
ritual can last several hours. A concerto, a symphony or an Indian raga, might
last anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour or so. There may also be
sections within this overall duration: three or four movements within a concerto or symphony, verses and
choruses within a song. And, of course, individual sounds also have DURATION.
Most music has a PULSE, which is perceived as a series of regular beats. In
some music it is obvious; in other music it is subtle. In certain kinds of music
there is no pulse, or a pulse that is weak or intermittent.
In most music the beats are arranged into a regularly repeating pattern, in
which some beats are stressed, others unstressed. This pattern is called
METRE (as in poetry). It is important to be clear about the distinction between
pulse and metre. Pulse underlies
the basic beat, METRE is the way
those beats are arranged into patterns of stressed and
unstressed. The most common metres have measures (bars,
groups or cycles) of two, three or four beats (though many
other groups are encountered, particularly in musical
traditions of the Balkans, the Middle East and India). In
western music notation, the metre is indicated by a time
signature (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and so on), and by division of the
score into bars. (The second or lower figure in a time
signature refers to a particular note value, such as a crotchet (/4) or quaver (/8); the first or upper figure
gives the number of these note values per bar.)
The TEMPO of music is defined by the rate of pulse. Fast music is
music with a fast pulse; slow music is music with a slow pulse.
RHYTHM is the general term to describe how sounds are
distributed over time (so pulse, metre and tempo are all aspects of
rhythm in this broad sense). During a piece of music, notes or
sounds will come and go in varying patterns in relation to the
pulse, metre and tempo. These patterns are what is most often
meant by the ‘rhythm’ of the music. The rhythm can consist of patterns of longer or shorter notes in
various combinations: even or uneven, emphasising the metre and stresses or disrupting them. Patterns
tend to be grouped in identifiable PHRASES, similar to the phrases of speech. Much of the character of
music is determined by this detailed rhythm and its grouping into phrases, and the way they relate to
pulse, metre and tempo.
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ACTIVITY 1 We’re going to begin exploring the ‘elements’ of music by looking at
Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor, a piece of late eighteenth-century
western art music, with a duration of about half an hour. It is divided
into three sections called MOVEMENTS. We’ll begin by exploring the second movement, the ‘slow
movement’ of the Concerto. Scan the QR code above and listen to the opening bars of the second
movement and try to establish the METRE. How many beats do you think there are to the bar: two, three
or four? Try counting the music in different ways (in twos, threes and fours) to establish what METRE you
think the movement has?
ACTIVITY 2 Look at the score of this passage from the second, (‘Larghetto’), movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C
minor, given as SCORE 1 on the following pages. In this version of the score, the orchestral parts have
been reduced onto two staves, to make them easier to read. Look at the opening bars, which are for piano
only. Don’t worry if you are not used to reading a score on more than one staff. All you are looking at is
the number of beats in the bar – how many are there?
ACTIVITY 3
Scan the QR code to the right and listen to more of Mozart’s Piano
Concerto in C minor, which repeats this passage, this time continuing a
little further to bar 12. As you do so, try to follow the score, given as
SCORE 1 on the following pages. For most of this passage you can just concentrate on the piano part, and
particularly the upper staff of the piano part, which carries the melody. You only need to follow the
orchestral part in bars 5-8. Think about the rhythmic character of bars 1-12.
How might you describe the rhythm of this music?
Does it have clearly defined PHRASES – is it easy to break up into short chunks – or are the phrases difficult
to identify?
Does the rhythm have sudden contrasts, or does it flow smoothly?
Does the rhythmic character of the music change during this passage?
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SCORE ONE
Piano Concerto in C minor, K491, second movement, bars 1–23 (piano reduction) - Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
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ACTIVITY 4
We’re now going to look at the opening of the first movement of
Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor. Without looking at the score on the
following pages, scan the QR code to the right and listen to the opening
of the first movement. As you listen, try to establish in your mind the PULSE and METRE of this movement,
as you did with the slow movement. It may take you a while to be sure, because the opening bars do not
make it clear, but once the music “gets going”, try counting two, three or four against the music, and try to
establish the metre
Can you feel a regular pulse?
If so, how fast is it?
Is this movement in two-, three- or four-time?
ACTIVITY 5 Now listen to this same passage again, by scanning the QR code above and try to follow the score, given as
SCORE 2 on the following pages. Again, you don’t need to be able to pick out a lot of detail, just think
about the rhythmic character of the music. Use the times on your media player to identify points where
you think the rhythmic character of the music changes, and mark these points on the score on the
following pages. Then look specifically at bars 1-5 on the score and consider how the rhythmic character of
those bars is reflected in what you see on the score.
How does it compare with the rhythmic character of the second movement?
Does it flow smoothly, or are there distinct contrasts in rhythm in this passage?
If there are distinct contracts, what are they?
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SCORE TWO
Piano Concerto in C minor, K491, first movement, orchestral exposition, bars 1–99 (piano
reduction) - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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PITCH - MELODY TONALITY
HARMONY
Most music consists of notes of particular PITCHES (though
there are some exceptions – music for unpitched drums, for
example). Notes of different pitch occurring one after
another form MELODIES. Of course, there needs to be a
certain number of notes before one really perceives a fully
fledged melody, as the term is commonly used. Some music for instruments is made up of little groups of
two or more notes, which are more generally referred to as PHRASES, or (if they recur) MOTIFS. You could
say that these are fragments of melody – though it is also possible for a motif to consist of just a rhythm.
The notes of a melody are chosen from the notes of a SCALE or MODE. There are many different scales in
the world. In western music from the eighteenth century onwards, the two most common types of scale
have been the MAJOR SCALE and the MINOR SCALE. A major scale is said to be in a MAJOR KEY, and a
minor scale in a MINOR KEY. The name of the major or minor key is determined by the starting note
(TONIC or key note) of that scale. So a major scale that
starts on the note G is a scale of G major.
When notes of different pitch sound simultaneously, the
generic term for the result is HARMONY. Any single
instance of notes sounding simultaneously is a CHORD.
When the harmony of the music consists simply of a
succession of chords, this is HOMOPHONY (CHORDAL).
But it is also possible to create harmony in which one
melody co-exists with another, sounding simultaneously
on a different voice or instrument; this is POLYPHONY.
ACTIVITY 6
Scan the QR code to the right and listen to the first twelve bars of the
second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor again
following the score, given as SCORE 1. This time, as you listen, think
about the PITCH elements of the music.
During the first four bars, what is the melody doing?
Is it repeating the same note, going up, going down, moving suddenly or gradually, by small steps or by
larger steps?
What shape is being created by these movements up or down?
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ACTIVITY 7
Look at SCORE 1 and listen to the opening of the second movement
again.
What key is the second movement in? (Look at the key signature and the opening notes of the music and use the “Key Signature Chart (Circle of Fifths)” below to help you)
Then, look at the melody of the first four bars. Do you think that it sticks closely to the notes of the key, or does it deviate from it?
ACTIVITY 8
Look again at SCORE 2 showing the opening of the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor.
What key is the first movement in? (Look at the key signature and the opening notes of the music and use the “Key Signature Chart (Circle of Fifths)” below to help you)
Look at the melody of the opening bars (bars 1-13). Does it stick closely to the notes of the key?
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ACTIVITY 9 Staying with SCORE 2, now consider the shape of the melody at the beginning of the first movement and its groups into phrases. How might you describe the phrases in the first nine bars: how is the music divided into phrases and what are the melodic shapes of those phrases? How would you compare this with the beginning of the second movement from Activity 6?
TEXTURE TIMBRE SONORITY
AND DYNAMICS When you have several different notes sounding together,
whether in simple chords or in complicated polyphony, whether
voices or instruments, this creates what is known as a TEXTURE.
This term is also used with a fabric, in which the combining of
threads creates a particular texture – fine or coarse, open or
dense, for example.
TIMBRE and SONORITY are the terms used to describe the tone
quality of a sound, voice or instrument, for example its
brightness, mellowness or purity.
Finally, musicians use the term DYNAMICS to
describe levels of loud or soft.
The terms TEXTURE, TIMBRE/SONORITY and
DYNAMICS are grouped together in this section
because, in practice, they interact with each other. A
TEXTURE of different instruments playing together
will sound quite different, depending on the
TIMBRE/SONORITY and DYNAMICS of each
instrument within it.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor is scored for
piano with quite a small orchestra (by modern
standards), but it contains a wealth of effects and
subtleties in its use of TEXTURE, TIMBRE/SONORITY
and DYNAMICS
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ACTIVITY 10
Listen again to the opening of the first movement of Mozart’s Piano
Concerto in C minor by scanning the QR code to the right. Just listen
straight through the track (bars 1-52). This time, listen out for the
different instruments and their combinations. Make a note of each
striking change of TEXTURE, TIMBRE/SONORITY and DYNAMICS in this passage. It is suggested that you
do this twice, once just listening to the recording and the second time following SCORE 2 again. Some of
the changes in TEXTURE are more striking than others. Where does the most striking change occur?
MUSICAL NOTATION Notation also has a profound effect on the language we use to describe music: for instance, we describe harmony as the ‘vertical’ dimension of music because harmony is notated with the notes sounding together represented as vertical stacks; rhythms are referred to as ‘dotted’ if their notation requires the use of dots. This section on Musical Notation thinks about the ways in which musicians use notation, what it is good for and what its limitations might be. You will be comparing three pieces of notation all asking you to listen to a piece of music while attempting to follow it in a corresponding piece of notation. This may be harder in one or more examples than it is in the others, in which case don’t worry about ‘following the score’ but concentrate on how the notation is presented and what sense you can make of it.
ACTIVITY 11
Think back to the previous activities, where you were asked to listen to the first fifty-two bars of the first
movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor while following the two-stave score given on SCORE 2.
Which elements of the music you heard were indicated on the score and which were not? (Look back at SCORE 2 and listen to the opening again using the QR code above).
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ACTIVITY 12
Repeat Activity 11, doing exactly the same thing using an audio track and
printed music for a very different piece of music – a song by Captain
Beefheart and The Magic Band called ‘Big Eyed Beans from Venus’ – given
as SCORE 3 and listening by scanning the QR code above. Since far less
information is contained on the printed music, you might like to make brief notes about all the things that
could have been represented in notation but have not been (at least in this version).
SCORE THREE
Big Eyed Beans from Venus – Captain Beefheart (words and music by Don Van Vliet)
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In sum, the score of the Mozart contains enough information for suitably trained musicians to play the
opening of his Piano Concerto in C minor. A pianist can sit down at a piano and play the two-stave score.
The full orchestral score contains more or less everything you need to know in order to arrange a
performance of the concerto by an orchestra and pianist.
By contrast, the printed music of ‘Big Eyed Beans
from Venus’ doesn’t contain enough information
to enable a rock group to do the equivalent job.
This kind of printed music, comprising lyrics and
guitar chords, is very common in popular music;
it is often extremely useful in enabling bands or
solo guitarists to play passable versions of songs
(the same musicians would almost always refer
also to recorded versions of the songs as a
guide). If you are a guitarist and you like Captain
Beefheart’s music, you will want to figure out
how his guitarists play those riffs – and if this is
the only notation you have got, you are going to
have to figure it out for yourself!
Of course, if you think of an actual rock
performance for a moment, this is entirely
logical; rock bands don’t play from notation but
from memory, and there simply isn’t a score in
the way that there is a score of the Mozart. Rock
musicians don’t generally learn songs from
notation either, although they might use sheets
like this to get a head start in figuring out how
another band’s song is to be played. The point of
this is simple but fundamental: musical notation
exists to do a particular job within a particular
musical tradition, so the ways in which notation is used and the information that the notation contains
vary between musical traditions.
ACTIVITY 13
Scan the QR code to the right and watch two video clips of the Mozart and
Captain Beefheart pieces in performance. Watch them now.
How, if at all, is notation used in the two performances?
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The basic notation of a song in pop or jazz is called a LEAD SHEET. It usually consists of the melody (the
‘lead’), with lyrics if there are any, and indications of the accompanying harmony using chord symbols as a
shorthand. In jazz, lead sheets provide an aide memoire for a core repertoire of standards (often American
popular songs) with which jazz musicians are expected to be familiar, but also provide a basis for sharing
new compositions. The lead sheet provides only a rough guide for performances, as the same composition
can be performed in infinitely different ways. Most significantly, jazz musicians will also decide on a
particular ‘feel’ for their interpretation – a combination of the tempo and ‘groove’, for example swing or
bossa nova – which provides the rhythmic basis for the performance. Even the melody and harmony are
rarely performed simply as notated on the lead sheet – often the rhythm of the melody is treated very
freely, and different harmonies are added or substituted. Of course, many elements of a jazz performance
are not usually represented on the lead sheet at all, such as a bass line, drum part and patterns for
accompanying chordal instruments such as guitar and piano, which, along with solos, are usually
improvised in accordance with the chosen ‘feel’ for the performance.
ACTIVITY 14
Scan the QR code to the right and listen to the first 0’54” of Veena
Sahasrabuddhe’s performance of a composition called ‘Ranga de
rangarejavaa’ following the notation given below as you listen. The
notation has been given in two forms, firstly, the traditional Indian
notation and secondary transcribed into traditional western standard notation.
‘Ranga de rangarejavaa’ (Raga Madhmad Sarang, teental) as sung by Veena Sahasrabuddhe, first line in
Indian notation.
The top row (3, X, 2, 0) indicates the structure of the tala or metre: X marks beat 1 but occurs in the middle
of the line because the piece begins on beat 12. The letters on the second row indicate the main notes to
be sung.
‘Ranga de rangarejavaa’ (Raga Madhmad Sarang, teental) as sung by Veena Sahasrabuddhe, first line
transcribed in western standard
With indications of the tala structure added. Written at the pitch used for the recording; the Indian
notation indicates only relative pitch.
How much does the notation tell you about the music you hear on the recording?
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ACTIVITY 15
Read the following regarding “Musical Notation” filling in the missing word or words
choosing from those given in the box below:
Of the three examples you’ve explored – the Mozart Piano Concerto, the Captain
Beefheart Lead Sheet and the Indian notation of Raga Madhmad Sarang, the score
contains by far the most , because it is intended to enable
to play the piece. Of course, it isn’t all they need to know, because to be able to carry out the
instructions properly requires many years of – musicians bring
an enormous amount of contextual and to bear in interpreting a
. Nevertheless, what this kind of notation allows
to do is to reproduce a very complex music, often involving the coordination
of many different , with a high degree of precision. There are other examples of musical
traditions involving the coordination of many different parts, such as ,
which use notation very little or not at all. But in these cases musicians tend to be much less concerned
with playing music the same way it has been played before, and more comfortable with the idea that the
piece is being recreated in a slightly different each time.
To some extent then, notation can help to a piece of music in a particular form and
slow down what would otherwise be an inevitable process of change; in western art music this is often
considered desirable. This doesn’t mean the of the music doesn’t change over time,
but the things that change most tend to be the things that aren’t on the score: the
instrumental and ,
precise and , rather than the actual notes. This is
just one of many ways in which the nature of the notation musicians use plays a role in determining the
music which is played and listened to.
dynamics score stabilise western classical musicians specified information
sound musicians Mozart parts technical knowledge playing techniques
tempo markings timbres/sonorities Indonesian Gamelan training and practice form
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There are many other kinds of notation in use around the world, and to get a sense of this – without
getting into too much detail – we’re going to look at how a well-known melody – “Greensleeves” – can be
represented in different forms of notation.
‘Greensleeves’, in the Dorian Mode
– a simple transcription of melody
onto a single staff
‘Greensleeves’, including chord
notations for the guitar. This is
similar to a LEAD SHEET in popular
songs, but without the words.
(Note the convention here of indicating a
minor chord with a lower-case letter (e.g.
‘e’): the alternative way of writing this
same chord, ‘Em’ is more common in lead
sheets)
‘Greensleeves’, in a type of modern guitar
TABLATURE.
(Here, the horizontal lines represent not notes but
strings on a guitar. The small numbers replacing
note heads indicate which fret on which the string
must be pressed down when it is plucked. The
notation is therefore a direct instruction to the
musician where to place his or her fingers. As long
as the tuning is known (and here it is given as the
top line of the notation), the pitches can be
deduced, but they are not represented directly as
they are in standard notation)
‘Greensleeves’, melody in CIPHER
NOTATION using Arabic numerals
(Number 1 refers to the first note of the scale, 2 the second
note, and so on. It does not indicate that it is to start from
the note E as the previous three examples do, and nor does
it specify which scale is to be used (e.g. major or minor –
this version of the tune is actually in the DORIAN MODE).
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Looking at these different notations of the same
melody – ‘Greensleeves’ – tells us different things:
they do not all convey the same information. The first
shows us the tune – that is, the pitches, the relative
durations of the notes and the metre – but doesn’t tell
us what instrument(s) it is to be played on. The
second indicates chords that can accompany the
melody, but leaves open the question of how they
might be played (guitar symbols are given, but from
the chord names, one could just as easily make a
simple accompaniment on the piano, for example).
The third example specifies exactly how to play the
tune on a particular instrument, as does the fifth,
whereas the fourth gives the least information of all –
and is therefore the most flexible and adaptable to
different instrumental and vocal ensembles.
ACTIVITY 16
On the next page, match the correct Element of Music key word or words to the correct definition.
‘Greensleeves’, arranged for the Chinese lute
(pipa) by Tsun Yuen Lui.
(This is also a form of TABLATURE, but it is very
different! It is written for the Chinese lute (pipa)
and the two lines of characters in each column
represent the pitch (indicated in cipher notation –
using numerals) and the right-hand plucking
technique to be used).
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The Elements of Music Key
Words
Spend a few moments looking at the words below and then complete the table at the bottom of the page
by adding the correct word(s) to give the correct definition of each of the Elements of Music.
ARTICULATION RHYTHM PITCH MELODY SILENCE
DURATION STRUCUTRE & FORM TONALITY TEXTURE TEMPO
DYNAMICS METRE HARMONY TIMBRE/SONORITY
Element(s) of Music Definition
The highness or lowness of the sound
The speed, or fastness or slowness of the music
The way in which a piece of music is put together. Usually created by organising or repeating different sections in a particular order.
The volume or loudness or softness of the music.
The division of a rhythm into parts of equal value
Describes the different sounds or ‘tone colours’ produced by instruments and voices allowing us to tell them apart
The length of each sound
A tune or succession of notes, varying in highness or lowness, that have an organised and recognisable shape
Layers of sound combined to make music. More layers produce a ‘thicker’ sound, fewer produce a ‘thinner’ sound.
How you play or sing a note – it’s an important part of performing music expressively. Includes terms such as staccato, legato, accent, pizzicato, sforzando.
The effect produced by two or more pitched notes sounding at the same time, often described as a chord.
The opposite of sound
A series of notes of different lengths that create a pattern. Usually fits with a regular beat or pulse
The relationship between notes of different pitches in a musical scale. Can be described in a number of ways: major, minor, modal etc.