Download File

The Basic Elements of music
List of basic element:
1. Beat and Meter
2. Dynamics
3. Harmony
4. Key
5. Melody
6. Music notation
7. Pitch
8. Rhythm
9. Tempo
10. Texture
11. Timbre
http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnerstheory/a/musicelements.htm
Beat and meter: Beats are used as a way of counting time when playing a piece of
music. Beats gives music its regular rhythmic pattern. Beats are grouped
together in a measure, the notes and rests corresponds to a certain number of
beats. The grouping of strong and weak beats is called meter. You can find the
meter signature, also called time signature, at the beginning of every music
piece, it is the 2 numbers written after the clef.
The number on top tells you the
number of beats in a measure
The number at the bottom tells
you what note gets the beat.
Dynamics: Dynamics is how you play the volume. It can be soft or loud. P stand for piano
and it means slow. MP stand for mezzo piano and it means you play moderately slow.
MF stand for mezzo forte and it means you play moderately fast. F stand for Forte and
it means you have to play fast.
Harmony: Harmony is melody, chords, dynamics and how you play. For example drum
always plays chords and people must hear the drum so they know the rhythm but drum
doesn’t play melody. So, the how you play, tempo and other things is called harmony.
Key: Key is the place where you play. Also known as tonality; a principle in music
composition wherein at the end of the piece there is a feeling of completion by going
back to the tonic. The tonic is the principal pitch of a composition. Simply put, key
refers to the central note (i.e. key of C), scale (i.e. C scale) and chord (i.e. C Major
triad)
Melody: A melody is also tune, voice, or line. This refers to the memorable tune
created by playing a succession or series of pitches.
Music Notation: Music notation has the same meaning as music writing system.
Pitch: A note location on the staff tells you what it will sounds like. If you see a piano
there is 88 keys to play and each key represents a different pitch.
Found in this website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pitch
Rhythm: Rhythm is everywhere. If you hear basketball being dribbled, raindrops
falling, or hands clapping there is a rhythm. Rhythm that makes music move and flow.
Found in this website: http://www.sfskids.org/templates/musicLabF.asp?pageid=12
Tempo: Tempo is the speed of the music. Tempo can be fast or slow or in-between and it
can change during song. Tempo influences how music sounds or feel. If you hear in a
clock there is the tick-tock sound, if you hear that the sound is the same in a
metronome.
Found in this website: http://www.sfskids.org/templates/musicLabF.asp?pageid=11
Texture: Texture is one of the basic elements of music. When you describe the texture of a
piece of music, you are describing how much is going on in the music at any given moment.
Found in this website: http://cnx.org/content/m11645/latest/