9 Basic Elements List

As composers we have a bunch of things that we can manipulate to create our composition. The elements of music are the different parts or ingredients that go into making a piece of music. This list is what takes your piece from a nice little ditty that you hum, to a proper piece of music. Everybody has a slightly different list of elements!

Rhythm is the bit you can clap! It is short and long notes and how they are combined. Some pieces have very distinctive overall rhythmic feels - dotted rhythms, swing feel, syncopated, etc. The time signature or meter of a piece can also be a feature of the rhythm element. The time signature tells us where the emphasis goes in each bar and how the rhythm is divided up into bars. 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 - Simple Time 6/8, 9/8 - Compound time 5/4, 7/4 etc - Complex The melody of a piece of music is the tune and is often considered the most important element. To create a melody you need to use: Pitch - using high and low notes Intervals - moving in steps or small leaps. Phrasing - where you take your musical breaths. Motif - a short musical idea. Melodic development - repetition, sequence, inversion, retrograde, augmentation, diminution, etc. The form is the structure- the way the piece has been put together - verses, chorus etc. Form can also refer to the internal shape of a piece and where and how repetition is used. Form also describes how we shape a piece and build up tension and release. Some common forms are: Binary - AB Ternary - ABA Rondo - ABACADA etc Song form - Intro, verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, outro. Strophic - AAAAAA Sonata form - Look this one up (have a Panadol first!) Harmony refers to the chords and the harmonic progression that is used in the piece. Chords and the order of the chords, are an important part of any composition. One of the considerations is how many chords there are in a bar, whether the piece uses chord extensions. (7ths, 9ths 11ths etc) and also the type of cadences that are used. Plagual: IV - I Perfect: V - I

Harmony

Form

Melody

Rhythm

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Timbre is the sound - what is making it and the type of sound. Think of a keyboard - when asked the timbre the first answer is the keyboard (what is making the sound) but it may be set on organ or bells (the type of sound). Timbre refers to anything that affects the sound. It may be adding a mute, it may be the tone of a special violin, it may be the guitar effects or settings. The articulation of the notes also comes under timbre: Staccato, legato, accents, arco, pizzicato, etc This is an easy one! The tempo is the speed of the music - how fast or slow a piece is going. It also covers changes of tempo and pauses. Some of the very basic tempo indicators are: Rallentando/Ritenuto - gradually getting slower Accelerando - gradually getting faster A Tempo - return to the original tempo 120 bpm - 120 beats per minute Dynamics mean volume - how loud or soft the music is, where the changes happen and how they happen - suddenly, gradually, and why they happened. This could be because some instruments stopped or started playing or they all decreased or increased in volume. Here are some basic dynamic markings: pp p mp mf f ff Soft - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Loud Crescendo - Getting louder Decrescendo - Getting softer The texture of a piece is a bit more complex. It refers to the layers of sound and how different parts move in relation to each other. The most common textures are: Monophonic - All the layers are moving together - note by note (all the same - one melody line) Homophonic - Melody on top with chords moving together underneath (most pop songs are this) Polyphonic - Several melodies or parts all moving at different times. The tonality is the key of the piece or the keys that a piece moves through. This deals with whether your piece is major, minor, modal or atonal. Most pieces will have a home tonality but will change to other key centres during the piece and usually return to the original for the end of the piece.

Tonality

Texture

Dynamics

Tempo

Timbre