The different elements of music are covered in different music theory videos and lessons around the site. Without a clear grasp of the elements of music your ability to write music will be seriously compromised and you will not be able to reach your potential as a composer (whatever style you are wanting to write in). Composing Music – The musical elements are your “composer’s toolbox” – without a clear understanding of the elements of a car you will never be able to build a car. If we know the key elements that make up a car then we can use them to compare any car around the world from a Ferrari to a pickup truck by asking some simple questions – “What size engine does it have? What colour is it? How many wheels does it have? etc.” In the same way, we can understand any piece of music by asking questions – “What is the tempo? How loud is it? What key is it in? What instruments are playing? Etc…”Ģ. Performing/analysing Music – An understanding of the musical elements will enable you to understand any piece of music, whether you are trying to perform the piece or analyse it. Harmony – the relationship between 2 or more simultaneously sounding notesġ. Hypernyms ('sonority' is a kind of. Tonality – the key in which a piece is written (can change as piece progresses) plangency resonance reverberance ringing sonority sonorousness vibrancy. What each part/instrument is doing at any given point. Contemporary names for harmony or chords that do not necessarily imply tertian or functional harmony. Texture – the way in which melody, rhythm and harmony are combined in a piece of music. Terms in this set (13) Simultaneity or Vertical Sonority. Structure – the way in which an overall piece of music is arranged into similar and contrasting sections.ĭynamics – how loud/quiet the music is (either the overall sound or of individual notes/instruments within it) of the sound (in case of a pitched sonority), or the resemblance with a real life. (In everyday language this is the “groove”). A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Music in partial. This volume expands the application of sonority. Rhythm – the pattern of regular or irregular pulses caused in music by the occurrence of strong and weak beats. Until now, sonority has most often been applied to languages commonly described in the linguistics literature. Here is a quick run through of the main musical elements (you will come across variations of this, but these are the crucial ones): Without the key musical elements a piece of music will no longer be music. Part II broaches certain terminological issues of sonority, voice leading, and musical articulation that are crucial to the analysis of. the condition or quality of being resonant or sonorous. Without these key elements it will no longer be a car. This study presents two musical examples which can depict and represent the guitar sonority which defined the Classical era. A car needs wheels, an engine, brakes, doors, a chassis, a steering wheel, etc. Think of the elements of music like the crucial elements of a car. Without them, music (of any style/age) would not exist because sound itself would not exist! The elements of music can be seen as being the building blocks of music.

Sonority definition music