The document summarizes some of the fundamental elements of music, including rhythm, pitch, timbre, texture, and dynamics. It defines each element and provides some key details about each one. Rhythm is defined as the organization of time in music and discusses elements like tempo, meter, accent, and notation. Pitch discusses the highness or lowness of tones, notes, melody, harmony, scales, keys, and clefs. Timbre describes the characteristics of sounds. Texture refers to the consistency of musical sounds from monophonic to polyphonic. Dynamics describes the volume or loudness of music.

1. SURVEY OF MUSIC FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS Listening to Music , Chapters 2 & 3

2. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC Rhythm Pitch Timbre Texture Dynamics (Form)

3. RHYTHM Rhythm: The organization of time in music We listen for regular beats We listen for accents among the beats to define meter and measure We listen for strength of accents to determine phrase

4. RHYTHM Tempo governs the rhythm’s pace or speed Tempo may be steady or uneven ( rubato ) Syncopation is accenting weak beats rather than strong Rhythm can be dominant or subtle – implicit or explicit

5. RHYTHM Time Signatures Rhythmic notation

6. Music’s Rhythm Code

7. Music’s Rhythm Code

8. PITCH Pitch: The highness or lowness of a tone in music Most instruments, including the human voice, are designed to produce various pitches Pitches in rhythm are called notes A sequence of notes in music is a melody

9. PITCH Two or more pitches sounding together create harmony Pitches perceived to sound good together are consonant Pitches perceived to sound bad together are dissonant

10. PITCH: KEYS Pitches are organized in musical scales , and scales define keys In Western music we have 12 major and 12 minor keys Within each key, there are positions: some at rest and some in tension

11. PITCH: KEYS Positions within keys are: Tonic Supertonic Mediant Sub-Dominant Dominant Sub-Mediant, and Leading Tone

12. PITCH: KEYS Key Signatures Modes: Ionian Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian

13. Music’s Pitch Code Clefs anchor the note locations on the staff This is how performers know what note is supposed to be produced.

14. Music’s Pitch Code

15. TIMBRE Timbre: The characteristics of the sound itself We often use terms from the visual arts to describe musical timbre Timbres often hold strong associations in our minds

16. TIMBRE The sound of solo or section instruments is also an aspect of timbre Certain composers were so good at creating and combining tone colors, we say their “instrument” was the orchestra

17. TEXTURE Texture: The consistency of musical sounds Monophonic texture means only one line of music sounding alone Homophonic means one line leads and the others support it Multiple independent lines happening together is called polyphonic texture

18. FORM Form: The structure of a musical composition The primary elements of form are repetition , contrast, and variation Forms range in scale from very small to very large

19. FORM Eight Basic Categories of Form: Strophic Binary Ternary Rondo Theme & Variations Sonata Fugue Through-composed

20. DYNAMICS Dynamics: The volume or loudness of the music This may refer to contrast among sections of a piece, the mix within a piece, or the overall presentation

21. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF MUSIC Rhythm Pitch Timbre Texture Dynamics (Form)