Elements of Music

  • Rhythm
  • Melody
  • Harmony
  • Timbre

Rhythm
The arrangement of long and short sounds and silences
Tempo
The rate of speed at which music is performed
Meter
The organization of rhythm into patterns of strong and weak beats.
Melody
A meaningful succession of tones of various levels of pitch
Octave
The interval of an eighth
Scale
A stepwise rising or ascending pattern of pitches within the range of an octave.
Harmony
The meaningful combination of two or more different tones
Chord
A meaningful combinatin of three or more tones
Tonic
The first and most important note of a tonal scale, often indicated by the Roman numeral I.
Key
The name of the tonic upon which a tonal piece is based
Triad
The most basic chord in the tonal system, consisting of three alternate pitches or two superimposed thirds.
Timbre
The characteristic quality of the sound of a voice or instrument.
Dynamic Level
The level of volume of a musical sound.
Genre
Category of music.
Form
The organization or formal design of a musical composition.
Style
A characteristic manner of composition or performance.
Strophic Form
The most common song form. Two or more stanzas are set to the same melody.
Tune
A particularly singable and memorable melody which seems complete in itself
Motive
A brief, fragmentary melodic idea, recurring throughout a piece.
Contour
music may be angular (with large leaps between tones) or smooth (with tones closely connected) in contour
Syncopation
Delay or anticipation of accented beats