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Elements of Music
David took an harp and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was
well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
I Samuel 16:23
M
usic is one of the most wonderful parts
of our lives. Few things give as much
immediate satisfaction as does the
hearing of a familiar, enjoyable piece
of music. Something is deeply felt, something inner
is touched. It’s like eating a favorite meal without
the calories.
Few things can cause you to change your
mind or feelings as quickly as music. You need only
consider the effect of changing a CD or thumbing
your iPod to see how quickly your mood can shift.
An awareness of this power is not new. Lead-
ers as far back as the Greeks were mindful of the
effects of music on a person. Plato even went so far
as to say that the masses should not have free access
to music because when they heard it they couldn’t
control themselves. (Give that a serious moment of
thought and you agree with him.) While listening to
music they might get carried away and forget what
they were doing. They might even lose their ability
to resist doing something which they had previously
said they would not do, because music had the ability
to suspend their will power. Sound familiar? Keeping
that in mind, let’s look a bit deeper.
At its most basic music consists of two things:
pitch and time. When something vibrates it creates
a sound or tone. Pitch is the highness or lowness of
this sound. This highness or lowness is determined by
the number of vibrations per second. The human ear
is able to discern sound at rates of from 35 to 17,000
vibrations per second.
Contrary to what the stereo salesman told you,
a system that handles from 20 to 20,000 cps may be
capable of reproducing the extremes at either end of
the sound spectrum, but that is not what makes a good
stereo system. These sounds are beyond the range of the
human ear. At the low end they become simply sensa-
tions of movement. Rather than hearing, you feel the
deep bass from a good woofer. And even though your
CD player will play into the 19,000 range or higher,
only your dog will appreciate it. When he starts to
howl you’ll know your system is indeed hitting a very
high note. The faster the rate of vibration, the higher
the pitch. The distance between the highest and lowest
note an instrument is capable of playing is known as
its range.
A piano’s range is from roughly 70 to 6000 vibra-
tions per second, while the violin ranges from about 175
to 15,000. Other instruments have varying ranges but
all remain within the audible spectrum.
Pitch is measured in music through the use of
the notation system. Notes are arranged on a set of five
parallel lines called a staff. Notes are usually grouped
into two broad categories by symbols known as clefs.
Generally speaking higher notes are placed on a
staff marked as the treble clef, while notes in the lower
register are noted in the bass clef.
Although these two symbols may look strange
to our eye they are nonetheless simply letters of the
alphabet: G and F. The treble or G clef is so named
because the G seems to “circle” the second line on the
staff, which is a G.
The same is true for the F clef. Its two dots enclose
or define the second line down, the F line.
Another consideration of sound is timbre, or
“tone color.” Timbre (tam-ber) is the result of overtones,
certain tones which are set in motion when another pitch
is created. Have you ever had something in your car
start vibrating when your car reached a certain speed,
Elements of Music
and then quit as soon as you exceeded this speed? These
sympathetic vibrations also occur in music, and are what
give each instrument its distinctive sound. It is through
timbre that a trumpet sounds like a trumpet and not a
piano or a flute or even the human voice, even though
all may be playing the same pitch.
Overtones are what give each of us a distinct voice.
The bone structure in your sinuses is what is responsible
for the overtone series which give your voice its unique
character. It is also why you don’t sound the same when
you have a cold or when you pinch your nose—your
overtones change.
THE ORCHESTRA
An orchestra is a large group of performers. The
STRINGS
Members of the string family are generally played
by drawing a bow across the strings, causing them to vi-
brate. The wooden box to which the strings are attached
is no more than a resonator, a sound box, which amplifies
the sound of the string.
You can produce the same effect with your voice.
Stand in any open space—i.e., by the side of a road—and
sing a few notes. Next go home and try the same thing
in a small room like your bedroom. Hear the difference?
In an open area your voice (or instrument) sounds lost.
It doesn’t have anything to bounce off; there’s nothing
to give it some fullness. A closed space makes a better
sound. That’s why stages are built with a definite shape and
size—to project sound. That’s also why people
like to sing in the shower. You sound so good!
Today’s professionals, instrumental or vo-
cal, don’t have to worry about the stage (most
stadiums are not known for their acoustical excel-
lence) because they use electronics to enhance the
sound of their instrument or voice. All recordings
have echo added by the recording technician.
Other effects can be produced by altering
the way a string is set in motion. Plucking the
string is known as pizzicato. In his Symphonie
Fantastique Berlioz created another effect by
changing the way the strings were played. He
wanted to create the eerie sound of skeletons
dancing, so instructed his string players to turn
over their bows and play with the wood.
The string section, a remarkably agile and
versatile choir, blends more readily into a homo-
geneous-sounding group than any other section of
the orchestra. This section creates the sound that we
associate with orchestras. When we think of an
orchestra we’re really thinking about the strings.
WOODWINDS
In the woodwind instruments, a column of air
inside the instrument is set into vibration when the
performer blows into the instrument. By opening and
closing holes and keys running along the length of the
instrument, the performer is able to change the length of
the air column, thus producing a series of different pitches
(since a longer column of air means a slower vibration
cycle. The members of the woodwind choir can produce
a wide variety of timbres.
Originally all woodwind instruments were either
Yes, a bass is large made of wood or employed wood as a vibrator. Today
many of the instruments (like the flute) are no longer
made of wood; but the category is still useful in grouping
the instruments according to timbre. Besides the general
grouping of woodwind, they may also be subdivided into
flutes, double reeds, and single reed instruments.
FLUTES
FLUTE The flute, the most agile of the wood-
winds, is the soprano voice of the woodwind section.
The sound is produced by blowing across the tonehole,
which sets the air column in the instrument into vibra-
tion, thus producing the tone. In its low register the flute
sounds dark and somewhat breathy. The middle register
has a smooth and velvety tone, while in its upper range
the flute produces a bright and brilliant sound. Pitch is
changed by either depressing the keys of the instrument
in various combinations or through a process known as
“overblowing” which is to increase the air flow into the
flute causing a jump in octave.
Single Reeds
CLARINET The clarinet is a single reed instrument
with an extremely wide range. It looks like a stick of black
wood. The clarinet is one of the newer members of the
a piccolo can be wood or metal orchestra, being invented by Johann Christian Denner
of Nuremberg, Germany, around the year 1700, almost
two centuries after violins made their debut.
Double Reeds
OBOE The oboe is a double-reed instrument with
a conical bore whose sound is produced by the vibration
of air between two narrow reeds. While the oboe produces
a rather nasal tone (think of the sound of a duck), in the
hands of an accomplished musician, the sound can range
from bright to mellow. Although its ancestry extends back
to ancient Egypt, the modern oboe was developed in Paris
in the late 1650’s by Jean Hotteterre.
The double reed consists of two reeds placed back
to back with a small, somewhat flattened oval opening
between them. It is difficult to play. The best way to see if
you’re an oboe player is to try “playing” your straw the next
time you go out for lunch. Prepare it by pressing the end
together with your lips until it is quite flattened but not
completely closed, then blow just hard enough to cause a
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tone. If you don’t blow hard enough you will get no sound, while
if you blow too hard the straw will simply close off. Welcome to
the world of double reeds.
BRASS
The brass instruments are the most powerful section of the
orchestra. They have a cup-shaped mouthpiece (funnel-shaped
for the French horn) which, when “buzzed” into by the tightly-
stretched lips of the performer, sets into vibration the column
of air inside the instrument. Pitches are changed by the use of
valves or slide, as well as by the degree of lip tension used by the
performer.
TRUMPET The trumpet, an instrument of ancient origin,
is the soprano voice of the brass choir. Roman legions were an-
nounced with trumpet fanfares. During the Middle-Ages it was
employed mainly for martial purposes and only a nobleman could
employ trumpeters.
Unlike the early versions which changed pitch solely by the
use of the lips, the present-day trumpet, with its three piston valves
was developed in Germany about 1815. The three valves give
eight possible combinations of key position. This, coupled with
varying degrees of lip tension, allows the trumpeter to produce
a wide variety of pitches. The army bugle and English hunting
horn, both of which have no valves, are today’s only holdovers
from earlier times.
FRENCH HORN The French horn, often referred to simply as
the horn, is descended from the ancient, valveless, hunting horn and still
retains its coiled shape. It has an extremely wide range and can produce
tones ranging from dark and mellow to very strident. It too alters pitch
through three valves in concert with the labial tension of the player. Ad-
ditionally, the horn player places his right hand into the bell, and can
change the pitch by changing the shape of his hand. (Never shake hands
with a horn player. His right hand is always soggy from the saliva being
blown through the horn.)
The horn blends equally well with
the brasses or woodwinds. In fact, the
French horn is a member of the wood-
wind quintet. Orchestral composers often
use the horns to produce the effect of
majesty and nobility.
PERCUSSION
The members of the percussion section consist of a wide variety of
instruments that are sounded by striking, shaking, or scraping. This sec-
tion is often called the “kitchen sink” of the orchestra because it includes
just about everything. These instruments play a valuable supporting color
role in the orchestral sound, as well as occasionally taking a leading role
in some orchestral passages.
Percussion instruments are divided into two general categories: (1)
unpitched percussion which produce a sound, but not an exact musical
Elements of Music
tone or pitch, and (2) pitched percussion upon which a melody may be played.
Some of the unpitched percussion instruments are snare drum, bass drum,
tambourine, cymbals, triangle, whip, gong, and a wide variety of Latin Ameri-
can instruments (Tchaikovsky called for live cannons in his 1812 Overture—it
was an outside performance).
Pitched percussion instruments include the timpani, or kettle drum. Pitch
is altered in the timpani by both the size of the drum and the tightness of the
drum’s head. The modern timpani alters pitch through the use of tuning pegs to
set the initial tone, and a pedal which rapidly tightens or loosens the drum head.
The harp also is usually included in the percussion section of the orchestra,
because a striking motion is used to create sound (rather than being lumped with
the “string” section because they have strings).
KEYBOARD
Keyboard instruments all have a common feature of having the action of
vibration started by pressing on a key. Each key is assigned a separate pitch. There
are three main classes of keyboard instrument: the organ, harpsichord, and piano.
The organ is the oldest keyboard instrument, dating back to antiquity.
Organs were known in ancient Greece and were common in Rome, where
they were used in the Colosseum. (That’s also why the early church didn’t use
organs—too many Christians had gone to their death in the Colosseum to the
sound of organ music.) Sound is created in the organ by air passing through
pipes of different lengths.
All the pipes have a small stop or plug at their base, and a constant supply
VOICES
The human voice is an impor-
tant musical instrument. Because peo-
ple are different physically they have
voices of different timbres. When we here Justin Bieber sing,
we can tell that it’s not Michael Buble or Andrea Bocelli.
While no two voices sound exactly alike, there are
some common voice types which allow us have a set
of general voice types, classed by both timbre and
pitch. The four basic types of voices are soprano,
alto (although the more correct, technical term is
contralto), tenor, and bass.
Sopranos are the highest voices, capable of
singing from approximately a high A to an A below
middle C. Within the soprano voice part there are
some subdivisions: Coloratura, known for singing
those fancy runs and doing all the high, light work;
Soprano, which covers the regular range; and Mezzo
Soprano, a somewhat darker, lower soprano sound.
The contralto or alto is the lowest of the tra-
ditional women’s voice parts. Not only is the pitch
lower, from roughly C above middle C to G below
middle C; but the tone quality is noticeably darker.
The alto voice lacks much of the bright clarity of the
soprano; but is nonetheless very expressive.
The tenor is the highest traditional male voice
part. It is high and clear sounding in timbre. A tenor’s
range is from around A above middle C to G below
middle C. One of the world’s greatest tenors, Luciano
Pavarotti, claims that part of the appeal of the tenor
voice is that “the sound is rather unnatural.” Maybe
that’s why a good tenor voice is so much appreciated,
and why Pavarotti has sold tens of millions of CD’s.
The lowest vocal parts are the baritone and
bass. The baritone voice is midway between a tenor
and a bass in both range and tone quality with a range
from roughly a low G to F above middle C. The bass
voice range is approximately one step lower on top
and about three steps lower at the bottom. A bass
voice sounds very dark and low. Some of the world’s
best male bass voices are not Italian but Russian.
Their culture promotes this rich sound, especially for
religious works. YouTube has many wonderful sites.
N
ow that we’ve discussed media, let’s
examine the building blocks of music.
Dynamics refers to the volume
of the music. The dynamic intensity of
a piece of music has a great deal of impact on our
intellectual and emotional responses as we listen. Dy-
namics is a relative phenomenon, that is to say levels
tenor of “loud” or “soft” depend to some extent on a basic
frame of reference, to the sound levels that we are
Elements of Music
accustomed to hearing. The various dynamic levels
are referred to by a variety of Italian terms: from
fortissimo (very loud) to pianissimo (very soft).
Music would be boring if it played at one
dynamic level all the time, so composers have loud
and soft portions in the piece. While it would be
assumed that you would have each player simply
play louder or softer in order to change the overall
dynamics, such was not always the case. During
the Renaissance and early Baroque eras changes
in dynamic levels were accomplished by simply
adding or subtracting players rather than having
all of them play quietly. In the quiet sections only
a small group of the total orchestra would play,
then all would come in on the loud sections. The
Italian word for all is “tutti” and was written on
the orchestral score as such. It’s from this that we
have today’s ice cream flavor Tutti Fruity.
This way of thinking, of adding groups of
players to increase the volume, was a carryover from
bass
the organ (and harpsichord), where the volume was
augmented by adding more pipes. You can’t make
an organ louder by just striking the key
harder. That only works on a piano.
But gradual changes in volume
for all players were introduced, and are
also known by specific Italian terms.
Crescendo means to get louder, while
decrescendo (or diminuendo) is the
opposite.
Rhythm is the beat present in
nearly all music. It is in many respects the
most dominant part of music. When we
refer to tempo it is in beats per minute.
This basic “pulse” is what makes us tap
our feet along with the music. When
early monks tried to pass on church mu-
sic, they were left with the single melody
typical of Gregorian chants. Sometimes the beats
that are accented (emphasized) fall in unexpected
places. This is known as syncopation. It would be
like stressing “two” and “four” if one were counting
“one, two, three four.”
Without a means of accurately noting both
pitch and time value it is difficult, if not impos-
sible, to learn music by any way other than oral
repetition.
Notes were developed as a means of determining
Dynamic Marks the length of time assigned to a specific pitch. Is the
note to be held a longer or shorter period than the notes
fff very, very loud around it? Note values answer this question. Rhythmic
ff very loud (fortissimo) notation in music is based on division by halves. A
f loud (forte) whole note is the largest note in terms of duration. All
mf medium loud other notes are related to this note in their duration.
mp medium soft A half note is one half the value of the whole note, a
p soft (piano) quarter note is half the size of a half note, an eighth
pp very soft (pianissimo) note is half again smaller, and so on. By placing a dot
ppp shhhhhh! to the right of a note, its value increases by one half.
If a composer wants silence for a period, then
a rest is marked on the page of music. Rests indicate
silence and are divided exactly the same way as notes
(wholes, halves, etc.) These relative note and rest values
remain constant. The specific length of a note in a given
Decibal Levels work of music depends on the time signature of a work.
of Common Sounds The time signature is NOT a fraction. Rather,
it is a symbol which describes note values within the
140 jet taking off work of music. The upper figure indicates how many
beats are in a measure, and the bottom figure identifies
pain, permanent damage
what kind of note (half, quarter, etc.) gets one beat (the
to ear counting unit).
120 rock concert Meter is the rhythm in music; it falls into two
110 damage to ear or three patterns. Where there is no meter evident (like
Gregorian chant) the music is known as nonmetric.
100 circular saw Regular patterns of twos (like a march), are double
90 street noise in a big city meter. Patterns of threes, like a waltz, are triple meter.
80 vacuum cleaner Tempo is the speed of the music; fast, slow, or
somewhere in between, and we have a short list of
70 telephone ring
words to indicate such. Since it was the Italians who
60 normal conversation invented these terms the world has simply adopted their
20 whispering words—largo, adagio, etc.
Melody is the tune or central musical idea of a
work. It may be defined as "placing tones together in a
recognizable arrangement." A simpler definition might
be “the part you can whistle.” In other words, it is the
Two time signatures
identifying element of a musical work. When we whistle
Yankee Doodle we whistle the melody.
An important part of how a melody sounds is
the key in which the piece is written. Key refers to the
scale which is used for the work; you may write a piece
in G Major or C Major or Eb Minor, etc. Each of these
refers to a scale or "key." Scales may be either a major or
minor depending upon how the 8 notes are arranged.
The 8-note groups are octaves, where the first and last
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notes are the same, the last being one octave higher,
i.e., C to C or F# to F#. The basic major scale is easily
demonstrated by the song from the Sound of Music,
“Do Re Mi.” Do, re, mi, fa, so etc. are the basic notes
of the major scale.
Major scales are generally upbeat or "happy."
It’s not exotic, it’s sort of musical white bread. The
minor scale on the other hand is made by changing
the interval (space between notes) between the second
and third steps of the scale. This small change tends to
make minor music sound more mysterious or sad. In
Beauty and the Beast we can quickly recognize Belle by
her happy major scale. We can also recognize Darth
Vadar by his theme, but it's in a minor key and sounds
almost evil or bad.
Another element of music related to key is
harmony. In a general sense harmony
may be described as either consonant or
dissonant. Three or more notes played at
Tempo Markings the same time are known as a chord. Again,
(in beats per minute) consonant chords tend to be happy, while
dissonant harmonies can make a listener
uneasy. In any movie we know when the bad
40-60 Largo very slow
guy is coming or bad things are happening
60-70 Adagio slow because the music becomes dissonant.
Consonant and dissonant music is found
70-90 Andante walking pace in all we hear; it shapes our moods.
90-110 Moderato medium