Materials of Music

ELEMENTS
[1]

SOUND: PITCH, DYNAMICS, AND TONE COLOR

mel.o.dy, n., pl. -dies. 1. a succession of single pitches or tones perceived by the mind as a unity.

pitch , n. 1. highness or lowness of a tone. The frequency.

in.ter.val, n. 1. the distance between two pitches.

range, n. 1. the distance between the highest and lowest notes of a melody.

con.junct, adj. 1. melodic movement by small intervals.
Gregorian Chant

dis.junct, adj. 1. melodic movement by large intervals.
Bach Eb Cello Suite - Prelude

phrase, n. 1. a musical sentence.

cadence, n. 1. a musical comma or period.

climax, n. 1. high point in a melodic line.

coun.ter mel.o.dy n. 1. a melody performed simultaneously with, but subordinately to a primary melody.
Bach - Bb Minor Mass - Christe Eleison - Main melody becomes counter melody.

rhythm, n. 1. orderly movement of music in time.

beat, n. 1. the regular pulsation heard in most western style of music.

me.ter, n. 1. a fixed time pattern within which music moves

mea.sure, n. 1. a portion of music which contains a fixed number of beats defined by the meter.

du.ple meter, n 1. two beat meter with a strong first beat and a weak second beat
Dixie

tri.ple meter, n 1. three beat meter with a strong first beat and weak second &;third beats
Ashokan Farewell

qua.dru.ple meter, n 1. four beat meter with a primary accent on the first beat and a secondary accent on the third beat.
Battle Cry of Freedom (includes a fourth-note upbeat).

sim.ple me.ter, n. 1. meter with a duple subdivision (ie: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4)

com.pound me.ter, n. 1. meter with a triple subdivision (ie: 6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
Battle Hymn of the Republic/When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again

up.beat, n. 1. the first note(s) of a phrase which does (do) not start at the beginning of a measure, but rather, at the end of a measure ie: O Beautiful, Amazing Grace, Star Spangled Banner).

syn.co.pa.tion, n. 1. the rhythmic shifting of accents to the weak beats or subdivisions of the bar.

Straight rhythm:

Same rhythm syncopated:

Bernstein - West Side Story Symphonic Dances

Mendelssohn - Octet

po.ly rhy.thm, n 1. two or more simultaneous rhythms each with a different subdivision

2 Against 3

3 Against 4

5 Against 7

a.ddi.tive meter, n 1. meter with mixed subdivisions (5/8, 7/8, etc)
Revueltas - Sensemaya

non.me.tric, n 1. without meter.
Yanovsky - Lacrymosa