Music element. art of music and element

Music has many different fundamentals or elements. Depending on the definition of “element” being used, these can include: pitch, beat or pulse, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, style, allocation of voices, timbre or color, dynamics, expression, articulation, form and structure. The elements of music feature prominently in the music curriculums of Australia, UK and USA. All three curriculums identify pitch, dynamics, timbre and texture as elements, but the other identified elements of music are far from universally agreed. Below is a list of the three official versions of the “elements of music”:

Australia: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics and expression, rhythm, form and structure.[9]

UK: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, duration, tempo, structure.[10]

USA: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, rhythm, form, harmony, style/articulation.[11]

In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: “appropriate musical notations” was added to their list of elements and the title of the list was changed from the “elements of music” to the “inter-related dimensions of music”. The inter-related dimensions of music are listed as: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.[12]

The phrase “the elements of music” is used in a number of different contexts. The two most common contexts can be differentiated by describing them as the “rudimentary elements of music” and the “perceptual elements of music”.

Rudimentary elements

In the 1800s, the phrase “the elements of music” and the phrase “the rudiments of music” were used interchangeably.[13][14] The elements described in these documents refer to aspects of music that are needed in order to become a musician, Recent writers such as Estrella [15] seem to be using the phrase “elements of music” in a similar manner. A definition which most accurately reflects this usage is: “the rudimentary principles of an art, science, etc.: the elements of grammar.”[16] The UK’s curriculum switch to the “inter-related dimensions of music” seems to be a move back to using the rudimentary elements of music.

Perceptual elements

Since the emergence of the study of psychoacoustics in the 1930s, most lists of elements of music have related more to how we hear music than how we learn to play it or study it. C.E. Seashore, in his book Psychology of Music,[17] identified four “psychological attributes of sound”. These were: “pitch, loudness, time, and timbre” (p. 3). He did not call them the “elements of music” but referred to them as “elemental components” (p. 2). Nonetheless these elemental components link precisely with four of the most common musical elements: “Pitch” and “timbre” match exactly, “loudness” links with dynamics and “time” links with the time-based elements of rhythm, duration and tempo. This usage of the phrase “the elements of music” links more closely with Webster’s New 20th Century Dictionary definition of an element as: “a substance which cannot be divided into a simpler form by known methods”[18] and educational institutions’ lists of elements align with this list as well.

Writers of lists of “rudimentary elements of music” vary their lists depending on their personal priorities. However, in relation to the perceptual elements of music, it should be possible to identify a list of discrete elements which can be independently manipulated to achieve an intended musical effect. It seems at this stage that there is still research to be done in this area.