Editing Music (section)

== Elements ==
{{Main|Elements of music}}
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, the UK, and the US. All three curriculums identify pitch, dynamics, timbre, and texture as elements, but the other identified elements of music are far from universally agreed upon. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Music: Glossary |url=http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/music/glossary |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126091254/http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/the-arts/music/glossary |archive-date=26 January 2016 |website=The Australian Curriculum}}</ref>
* UK: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, duration, tempo, structure.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130108064057/http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/primary/b00199150/music|title=The School Curriculum|website=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref>
* USA: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, rhythm, form, harmony, style/articulation.<ref>{{cite web|date=2015|title=2014 music standards|work=NAfME |url= http://www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/core-music-standards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110031323/http://www.nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/core-music-standards/ |archive-date=10 January 2016 }}</ref>

In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: "appropriate [[musical notation]]s" 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-26 |title=National curriculum in England: music programmes of study |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=GOV.UK |language=en |archive-date=26 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126234048/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study |url-status=live }}</ref>

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".{{refn|In the 1800s, the phrases "the elements of music" and "the rudiments of music" were used interchangeably.<ref>[[Muzio Clementi|Clementi, M.]]: "Introduction to the art of playing on the piano forte", Da Capo Press (1974). Cohen, Dalia and Dubnov, Shlomo (1996). "Gestalt phenomena in musical texture", Springer {{doi|10.1007/BFb0034128}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Niecks |first=Frederick |url=https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00niec |title=A Concise Dictionary of Musical Terms |year=1884 |author-link=Frederick Niecks}}. {{cite journal|title=Review|journal=[[The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular]]|volume=25|number=498|page=473|doi=10.2307/3357513|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/download/pdf?id=hvd.32044041113556;orient=0;size=100;seq=7;attachment=0|jstor=3357513|hdl=2027/uc1.b4284161|hdl-access=free|access-date=24 September 2019|archive-date=16 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316030740/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/download/pdf?id=hvd.32044041113556;orient=0;size=100;seq=7;attachment=0|url-status=live}}</ref> The elements described in these documents refer to aspects of music that are needed to become a musician, Recent writers such as Espie Estrella seem to be using the phrase "elements of music" in a similar manner.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Estrella |first=Espie |date=4 November 2019 |title=An Introduction to the Elements of Music |url=https://www.liveabout.com/the-elements-of-music-2455913 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804072031/https://www.liveabout.com/the-elements-of-music-2455913 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |access-date=25 February 2020 |website=liveabout.com}}</ref> A definition which most accurately reflects this usage is: "the rudimentary principles of an art, science, etc.: the elements of grammar."<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/element "Element"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129172321/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/element |date=29 January 2016 }}, (n.d.) In Dictionary.com unabridged. Retrieved 10 June 2015</ref> 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.|group=n}}

=== Pitch ===
{{Main|Pitch (music)}}
Pitch is an aspect of a sound that we can hear, reflecting whether one musical sound, note, or tone is "higher" or "lower" than another musical sound, note, or tone. We can talk about the highness or lowness of pitch in the more general sense, such as the way a listener hears a piercingly high [[piccolo]] note or [[whistling]] tone as higher in pitch than a deep thump of a [[bass drum]]. We also talk about pitch in the precise sense associated with musical [[melody|melodies]], [[bassline]]s and [[chord (music)|chords]]. Precise pitch can only be determined in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise. For example, it is much easier for listeners to discern the pitch of a single note played on a piano than to try to discern the pitch of a [[crash cymbal]] that is struck.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://drummingcorner.com/are-cymbals-pitched-or-unpitched/|title=Are Cymbals Pitched Or Unpitched?|website=Drumming Corner}}</ref>

=== Melody ===
{{Main|Melody}}
[[File:Popgoesweasel.jpg|thumb|center|The melody to the traditional song "[[Pop Goes the Weasel]]" {{audio|Pop Goes the Weasel.ogg|play}}|upright=2.8]]
A melody, also called a "tune", is a series of pitches (notes) sounding in succession (one after the other), often in a rising and falling pattern. The notes of a melody are typically created using pitch systems such as [[Musical scale|scales]] or [[Musical mode|modes]]. Melodies also often contain notes from the chords used in the song. The melodies in simple folk songs and traditional songs may use only the notes of a single scale, the scale associated with the tonic note or [[key (music)|key]] of a given song. For example, a folk song in the key of C (also referred to as C major) may have a melody that uses only the notes of the C major scale (the individual notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C; these are the "[[white notes]]" on a piano keyboard. On the other hand, [[Bebop]]-era jazz from the 1940s and contemporary music from the 20th and 21st centuries may use melodies with many [[chromatic note]]s (i.e., notes in addition to the notes of the major scale; on a piano, a chromatic scale would include all the notes on the keyboard, including the "white notes" and "black notes" and unusual scales, such as the [[whole tone scale]] (a whole tone scale in the key of C would contain the notes C, D, E, F{{music|sharp}}, G{{music|sharp}} and A{{music|sharp}}). A low musical line played by bass instruments, such as double bass, electric bass, or [[tuba]], is called a [[bassline]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://audiolover.com/instruments/bass/what-is-a-bass-line-in-music/|title=What Is A Bass Line In Music|first=Noella|last=Mager|date=27 November 2023}}</ref>

=== Harmony ===
{{Main|Harmony}}
[[File:Frets, guitar neck, C-major chord.jpg|thumb|right|A player performing a chord (combination of many different [[Musical note|notes]]) on a guitar]]
Harmony refers to the "vertical" sounds of pitches in music, which means pitches that are played or sung together at the same time creates a [[chord (music)|chord]]. Usually, this means the notes are played at the same time, although harmony may also be implied by a melody that outlines a harmonic structure (i.e., by using melody notes that are played one after the other, outlining the notes of a chord). In music written using the system of major-minor [[tonality]] ("keys"), which includes most classical music written from 1600 to 1900 and most Western pop, rock, and traditional music, the key of a piece determines the "home note" or [[tonic (music)|tonic]] to which the piece generally resolves, and the character (e.g. major or minor) of the scale in use. Simple classical pieces and many pop and traditional music songs are written so that all the music is in a single key. More complex Classical, pop, and traditional music songs and pieces may have two keys (and in some cases three or more keys). Classical music from the Romantic era (written from about 1820–1900) often contains multiple keys,<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Santa
 | first = Matthew
 | title = Hearing Form: Musical Analysis With and Without the Score
 | publisher = Taylor & Francis
 | isbn = 9781000643602
 | page = 48
 | date = 30 December 2022
}}
</ref> as does [[jazz]], especially [[Bebop]] jazz from the 1940s, in which the key or "home note" of a song may change every four bars or even every two bars.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Porter
 | first = Lewis
 | title = Jazz: A Century of Change
 | year = 1997
 | publisher = Schirmer Books
 | isbn = 9780028647135
 | page = 176
}}
</ref>

=== Rhythm ===
{{Main|Rhythm}}
Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds and silences in time. [[Metre (music)|Meter]] animates time in regular pulse groupings, called [[Bar (music)|measures or bars]], which in Western classical, popular, and traditional music often group notes in sets of two (e.g., 2/4 time), three (e.g., 3/4 time, also known as [[Waltz]] time, or 3/8 time), or four (e.g., 4/4 time). Meters are made easier to hear because songs and pieces often (but not always) place an emphasis on the first beat of each grouping. Notable exceptions exist, such as the [[backbeat]] used in much Western pop and rock, in which a song that uses a measure that consists of four beats (called 4/4 time or [[common time]]) will have accents on beats two and four, which are typically performed by the drummer on the [[snare drum]], a loud and distinctive-sounding percussion instrument. In pop and rock, the rhythm parts of a song are played by the [[rhythm section]], which includes chord-playing instruments (e.g., electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, or other keyboard instruments), a bass instrument (typically electric bass or for some styles such as [[jazz]] and [[bluegrass (music)|bluegrass]], double bass) and a drum kit player.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fuelrocks.com/the-drums-and-bass-guitar-the-foundation-of-the-rhythm-section/|title=The Drums And Bass Guitar: The Foundation Of The Rhythm Section – FuelRocks|date=7 November 2022}}</ref>

=== Texture ===
{{Main|Texture (music)}}
Musical texture is the overall sound of a piece of music or song. The texture of a piece or song is determined by how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall nature of the sound in a piece. Texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One layer can be a string section or another brass. The thickness is affected by the amount and the richness of the instruments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/core-principles-of-orchestration/|title=Core Principles of Orchestration|first=Mark|last=Gotham|date=1 July 2021|via=viva.pressbooks.pub}}</ref> Texture is commonly described according to the number of and relationship between [[part (music)|parts]] or lines of music:
* [[monophony]]: a single [[melody]] (or "tune") with neither instrumental [[accompaniment]] nor a [[harmony part]]. A mother singing a [[lullaby]] to her baby would be an example.
* [[heterophony]]: two or more instruments or singers playing/singing the same melody, but with each performer slightly varying the rhythm or speed of the melody or adding different [[ornament (music)|ornaments]] to the melody. Two [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]] [[fiddler]]s playing the same [[traditional music|traditional]] fiddle tune together will typically each vary the melody by some degree and each add different ornaments.
* [[polyphony]]: multiple independent melody lines that interweave together, which are sung or played at the same time. [[Choir|Choral]] music written in the [[Renaissance music]] era was typically written in this style. A [[round (music)|round]], which is a song such as "[[Row, Row, Row Your Boat]]", which different groups of singers all start to sing at a different time, is an example of polyphony.
* [[homophony]]: a clear melody supported by [[chord (music)|chordal]] [[accompaniment]]. Most Western [[popular music]] songs from the 19th century onward are written in this texture.

Music that contains a large number of independent [[Part (music)|parts]] (e.g., a double concerto accompanied by 100 orchestral instruments with many interweaving melodic lines) is generally said to have a "thicker" or "denser" texture than a work with few parts (e.g., a solo [[flute]] melody accompanied by a single cello).

=== Timbre ===
{{Main|Timbre}}
[[File:9577 Guitarz1970 Clean E9 Guitar Chord (Mike Tribulas).jpg|right|thumb|[[Spectrogram]] of the first second of an E9 [[suspended chord]] played on a [[Fender Stratocaster]] guitar. Below is the E9 suspended chord audio: [[File:9577 Guitarz1970 Clean E9 Guitar Chord (Mike Tribulas).ogg]]]]
Timbre, sometimes called "color" or "tone color" is the quality or sound of a voice or instrument.<ref>Harnsberger, Lindsey. "Articulation." ''Essential Dictionary of Music''. Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Los Angeles, CA.</ref> Timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For example, a 440&nbsp;Hz A note sounds different when it is played on [[oboe]], piano, violin, or electric guitar. Even if different players of the same instrument play the same note, their notes might sound different due to differences in instrumental technique (e.g., different [[embouchure]]s), different types of accessories (e.g., mouthpieces for brass players, reeds for oboe and bassoon players) or strings made out of different materials for string players (e.g., [[gut string]]s versus [[steel strings]]). Even two instrumentalists playing the same note on the same instrument (one after the other) may sound different due to different ways of playing the instrument (e.g., two string players might hold the bow differently).

The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include the [[spectrum]], [[envelope (waves)|envelope]], and [[overtone]]s of a note or musical sound. For [[music technology (electric)|electric]] instruments developed in the 20th century, such as electric guitar, electric bass and [[electric piano]], the performer can also change the tone by adjusting [[Graphic equalizer|equalizer controls]], tone controls on the instrument, and by using [[effects unit|electronic effects units]] such as [[distortion (music)|distortion]] pedals. The tone of the electric [[Hammond organ]] is controlled by adjusting [[Hammond organ#Drawbars|drawbars]].

=== Expression ===
Expressive qualities are those elements in music that create change in music without changing the main pitches or substantially changing the rhythms of the melody and its accompaniment. Performers, including singers and instrumentalists, can add musical expression to a song or piece by adding [[Musical phrasing|phrasing]], by adding effects such as [[vibrato]] (with voice and some instruments, such as guitar, violin, brass instruments, and woodwinds), dynamics (the loudness or softness of piece or a section of it), tempo fluctuations (e.g., [[ritardando]] or [[Tempo|accelerando]], which are, respectively slowing down and speeding up the tempo), by adding pauses or [[fermata]]s on a [[cadence (music)|cadence]], and by changing the articulation of the notes (e.g., making notes more pronounced or accented, by making notes more [[legato]], which means smoothly connected, or by making notes shorter).

Expression is achieved through the manipulation of pitch (such as inflection, vibrato, slides etc.), volume (dynamics, accent, tremolo etc.), duration (tempo fluctuations, rhythmic changes, changing note duration such as with legato and staccato, etc.), timbre (e.g. changing vocal timbre from a light to a resonant voice) and sometimes even texture (e.g. doubling the bass note for a richer effect in a piano piece). Expression therefore can be seen as a manipulation of all elements to convey "an indication of mood, spirit, character etc."<ref>{{Cite web |title=the definition of expression |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/expression |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019133857/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/expression |archive-date=19 October 2017 |access-date=22 October 2017 |website=Dictionary.com}}</ref> and as such cannot be included as a unique perceptual element of music,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burton |first=Russell |date=2015 |title=The elements of music: What are they, and who cares? |journal=Educating for Life. ASME XXTH National Conference Proceeding. Australian Society for Music Education. |page=22}}</ref> although it can be considered an important rudimentary element of music.

=== Form ===
{{See also|Binary form|Ternary form|Development (music)}}
[[File:Jingle Bells refrain vector.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Sheet music]] [[Musical notation|notation]] for the chorus (refrain) of the Christmas song "[[Jingle Bells]]" {{audio|Jingle Bells refrain vector.mid|help=no}}]]
In music, [[Musical form|form]] describes the overall structure or plan of a song or piece of music,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schmidt-Jones |first=Catherine |date=11 March 2011 |title=Form in Music |url=http://cnx.org/content/m10842/2.14/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222221946/http://cnx.org/content/m10842/2.14/ |archive-date=22 February 2014 |access-date=11 September 2011 |website=Connexions}}</ref> and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brandt |first=Anthony |date=11 January 2007 |title=Musical Form |url=http://cnx.org/content/m11629/1.13/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707170456/http://cnx.org/content/m11629/1.13/ |archive-date=7 July 2012 |access-date=11 September 2011 |publisher=Connexions}}</ref> In the early 20th century, [[Tin Pan Alley]] songs and [[Musical theatre|Broadway musical]] songs were often in AABA [[thirty-two-bar form]], in which the A sections repeated the same eight bar melody (with variation) and the B section provided a contrasting melody or harmony for eight bars. From the 1960s onward, Western pop and rock songs are often in [[verse-chorus form]], which comprises a sequence of [[verse (popular music)|verse]] and chorus ("[[refrain]]") sections, with new [[lyrics]] for most verses and repeating lyrics for the choruses. Popular music often makes use of [[strophic form]], sometimes in conjunction with the [[twelve bar blues]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://openmusictheory.github.io/popRockForm-functions|title=Form in pop/rock music – Formal functions|website=Open Music Theory}}</ref>

In the tenth edition of ''[[The Oxford Companion to Music]]'', [[Percy Scholes]] defines musical form as "a series of strategies designed to find a successful mean between the opposite extremes of unrelieved repetition and unrelieved alteration."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholes |first=Percy A. |title=The Oxford Companion to Music |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1977 |edition=10 |chapter=Form |author-link=Percy Scholes}}</ref> Examples of common forms of Western music include the [[fugue]], the [[Invention (musical composition)|invention]], [[Sonata form|sonata-allegro]], [[Canon (music)|canon]], [[strophic]], [[theme and variations]], and [[rondo]].

Scholes states that European classical music had only six stand-alone forms: simple binary, simple ternary, compound binary, rondo, air with variations, and fugue (although musicologist [[Alfred Mann (musicologist)|Alfred Mann]] emphasized that the fugue is primarily a method of composition that has sometimes taken on certain structural conventions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=Alfred |title=The Study of Fugue |publisher=W.W.Norton and Co. Inc. |year=1958}}</ref>)

Where a piece cannot readily be broken into sectional units (though it might borrow some form from a poem, story or [[Program music|programme]]), it is said to be [[through-composed]]. Such is often the case with a [[Fantasia (musical form)|fantasia]], [[Prelude (music)|prelude]], [[Rhapsody (music)|rhapsody]], [[etude]] (or study), [[symphonic poem]], [[Bagatelle (music)|Bagatelle]], [[impromptu]] or similar composition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/through-composed-form/|title=What Is Through Composed Form In Music? &#124; HelloMusictheory|date=11 September 2020}}</ref> Professor Charles Keil classified forms and formal detail as "sectional, developmental, or variational."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keil |first=Charles |url=https://archive.org/details/urbanblues0000keil |title=Urban blues |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-226-42960-1 |url-access=registration}}</ref>