An Introduction to the Elements of Music and Music

Concepts

The Elements of Muzic

Expressive Qualities

Rhythm

Melody

Form

Texture/Harmony

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Elementary school children need to be involved in musical experiences that help them develop musical
skills and formulate concepts or understandings about music. Children naturally develop music concepts
as they explore music through singing, listening, moving, creating, reading, and playing instruments.
Understanding the process of how concepts develop, which music concepts may serve as the basis for
instruction, and how this fits in with a child's entire development is important for teachers of children in
grades K through 5.

"Music concepts are understandings or generalized ideas about music that are formed after learners
make connections and determine relationships among ideas" (Glossary, National Core Music Standards,
2014). Concepts cannot be taught they are formed through meaningful experiences. For a concept to be
truly understood, it must be transferred to another setting. For example, if children have had a number
of experiences with the music concept that a song can have parts that are contrasting or the same, they
can apply this knowledge to a new song. Think of "Jingle Bells" with two contrasting parts (a verse and a
refrain) and applying this same concept to "Yankee Doodle." Of course, for this concept to become part
of a deeper understanding, it must continually be experienced in a variety of contexts. Conceptual
learning is a spiraling or cyclical process requiring teachers to plan instruction to facilitate that process.

The Elements of Music

The Musical Classroom, and most of the grade-level music books and online materials, focus music
learning on teaching concepts about the elements of music to elementary school children. Music
concepts are generally categorized by the elements of music melody, rhythm, form, texture harmony,
and expressive qualities (timbre, dynamics, articulation, tempo). These elements may serve as a
"cognitive map for the teacher in planning conceptual experiences for elementary school students. The
elements and their descriptions used in this text are identified and defined in the following chart.

Table 2.1 Elements of music chart

Elements of Music

Definitions
Melody

A linear succession of sounds (pitches) and silences moving through time; the horizontal structure of
music

Rhythm

The long and short durations of sounds and silences that occur in music as well as to the organization of
these sounds and silences in time

Form

The overall structural organization of a musical composition and the interrelationships of musical events
within the overall structure, the order of same and different musical events

Texture

Harmony

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The layering of sounds; the thickness or thinness of music The simultaneous sounding of two or more
pitches, the vertical structure of music moving through time and supporting the melodyWindows

Expressive qualities

Those qualities such as dynamics, tempo, articulation and timbre, which, when combined with the other
elements of music, give a composition its unique musical identity

Dynamics

Tempo

Articulation

Timbre

The degree of loudness or softness of music

The rate or speed of the musical sounds and silences

The characteristic way musical tones are connected, separated, or accented in performance

The unique tone color of a voice, instrument or sound source

In the following section, each element of music is introduced, music concepts within each element are
described, and information is offered that suggests how and when each element or concept might be
introduced to children. A music concept map illustrating the connection between sample music
concepts and the elements of music follows. It is important to remember that the elements never occur
singly in music, rather, they are combined and interrelated they are woven together into a "moving
tapestry of music.
Expressive Qualities

Tempo, dynamics, articulation, and timbre are the elements of music that often communicate most
directly and forcefully. Even young children readily perceive and respond to these expressive qualities.
Tempo refers to the rate or speed of the musical sounds and silences. Children demonstrate their
perceptions and understandings of tempo through movement and action-oriented experiences. For
example, young children love to show their fast movements to the "Russian Dance from The Nutcracker
Suite (Spotify/iTunes), and create slower movements to match the slower tempo of "Aquarium" from
Carnival of the Animals (Spotify/iTunes). Older students can remember and compare a graduated series
of tempos from slow to fast, plus learn the musical terms for different tempi (see Appendix A).

their favorite songs, experimenting with singing it soft, then loud, and variations in between. They may
sometimes mistakenly associate the words "down" or "lower" with soft and "up" or "higher with loud
dynamics. Therefore, it is important to help children learn and apply the terms loud and soft correctly.
Older children like to learn the Italian terms/symbols used in music beginning with forte (f) for loud and
piano (p) for soft (a variety of dynamic terms are identified in Appendix A).

Just as children easily hear and identify the louds/softs and fasts/slows in music, so do they perceive and
respond to smooth and connected music (legato) versus music that is short and detached (staccato). For
example, engaging children in responding to music such as the mostly staccato "Ballet of the Unhatched
Chicks from Pictures at an Exhibition in contrast with the mostly legato "The Swan from Carnival of the
Animals (Spotify/iTunes) will help them show that they perceive the differences. Legate and staccato,
the "official" Italian terms for connected and disconnected, are types of articulation

Timbre (pronounced TAM-ber) is the characteristic sound (tone color or quality) of a voice, an
instrument, or a sound source. Very young children explore vocal timbres with their speaking, singing,
and whispering voices, and learn about instrumental timbres when they compare classroom instruments
made out of wood versus metal. And environmental sounds are everywhere they turn! Older children
can tell the difference between individual instruments and their timbres (eg, tuba vs. flute), and learn to
categorize instruments by orchestral families (strings, brass, etc.) in Western music. In music of the
world's cultures, instruments are classified by their vibrating materials (e.g., skins or drums referred to
as membranophones and strings as chordophones). To thoroughly explore the many types of timbre,
children need to be exposed to a wide variety of musical styles and cultures.

Rhythm

Rhythm refers to all of the durations of the sounds (and silences) in the musical flow. Rhythm also refers
to the

organization of these sounds and silences in time. Because movement is one of the best ways to
experience

rhythm, elementary classroom music programs always include such experiences.

A recurrent pulse is called a beat. Even young children can perform steady beats,

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steady beats, but they may have difficulty

Rhythm

Rhythm refers to all of the durations of the sounds (and silences) in the musical flow. Rhythm also refers
to the organization of these sounds and silences in time. Because movement is one of the best ways to
experience rhythm, elementary classroom music programs always include such experiences. A recurrent
pulse is called a beat. Even young children can perform steady beats, but they may have difficulty

adjusting their beat to the music or coordinating their beats with others. Children can initially tap the
steady beat to music such as Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever", and then progress to marching to
the music. In most music, certain beats are emphasized or stressed more than others. This creates
groupings of strong and weak beats called meter. When beats are grouped in sets of two (strong/weak
or 1 2), it is referred to as duple meter. And when beats are grouped in sets of three (strong/weak/weak
or 1 2 3), triple meter results. Body rhythms such as pat/clap works well to accompany the beat
groupings of two, e.g., in the Sousa march suggested above. And changing to pat/clap/clap will help
students feel the beat groupings of three with music such as "The Elephant from Carnival of the Animals.
By the age of 9 or 10, children are able to clap, tap, or sing to identify beat groupings they hear in music
and eventually will be able to identify beat groupings by internalized means instead of by overt actions.
At this point, they are ready to be introduced to time or meter signatures (the visual symbols used to
show meter). For example:

2=two beats per measure (beat groupings of two)

4 quarter note (1) gets one beat

Figure 2.2

For a listing of various time signatures, see Appendix A

A piece of music always contains tones that are longer or shorter than the beat. Through movement

Melody

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Melodies consist of a linesar succession of sunmunds (pitches) and silences moving through time. Each
melody is a unique combination of pitches, which together create a sense of unity. Musical pitches are
produced by a vibrating medium with higher pitches vibrating more rapidly than lower pitches. Children
need to use the term high and low accurately, and not mistake higher for louder and lower for softer
(Zimmerman, 1971:7). Melodies are strangers to children they have been singing songs from their
earliest years. Pitches in a melody can move in interesting ing ways-they can move up, down, ur remain
on the same pitch. For example, the song "Five Angels" (p. 266) in Model 10 has a repeating pattern that
illustrates pitches moving up. Children can experience the upward direction by moving their hands in the
air. See the visual here to help children see what they hear.

Figure 2.5
The "all day long" part of the song "Willowbee" (p. 336) in Model 20 illustrates pitches moving down.
Again, students can experience the downward direction with their hands as they sing. Here the visual
incorporates a step-like design to help them see what they hear.

Form

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The overall structure of a musical composition is referred to as its form. Fundamental components of
musical

form are unity and variety, which are achieved through repetition (same) and contrast (different).
Repeating musical ideas provide unity in a composition, and contrasting ideas offer variety. The phrase is
an important building block in musical form and may be compared to a simple sentence or a clause in
speech, For example, "Happy Birthday" has four phrases and if children draw an arc in the air (from left
to right) as they sing, they will experience and show not only the beginning of each phrase, but the
ending as well.

Phrases of a song may be grouped into sections. "Yankee Doodle (p. 338) is an example of a song with
two sections: a verse and a refrain. The sections of "Yankee Doodle" contrast with each other, and its
form is referred to as AB (also called binary form). To demonstrate this recognition, children can create a
special movement for the verse and a contrasting one for the refrain "Show, Fly" is an example of a song
with three sections: the first and the third are the same, with the second contrasting. This musical
design is referred to as ABA (also called ternary form). Children love to play a singing game for "Shoo,
Fly" (p. 315) in which their movements demonstrate the same and different sections of the song.

Songs are an ideal starting point for understanding longer compositions that contain many sections.
Longer compositions more challenging for children to listen to and understand. To help them learn to
hear what is the same and what is different, teachers need to focus students' attention musical
elements that will be meaningful to them. Through overt hehavior, students can demonstrate what they
hear and understand about musical form. One technique is to provide shapes or letters for students to
manipulate while they are listening. For example, a square might represent the opening section of the
music, and a circle the contrasting section (and other shapes or letters for compositions with several
different sections). Other techniques include body movements or playing instruments along with the
music. Experiences of this kind are important becatise ultimately teachers do "teach"; instead, they help
students identify (and understand) what the students themselves perceive through their senses.

Texture/Harmony

Texture refers to the layering of sounds, the thickness or thinness of music. A single musical line is
referred to as a monophonic texture while a melody accompanied by chords is called a homophonic
texture. Chords are the building blocks of harmony and include at least three pitches sounded
simultaneously. A combination of separate, distinet melodies creates a special kind of harmony and
texture called polyphotic.

Figure 2.12 Polyphonic texture.

Children have lots of opportunities to sing songs performed with or without accompaniment. The
texture is thin when a song is sung unaccompanied (monophonic texture), but becomes thicker if an
Autoharp/Chromaharp", guitar, keyboard, or mallet instrument is added, performing a chordal
accompaniment (homophonic texture). Even young children can recognize the difference between the
two textures Harmony can be introduced to children in several different ways. One way to create
harmony is to add a repeated pattern (an ostinato) to a familiar melody. For example, one group of
children can sing the "din, din, don" part of "Frère Jacques!" (p. 268) while another group sings the
melody. Still another way to create harmony