PRELUDE: The Fundamentals of Music
CHAPTER 1: Elements of Music: Sound, Melody, Rhythm, and Harmony
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Sound
Tone
Note
Pitch
Frequency
Staff
Interval
Unison
Octave
Major Scale
Pitch Range
Dynamics
Accent
Decrescendo
Diminuendo
Crescendo
Timbre
Rhythm
Beat
Meter
, Measures
Triple
Downbeat
Duple
Quadruple
Upbeat
Compound Meters
Syncopation
Tempo
Tempo Indications
Tempo Changes
Rubato
Fermata
Melody
Legato
Staccato
Phrase
Cadence
Incomplete
Complete
Sequence
Theme
Harmony
Chords
Progression
, Consonance
Dissonance
Triad
Arpeggio
NEW CONCEPTS
tone forte f quintuple meter fermata
note fortissimo ff septuple meter melody
pitch decrescendo syncopation legato
frequency diminuendo tempo staccato
staff crescendo largo phrase
interval timbre grave cadence
unison rhythm lento sequence
octave beat adagio theme
major scale meter andante harmony
chord
pitch range measure moderato
chord progression
dynamics triple meter allegretto
consonance
accent downbeat allegro
dissonance
pianissimo pp duple meter vivace
triad
piano p quadruple meter presto
tonic
mezzo piano mp upbeat prestissimo
arpeggio
mezzo forte mf sextuple rubato
, OVERVIEW
The Prelude to Chapters 1–3 explains to students that they will experience a wide variety of music.
Although these various types of music sound quite different, they all involve the same components:
sound, rhythm, melody, and harmony. In order to understand how these elements contribute to the
music, it is necessary to become familiar with them and how they can be combined. It is also helpful
to become familiar with the orchestra and its instruments. The first three chapters will provide the
vocabulary and experience students will need.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Although this chapter has no specific listening examples, it has ample opportunities for
listening examples as illustrations of the elements. It is helpful to have a keyboard handy to
play simple melodies, illustrate concepts of tempo and dynamics, and provide examples of
chords. Consider incorporating the following pieces set as examples of concepts covered in
Chapters 1–3:
Purcell, “When I am laid in earth,” from Dido and Aeneas—triple meter
Mozart, Symphony No. 40, I—duple meter
Handel, “Comfort Ye” from Messiah—quadruple meter
Bernstein, “America” from West Side Story—sextuple meter
Haydn, String Quartet, op. 33, no. 3, (“The Bird”) IV—dissonance
2. Music is a most difficult art to grasp because it is so abstract. It never entirely exists in the
present, but relies on both memory and intuition (or expectation, as Leonard Meyer says in
his Emotion and Meaning in Music). The listener needs to be able to remember what he or
she has heard before and relate that to what he or she hears in the present. Much folk and
popular music is brief and repetitive with very little thematic development. More complex
works—a Mozart string quartet, for example—have distinct themes that go through a
period of development. The listener needs to have the skill to recognize something as a
theme and then listen as that theme is transformed, manipulated, and recapitulated.
3. Listeners cannot always perceive the beat easily. Students may confuse it with the metric
accent. Composers can also manipulate durations to make the music sound as though the
CHAPTER 1: Elements of Music: Sound, Melody, Rhythm, and Harmony
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Sound
Tone
Note
Pitch
Frequency
Staff
Interval
Unison
Octave
Major Scale
Pitch Range
Dynamics
Accent
Decrescendo
Diminuendo
Crescendo
Timbre
Rhythm
Beat
Meter
, Measures
Triple
Downbeat
Duple
Quadruple
Upbeat
Compound Meters
Syncopation
Tempo
Tempo Indications
Tempo Changes
Rubato
Fermata
Melody
Legato
Staccato
Phrase
Cadence
Incomplete
Complete
Sequence
Theme
Harmony
Chords
Progression
, Consonance
Dissonance
Triad
Arpeggio
NEW CONCEPTS
tone forte f quintuple meter fermata
note fortissimo ff septuple meter melody
pitch decrescendo syncopation legato
frequency diminuendo tempo staccato
staff crescendo largo phrase
interval timbre grave cadence
unison rhythm lento sequence
octave beat adagio theme
major scale meter andante harmony
chord
pitch range measure moderato
chord progression
dynamics triple meter allegretto
consonance
accent downbeat allegro
dissonance
pianissimo pp duple meter vivace
triad
piano p quadruple meter presto
tonic
mezzo piano mp upbeat prestissimo
arpeggio
mezzo forte mf sextuple rubato
, OVERVIEW
The Prelude to Chapters 1–3 explains to students that they will experience a wide variety of music.
Although these various types of music sound quite different, they all involve the same components:
sound, rhythm, melody, and harmony. In order to understand how these elements contribute to the
music, it is necessary to become familiar with them and how they can be combined. It is also helpful
to become familiar with the orchestra and its instruments. The first three chapters will provide the
vocabulary and experience students will need.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Although this chapter has no specific listening examples, it has ample opportunities for
listening examples as illustrations of the elements. It is helpful to have a keyboard handy to
play simple melodies, illustrate concepts of tempo and dynamics, and provide examples of
chords. Consider incorporating the following pieces set as examples of concepts covered in
Chapters 1–3:
Purcell, “When I am laid in earth,” from Dido and Aeneas—triple meter
Mozart, Symphony No. 40, I—duple meter
Handel, “Comfort Ye” from Messiah—quadruple meter
Bernstein, “America” from West Side Story—sextuple meter
Haydn, String Quartet, op. 33, no. 3, (“The Bird”) IV—dissonance
2. Music is a most difficult art to grasp because it is so abstract. It never entirely exists in the
present, but relies on both memory and intuition (or expectation, as Leonard Meyer says in
his Emotion and Meaning in Music). The listener needs to be able to remember what he or
she has heard before and relate that to what he or she hears in the present. Much folk and
popular music is brief and repetitive with very little thematic development. More complex
works—a Mozart string quartet, for example—have distinct themes that go through a
period of development. The listener needs to have the skill to recognize something as a
theme and then listen as that theme is transformed, manipulated, and recapitulated.
3. Listeners cannot always perceive the beat easily. Students may confuse it with the metric
accent. Composers can also manipulate durations to make the music sound as though the
