Elements of Music
Intro to Intro to Music
6 Major Elements of Music
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Texture
Melody
Rhythm
Dynamics/Timbre
Harmony
Form
Texture
Musical texture refers to both the
horizontal and vertical relationships of
musical materials and is defined by
melody.
 Monophony Musical texture with a single
melodic line.
 Polyphony Musical texture composed of
two or more melodies.
 Homophony Musical texture composed of a
melody supported by chords.
Melody
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Notes in a melody
occur one after
another in a
line of music. A
melody represents a
single musical voice
no matter how many
musicians perform
it.
It can be sung
or played on
an instrument.
(Click on the picture above.)
Monophony
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A melody performed alone is the
simplest pattern of musical texture
called "monophonic texture." Whenever
a single melodic voice is present alone,
the texture is monophonic. It doesn’t
matter if a melody is performed by one
or many musicians as long as the same
notes are performed by everyone.
Monophony
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Monophony may be produced by a
single instrument- Or by one singer-Or a group of singers singing the same
melody-Sanctus
Harmony
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When two or more different notes are sung or
played at the same time we say there is
harmony.
Harmony may be created in a number of ways,
but what they all have in common is that
different pitches occur simultaneously or in
rapid succession.
Harmony
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Here is an example of accompaniment—first
as “block chords” (played simultaneously) and
then as an “arpeggio” (played one after the
other).
Polyphony
Another way to produce harmony is to
perform two or more different melodies at
the same time in different musical voices
or the same melody performed 3 or 4
times but starting at different times. This
type of harmony is called "polyphonic
texture.“
Polyphony
A very simple example of polyphonic texture
is a "round" or "canon.” These are
melodies performed by more than one
musical voice, but each starting at
different times. An example of a familiar
round is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."
Chordal Harmony
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Here is an example of “Row Row Row
Your Boat” without polyphony but with
block chord harmony.
And now, with an arpeggio
accompaniment.
Homophony
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When an accompaniment is used under a
melody, we have the texture called
“homophonic texture.” This is the texture we
are most used to hearing. Here is an example
where the chords are produced by several
instruments—piano, bass, and guitar. There is
also percussion in the accompaniment. The
melody is played by the piano.
Texture
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Monophony Musical texture with a
single melodic line.
Polyphony Musical texture composed
of two or more melodies.
Homophony Musical texture
composed of a melody supported by
chords.
Texture
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Understanding texture helps us
to hear all the different things
that go on in music.
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“What’d’ya Hear?”
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What textures are used in this piece?
Which Texture?
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“Spring” from The Four Seasons
by Antonio Vivaldi