There are many opinions about the elements of music, some say "three elements", some say "six elements", and some say "seven elements". I prefer the "three elements" view. The following is some information found on the Internet for discussion with you.

The components of music

Beethoven has a thought-provoking saying: "Music should make the human spirit explode." What means does music use to achieve such a strong effect? Woolen cloth? To sum up, it mainly includes the language of music, the structure of music and the harmony of music. The language of music mainly refers to melody, the structure of music includes factors such as rhythm and musical form, and the harmony of music mainly refers to harmony. Therefore, people often regard "melody", "rhythm" and "harmony" as the main components of music. Musical aestheticians believe: "The most important thing is the melody, which is inexhaustible and will never be exhausted. It is the basic image of musical beauty; harmony brings a variety of changes, and it constantly provides a novel basis; rhythm makes the two Combined with liveliness, this is the lifeblood of music, adding color charm to diverse timbres."

As the most important melody among the "three elements", it has the following functions: Melody can simulate nature. , such as running water, birdsong, etc. Melody can also reflect life. For example, it can represent wall clocks, alarm clocks, small clocks and pocket watches in a watch shop. It can also depict the scene of a craftsman in a watch shop whistling and winding. Melody can also express emotions, which is what melody is best at. Melody can also shape images, which is a synthesis of the first three functions.

Rhythm is the skeleton of melody. It is the long and short relationship between organized sounds. The rhythm of rhythm comes from life, such as walking, swimming, tamping, hoeing, the pulse, breathing, heartbeat of the human body, operating machines, etc. Every aspect of life contains rhythm factors. Although there are many types of rhythms, they can be summarized into three categories: long, short, and a combination of long and short.

Harmony refers to the multi-part sound composed of the combination of different high and low tones that sound simultaneously and harmonize with each other in music. The use of harmony can make the main melody have a three-dimensional sense. As mentioned above, it can continuously provide a novel basis for music development.

Music has been called "a beautiful combination of sounds." Music is mainly composed of six elements, namely: Rhythm, Melody, Texture, Form, Tone Color, and Tonality.

1. Rhythm

Rhythm is an aspect of music that includes all factors related to the forward progression of music (such as stress, beat and speed).

When people listen to music, what they can't help but beat is the rhythm, which expresses the speed of the tune. One element of rhythm is meter, which is defined as "systematically measured and arranged rhythm." Another element of rhythm is tempo. The beat tells what the accents are, but not how fast or slow they are played. Common expressions indicating rhythm include: Large, Grave, Lento, Adagio, Andante, Andantino. , Moderato, Allegretto, Allegro, Allgero molto, Vivace, Presto, Prestissimo.

The use of rhythm has a great impact on music.

2. Melody

Melody is caused by some notes played continuously. Melody is the meaning that music wants to express. It is what people want to listen to. Technically, one can create a two-note melody, and we can hear two single tones in the calls of two different species of birds.

People can hum, sing, and play these two sounds without any other sounds or accompaniment. The melody has always been centered on a specific note, which has always been the starting point, core point and end point. All other notes in a piece of music are related to it

Master the more complex melody in some musical works. Easier. Compared with the classical melodies of Haydn's symphonies, the romantic melodies of Schumann's symphonies are more passionate and unrestrained, expressing personal feelings. A successful work does not have to use a strong melody, but a beautiful and easy-to-hum melody will always give ordinary lay listeners more joy. Many people who have not studied or analyzed music are easily attracted to the music of composers who are good at melody.

3. Structure

The melody is horizontal, the notes follow one after another, and the structure is what is attached to this note line. One way to achieve structure is to use harmony. A person cannot add "harmony" to his voice. He needs a friend to sing with him, or a guitar to play. Harmony gives the music depth. The melody is a series of musical tones, but the harmony It's music that sounds at the same time.

The chord in the structure refers to three or more tones produced at the same time, which plays an important role in harmony. Chords not only involve each chord and the relationship between each chord and the melody it matches, but also involve the rhythm of the chords and their relationship to each other.

In musical works composed of melody and chords, the chords are often composed of "consonant" sounds, that is, musical sounds that sound pleasant, peaceful, non-irritating, and stable. . But chords can also be composed of really harsh tones that are constantly changing in scale - that is, "dissonant", "active", "unsteady" tones. Such dissonant chords are used by composers to create tension. , and consonant chords are used to relieve this tension. The back and forth rhythm from one chord to another is the entire connotation of harmony.

4. Music form

Music form is called the 'architectural' form chosen by the composer. Music requires a certain structure, and each period of music embodies specific music. Form reflects the characteristics of the era, the understanding of musical knowledge, the composer's skills and goals, and the audience's appreciation of taste.

The structure or pattern of music can be rigorous or informal. Free. The use of strict musical form does not mean that the composer lacks imagination or originality, as is the case with the works of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. The question is not what musical form is used, but what content is given to the musical form. For amateur music lovers, music with irregular patterns, structures or musical forms is not only difficult to follow, but also difficult to understand. This is the same as when we appreciate abstract sculptures and blank verse.

Some major musical form names, such as symphony, are generally known to people because they are still popular, but some older musical forms are relatively unfamiliar to people, and people in the music industry like to say that no matter what music is used. Form, the basic rules of the structure of musical works are repetition and contrast.

The term "form" will also include opera, oratorio, mass and cantata. ) and other vocal art forms.

5. Timbre

Each instrument used in music performance has its own timbre. For example, the timbre of the flute is different from that of the tuba. , even if the two instruments play exactly the same notes, for example, there are dozens of different instruments in an orchestra, they are as many as the colors on the artist's palette, and these timbres play a major role in orchestration. Orchestration is the method of composing music for orchestra.

Russian Romantic composer Rimsky-Korsakov said: “Orchestration is part of the soul of the work. A piece for orchestra is inseparable from certain timbres." People in the music industry sometimes like to equate various timbre qualities with specific colors. For example, a recorder can produce a sound similar to a soft blue hue, while The sound produced by the trumpet is like a fiery red tone...

Various musical instruments have different timbres, and their individual expressions are even more prominent:

Violin - expresses all emotions

Viola - expresses deep emotions Melancholy

Cello - expresses all emotions, but more intensely than the violin

Piccolo - expresses carnival

Oboe - expresses simple joy and Pathos

Trumpet - expresses boldness, bravery and the sound of cavalry approaching

Tuba - expresses strength and rough expansion

British pipe - expresses Hazy Melancholy

Recorder - expresses smoothness and tenderness in the alto range

The works of composers during the Romantic period paid more attention to timbre, telling stories, depicting moods or events In terms of music, make full use of the different sounds of existing or possible instruments to express.

6. Tonality

Tonality is difficult for amateur music lovers to understand. When we pluck a string and it is plucked, it will make a sound with a fixed lead. When the sound is made, the string vibrates an equal number of times per second. The lowest note of the piano vibrates 30 times per second, and the highest note vibrates 40 times per second. Regardless of the length of the string, the sound it makes when plucked is almost the same as a string half or twice as long, with the two shorter or longer strings respectively producing a higher or lower sound than the first string. The sound produced, but the notes of the three strings are the same. For a note on the piano, such as C, you can find the same high note on the treble part of the keyboard and the same low C on the bass. Hundreds of years ago, Western composers divided the length of a string into 12 segments. Although it cannot be seen on the violin, you can find 7 white keys and 5 black keys representing the 12 tones on the piano. These 12 keys represent the 12 tones used in traditional Western music. Each key, whether white or black, is a semitone different from the adjacent key.

As we all know, the 7 white keys are named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet, from A to G. Each raised black key has two key names. When it is in a higher position than the white key, it is called a sharp, and vice versa, it is called a flat. Therefore, in the keyboard diagram, C rising and D flat are the same black key. This keyboard diagram also illustrates that the five white keys on the piano, A, C, D, F, and G, all have a sharp black key on the right side of them, while the other two, B and E, do not. The pitch difference between two adjacent keys is still half a pitch, regardless of whether they are white-white, white-black, or black-white connected (for fear that black-black will never be connected). Therefore, the A key (white key) and the B key (white key) are one whole step apart because there is a black key in between. Although the E key and the F key are both white keys, they are only a semitone apart because there is no black key in between. A pianist starts on the white C key and uses only 7 white keys, and we hear the familiar "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do" diatonic scale. Since he chose C as the starting point, and only used these keys to play a tune and added chords, the tune was a "C major" tune. C major, unlike other keys, only includes white keys. If he only plays the white keys, he is "completely loyal to the key" and he has not "given up" or "lost" the key. His composition will be centered on the first note of the scale of his choice, in this case, C. This C sound is the "tonic sound". "Tonality" reflects the relationship between chords and harmony belonging to a key.

Basic elements of music: The basic elements of music refer to the various elements that make up music, including the pitch of the sound, the length of the sound, the strength and timbre of the sound. These basic elements are combined with each other to form the commonly used "formal elements" of music, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, intensity, speed, mode, musical form, texture, etc. The formal elements that constitute music are the means of expression of music.

The order from low to high can be divided into:

1. Rhythm: The rhythm of music refers to the length and strength of the mid-tones in the music movement. The rhythm of music is often compared to the skeleton of music. Beat is the periodic and regular repetition of heavy beats and weak beats in music. Traditional Chinese music calls the beat "banyan", "ban" is equivalent to the strong beat; "eye" is equivalent to the sub-strong beat (middle eye) or weak beat.

2. Strength: the strength of the midrange of the music.

3. Speed: how fast the music progresses.

4. Melody: an organized, rhythmic and harmonious movement of sound formed through artistic conception. Melody is the basis of music, and the thoughts and feelings of music are expressed through it.

5. Harmony: Harmony includes "chords" and "harmonic progressions". Chords are usually sound combinations formed by three or more tones that overlap vertically (simultaneously) according to certain rules. The horizontal organization of chords is the harmonic progression. Harmony has obvious color effects of thick, light, thick and thin; it also has the function of forming phrases, dividing sections and ending music. Progress upward with a 3-degree relationship.

6. Tonality: the harmony produced on a scale. There are 24 major keys in the music industry (major key = key)

7. Musical form: the horizontal organizational structure of music.

Note: The above materials are not original to me. They were all searched from the Internet. The author is unknown. I apologize. .