Elements of music

Music can be analysed by considering a variety of its elements, or parts (aspects, characteristics, features), individually or together. A commonly used list of the main elements includes pitch, timbre, texture, volume, duration and form. The elements of music may be compared to the elements of art or design.

According to Howard Gardner (1983, 104), there is little dispute about the principal constituent elements of music, though experts differ on their precise definitions. Harold Owen bases his list on the qualities of sound: pitch, timbre, intensity, and duration (Owen 2000, 6). Most definitions of music include a reference to sound (Google.com.au 2015; Dictionary.com 2015; Merriam-webster.com 2015; Anon. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003) and sound perception can be divided into six cognitive processes. They are: pitch, duration, loudness, timbre, sonic texture and spatial location (Burton 2015, 22–28).

A parameter is any element that can be manipulated (composed) separately from other elements or focused on separately in an educational context.Leonard B. Meyer compares distinguishing parameters within a culture by their different constraints to distinguishing independent parameters within music, such as melody, harmony, timbre, "etc." (Meyer 1989, 21n44). The first person to apply the term parameter to music may have been Joseph Schillinger, though its relative popularity may be due to Werner Meyer-Eppler (Grant 2005, 62n85). Gradation is gradual change within one parameter, or an overlapping of two blocks of sound.

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