{"id":2146,"date":"2023-02-08T13:03:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2023-02-08T13:06:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:06:15","slug":"the-basic-elements-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/the-basic-elements-of-music\/","title":{"rendered":"The basic elements of music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pitch<\/h3>\n

To make a sound, a vibration must be caused in the air. This can be done, for example, by a string or the skin of a drum. If this vibration is fast, we hear it as a high pitch<\/strong>. If it is slow, we hear it as low or deep pitch<\/strong>. The human ear can pick up a pitch from 16-20 vibrations per second and the upper threshold is about 20 000. As we get older, this number decreases.<\/p>\n

A choir made of adults has a range of 64 to 1 500 vibrations \u2013 in general.<\/p>\n

There are standardized pitches<\/strong>, like the \u201cA\u201d that makes 440 cycles per second.<\/p>\n

Musical notation<\/h3>\n

In music seven letters are used for different pitches, from A to G. When you play the white keys on a piano from A to G, you covered an octave<\/strong>. If you continue, you hear the same notes, just a higher version of them.<\/p>\n

Note, pitch and staff<\/h3>\n

To graphically symbolize a pitch, we use notes<\/strong>. When the notes are combined in an intelligent way, they form melodies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The notes are put on a five lines staff<\/strong> or stave<\/strong>. At the beginning of each staff a sign called clef<\/strong> shows if those lines are treble<\/strong> or bass<\/strong> notes. A pianist uses both (as left and right hand), a violinist typically uses the treble part.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

If the composer wishes to make a smaller step between two notes (not a full tone), a sharp<\/strong> or a flat<\/strong> sign<\/strong> is used. Sharp means raise<\/strong> the note by a semitone<\/strong>, flat means lowering<\/strong> by a semitone. This way, G-sharp and A-flat is the same tone.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Intervals<\/h3>\n

Intervals<\/strong> are gaps between notes. Some instruments can only make steps between notes, like a piano, others can do more fine increments. Such example can be the violin or the human voice.<\/p>\n

Harmony<\/h3>\n

When notes are combined, we call it harmony<\/strong>, and these played simultaneously, form a chord<\/strong>. A chord can be dissonant<\/strong> or consonant<\/strong> (harmonious).<\/p>\n

Tempo and rhythm<\/h3>\n

Positioning notes in time<\/strong> and the duration<\/strong> of the notes creates rhythm<\/strong>. Sound and silence are the terms used for the duration, where sound is a note<\/strong> and silence is a rest<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The beat<\/strong> (unit of time), or rather its speed, is the tempo<\/strong> of a music. Composers before the metronome<\/a> used Italian expressions for indicating the tempo.<\/p>\n

Grave \u2013 slow (solemn) (20\u201340 BPM)
\nLento \u2013 slowly (40\u201345 BPM)
\nLargo \u2013 broadly (45\u201350 BPM)
\nAdagio \u2013 slow (literally, \u201cat ease\u201d) (55\u201365 BPM)
\nAdagietto \u2013 rather slow (65\u201369 BPM)
\nAndante \u2013 at a walking pace (73\u201377 BPM)
\nModerato \u2013 moderately (86\u201397 BPM)
\nAllegretto \u2013 moderately fast (98\u2013109 BPM)
\nAllegro \u2013 fast and bright (109\u2013132 BPM)
\nVivace \u2013 lively and fast (132\u2013140 BPM)
\nPresto \u2013 extremely fast (168\u2013177 BPM)
\nPrestissimo \u2013 as fast as possible (178 BPM and over)<\/p>\n

Dynamics<\/h3>\n

The intensity<\/strong> (or volume) of a sound will define the dynamics<\/strong>. Just as with tempo, Italian words are associated with dynamics.<\/p>\n

Pianissimo (pp) \u2013 very quiet
\nPiano (p) \u2013 quiet
\nMezzo forte (mf) \u2013 moderately loud
\nForte (f) \u2013 loud
\nFortissimo (ff) \u2013 very loud
\nSforzando (sfz) \u2013 a sudden, forced loud
\nCrescendo (cresc) \u2013 gradually getting louder
\nDiminuendo (dim) \u2013 gradually getting quieter<\/p>\n

Metre<\/h3>\n

We use time signature<\/strong> to indicate the metre<\/strong>. In a \u00be time, for example, the upper number shows the beats in a bar, the lower number shows the value of each beat.<\/p>\n

Scales<\/h3>\n

Notes in a certain sequence order<\/strong> is the scale<\/strong>. For example: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do<\/em>. The distances in this sequence are: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone<\/em>. This scale is called a major scale<\/strong> and humans associate positive feelings with it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The minor scale<\/strong>, is formed following this sequence: tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone<\/em>\u2026 and repeating the cycle. The minor scale is often associated with sad or tragic moods.<\/p>\n

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    Pitch To make a sound, a vibration must be caused in the air. This can be done, for example, by a string or the skin of a drum. If this vibration is fast, we hear it as a high pitch. If it is slow, we hear it as low or deep pitch. The human ear can pick up a pitch … <\/p>\n

    Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-2146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-info-box","tag-music-theory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.popularbeethoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}