THE ELEMENTS AND

ORGANIZATION OF MUSIC
By: Pazcoguin, Ivan Abelard
Pedro, John Francis
Ramos, Rodrigo
Reformado, Juan Paolo

Musical notation
Notation
system of signs by means of which music is written down.
Serves mainly to indicate two properties (pitch and duration)
Notation of Pitch
Written on five horizontal lines with four equal spaces called staff





Clef
a letter sign placed on the staff to indicate the pitch of notes

G clef (treble clef)
locates the tone G by circling the G line
A symbol indicating that the second line from the bottom of a staff
represents the pitch of G
F clef (bass clef)
A symbol indicating that the fourth line from the bottom of a staff
represents the pitch of F




Leger lines
Short lines which are used to indicate pitches which lie
below or above the range of the staff

Sharp sign (#)
When a note is preceded by a sharp sign (#), the tone is
one half step higher and played on the piano key to the
right

Flat sign( )
When a note is preceded by a flat sign, the tone is one
half step lower and played on the piano one key to the left

The pitch distance between any note and the next note of the
same letter, either to the right or left on the keyboard, is called
an octave

Notation of Duration (Note Values)
Duration of silence between notes is indicated by rest
Every kind of note has a corresponding kind of rest to indicate that
nothing shall be sounded

A dot following a note gives an additional one-half of its regular
value;








Meter
A series of regular pulses










Time Signature
Appears on the staff at the beginning of the score
Consists of two numbers:
The upper number indicates the number of beats to a
measure
The lower number indicates the kind of note that will
receive one beat









means that there are three beats in one measure
and every quarter note will receive one beat
A few more signs to know to read music accurately:
Accent mark ( ) gives extra stress to the note it
accompanies which means to play the note louder.
Crescendo mark indicates gradual increase in loudness
Decrescendo mark also called diminuendo mark gradually
decreases the loudness
Fermata means the holding of a note or chord longer than its
normal value

Key Signature
Group of flats or sharps appearing at the beginning of a piece


Sound
May be said to deal with pure sound

composition of music can be defines as the
organization of sound

Tone
A sound produced by regular vibrations of air

Sound made by wind, traffic, clapping of hands, or
creaking of doors are merely noise because vibrations

Components of tone
Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of a tonal sound. The
faster the vibration means the higher the pitch and the slower
the vibrations, the lower the pitch

Duration determined by the length of time the vibration is
sustained

Intensity of Volume the loudness and softness

Timbre or Quality tones possess a characteristic quality which
enables one to distinguish one sound from another. Tone quality
is referred as tone color
THE ORGANIZATION OF PITCH
There are many pitched that exists
Pitch spectrum
Limited to a total of 12 different pitches
It is possible to create musical scales because of
pitch



Scale
A series of consecutive tones.
May move in:
An ascending order, from lower to higher pitches.
A descending order, from higher to lower pitches.
Without the scale, music would be impossible.
There are many different scale patterns in music,
the most known and commonly used are the
major scale and minor scale.
Every major scale is a pattern of whole steps and
half steps
One can construct all the scales, major and
minor, by:
Using the key signature chart.
Beginning with any tone and applying the pattern
of half and whole steps.
The word half and whole refer to the distance
between the successive steps in the scale.

Tonality
In almost any melody, one tone can be found
which seems more important that any of the
others used in making the melody.
Tonality is the key or tonal center.
Most music is written in a key, which means that
all its harmony is related to a single tone (tonic).
The central pitch is a tonic.
The tonality or key of a musical composition is
indicated by a key signature which is placed at
the beginning of a piece.
Music in which 2 or more keys are combined
simultaneously in a single composition is
polytonal.
20
th
century composers is shifting rapidly from
one key to another.
This is referred to as multitonality or displaced
tonality.
A scale is an abstract arrangement of the pitched
in stepwise order forming the basis of a
composition. The first and last notes od a scale
are always tonic
THE ORGANIZATION OF DURATION
Sounds can be made longer or shorter because of
duration.
It is possible to organize sounds rhythmically
Rhythm
Aspect of music which has to do with the
organization of duration.
Usually considered the most basic musical
element
METER
It is the way of measuring durations on a fixed,
regular pattern, so the listener is aware of a basic
pulse or beat.
Binary
Whole note
Two half notes
Four quarter notes
Eight eight notes
Ternary
Dotted half note (three quarter notes)
Tempo
An Italian word which means time.
Tempo is indicated by such general terms:
Allegro (fast)
Vivace (lively)
Moderato (moderate speed)
Andante (moderately slow)
Adagio (slower than andante)
Lento (slow)
Largo (very slow)
Tempo(cont.)
Tempo is more accurately indicated in musical
scores by metronome designations, which show
the number of beats per minute.
Melody
Element of music which makes the most direct
appeal.
Is generally what we remember and whistle or
hum.
Consist of a series of pitches and durations.
Displays overall balance between ascending and
descending motions.
The most fundamental feature of
melody is continuity.
Melody divides itself into two halves,
each half is called a phrase.
Phrase denotes a unit of meaning
within a larger structure.
Two phrases together form a
sentence(musical period).

Motif is the smallest melodic unit
Phrase is the succession of tones easily
encompassed in one breath
Phrase usually rises to a high point to a
point of rest or cadence
Cadence in music means a closing
phrase
4 Characteristics of Melody:
Dimension
Progression
Direction
Register
Dimension
Motives melodic fragments
Melody has two dimensions:
Length
Length of the melody is relative to the number of
measures which compose it.
Melodies consisting of less than eight measures are
considered short, those consisting of more than
eight measures are considered long.





Range
Range of a melody is the pitch distance
from its lowest to its highest tone.
Some melodies are wider in range, other
melodies are narrow, and many are
moderate.
Register
Register is the relative highnes or lowness of the
aggregate tones of a melody.
A melody may have a high, medium or low
register.
Register affects the quality of a melody.

Direction
Melody moves in two direction of pitch:
Upwards
Downwards
A melody can move rapidly in either direction:
rapidly ascending, rapidly descending, gradually
ascending, gradually descending
Static melody a melody which remains at a
given pitch level, moving neither up nor down
any appreciable distance
A melodic climax may apper near the beginning,
in the middle, or at the end of the line.
Progression
Melodic progression refers to the intervals
between the tones as a melody
A melody may move stepwise, that is, it
progresses to adjacent notes of the scale which is
called conjunct progression,
A melody may contain numerous
prominent skips which is called disjunct
progression
A melody often contains both conjuctive
and disjunct progression.
Function of Melody
Melody is the element of music that arouses
interest.
Theme
- melodic idea or basic tune of the composition
- it provides one of the most important
approaches to intelligent listening
Tempo
An Italian word which means time.
Tempo is indicated by such general terms:
Allegro (fast)
Vivace (lively)
Moderato (moderate speed)
Andante (moderately slow)
Adagio (slower than andante)
Lento (slow)
Largo (very slow)

It is the simultaneous sounding of two or more
tones.

A Chord is two or more notes or tones sounded
at the same time and conceived as an entity.

The most common chord in our music is a
combination of three tones known as Triad.
Harmony

We can build a triad by selecting any tone by
adding two more tones above it on an alternate
degrees (1-3-5 scale)


Chord Progression is the scheme by which
chords change.

Harmony has rhythm in which chord changes
may come at regular or irregular intervals of
time, thus producing a harmonic rhythm.
Consonance and Dissonance
Consonance are certain combination of tones
that produces a quality of repose or relaxation.

Dissonance are tones that produces a quality of
unrest or tension.

Each complements the other and both are a
necessary part of the artistic whole.


Diatonic and Chromatic Harmony
Diatonic Harmony is one in which there are
few altered tones (i.e. sharps, flats, and natural
signs).

Chromatic Harmony is one in which there are
numerous altered tones.
It is an element of music which creates a sense of
gravitation toward a key or tonal center.

Most music is written in a key. That means all its
harmony is related to a single tone called a
tonic.
Tonality
Polytonality
Music in which two or more keys are combined
simultaneously in a single composition is
polytonal.

Multitonality
Sometimes called displaced tonality.
Here the composer rapidly shifts from one key to
another.

Atonal
Atonal music is an innovation of Schoenberg.
It is music that rejects the framework of key in
which the composer avoids any feeling of key at all
times, the technique is names the method of
composing 12 tones.
Dynamics
When intensity is applied to a piece of music,
rather than to a single tone, it is referred to as
dynamics.
The term refers to degrees of loudness and
softness and the process of changing from one to
the other.
These are certain words that indicate dynamics:
Forte(loud)
Piano(soft)
Fortissimo(very loud)
Pianissimo(very soft)
Mezzo forte(moderately loud)
As to the change in dynamics, the most common
are:
Crescendo(becoming louder)
Diminuendo(becoming softer)
Sforzando(Sudden Stress)

Terms that embrace both tempo and dynamics:
Andante maestoso(fairly slow and majestic)
Morendo(Dying away)
Scherzabdo(playful)
Combrio(with vigor)

Tempo
Refers to the rate of speed, the pace of the music.
Terms in tempo also indicates changes in it, from
fast to slow and vice versa.
Ex. Largo(broad), Grave(solemn), Adagio(going at
a walking pace), etc.

Music also moves at different speed.
Accelerando gradual increase of speed.
Ritardando gradual decrease of tempo
When tempo becomes faster, music becomes
more tense and exciting; when music slows
down, relaxation usually takes place.
Timbre
It is tone quality.
Every musical medium has its own distinctive
quality of tone.
In music, texture refers to the melodic and
harmonic relationship of musical factors.

Types of Texture
1. Monophonic Texture any instrument or
voice performing a melody without an
accompaniment.

2. Homophonic Texture a single-melody-
with-chords.

Texture
3. Polyphonic Texture - many-voiced texture
which is a combination of two or more melodies
of more or less equal prominence.

4. Nonmelodic Texture created for special
effects in which harmonic sounds obscure or
partly exclude the melodic content of the
composition.


Sonority an attribute of texture which is based
more on harmonic than melodic
consideration.
- the quality of richness or thinness of
texture.

Determined by:
1. The number of parts
2. Spacing of tones
3. Register of tones
4. Timbre