Welcome to The Musical Elements Tutorial. The goal of this site is to enlarge the tools that you have for enjoying music. By working through these pages one by one and listening to the musical examples provided while reading the descriptions, you will be able to gather the vocabulary that will help you understand and enjoy whatever kind of music you listen to.
The musical elements are the building blocks of musical sound. The word element means “a separate, identifiable part of something;” the musical elements are the separate, identifiable parts of musical sound and include pitch, melody, rhythm, pulse, meter, form, timbre, texture, and dynamics. When creating music, musicians manipulate these elements separately and together for expressive and creative purposes. Listeners hear these elements separately (“this song is slow”) where the listener hears and identifies the element of tempo, and together, which usually is interpreted as the expression the song conveys (“this song is sad”) where the listener hears not only a slow tempo, but also will hear aspects of the melody (possibly a conjunct melody that moves primarily in downward motion) and harmony (possibly a consonant harmony in a minor key) that can be interpreted into a sad expression.
Learning the vocabulary for these elements helps a listener hear music in more detail and understand what they’re hearing better. The vocabulary provides the key to the concepts and tools the music is created with, so that the more concepts the listener recognizes and the deeper the listener understands the concepts, the more enjoyment the listener will get out of all music heard.
If you are just starting this tutorial, then begin with “Basic Elements.” If you have already begun this earlier and are returning to it, continue where you left off.
ELEMENTS OF MUSIC 