10 Elements of Music

Elements of Music

Elements of Music

David took an harp and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

I Samuel 16:23

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus: Let no such man be trusted.

Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Music is one of the most wonderful parts of our lives. Few things give as much immediate satisfaction as does the hearing of a familiar, enjoyable piece of music. Something is deeply felt, something inner is touched. It's like eating a favorite meal without the calories.

Few things can cause you to change your mind or feelings as quickly as music. You need only consider the effect of changing a CD or thumbing your iPod to see how quickly your mood can shift.

An awareness of this power is not new. Leaders as far back as the Greeks were mindful of the effects of music on a person. Plato even went so far as to say that the masses should not have free access to music because when they heard it they couldn't control themselves. (Give that a serious moment of thought and you agree with him.) While listening to music they might get carried away and forget what they were doing. They might even lose their ability to resist doing something which they had previously said they would not do, because music had the ability

to suspend their will power. Sound familiar? Keeping that in mind, let's look a bit deeper.

At its most basic music consists of two things: pitch and time. When something vibrates it creates a sound or tone. Pitch is the highness or lowness of this sound. This highness or lowness is determined by the number of vibrations per second. The human ear is able to discern sound at rates of from 35 to 17,000 vibrations per second.

Contrary to what the stereo salesman told you, a system that handles from 20 to 20,000 cps may be capable of reproducing the extremes at either end of the sound spectrum, but that is not what makes a good stereo system. These sounds are beyond the range of the human ear. At the low end they become simply sensations of movement. Rather than hearing, you feel the deep bass from a good woofer. And even though your CD player will play into the 19,000 range or higher, only your dog will appreciate it. When he starts to howl you'll know your system is indeed hitting a very high note. The faster the rate of vibration, the higher the pitch. The distance between the highest and lowest note an instrument is capable of playing is known as its range.

A piano's range is from roughly 70 to 6000 vibrations per second, while the violin ranges from about 175 to 15,000. Other instruments have varying ranges but all remain within the audible spectrum.

Pitch is measured in music through the use of the notation system. Notes are arranged on a set of five parallel lines called a staff. Notes are usually grouped into two broad categories by symbols known as clefs.

Generally speaking higher notes are placed on a staff marked as the treble clef, while notes in the lower register are noted in the bass clef.

Although these two symbols may look strange to our eye they are nonetheless simply letters of the alphabet: G and F. The treble or G clef is so named because the G seems to "circle" the second line on the staff, which is a G.

The same is true for the F clef. Its two dots enclose or define the second line down, the F line.

Another consideration of sound is timbre, or "tone color." Timbre (tam-ber) is the result of overtones, certain tones which are set in motion when another pitch is created. Have you ever had something in your car start vibrating when your car reached a certain speed,

Elements of Music and then quit as soon as you exceeded this speed? These sympathetic vibrations also occur in music, and are what give each instrument its distinctive sound. It is through timbre that a trumpet sounds like a trumpet and not a piano or a flute or even the human voice, even though all may be playing the same pitch.

Overtones are what give each of us a distinct voice. The bone structure in your sinuses is what is responsible for the overtone series which give your voice its unique character. It is also why you don't sound the same when you have a cold or when you pinch your nose--your overtones change.

THE ORCHESTRA

An orchestra is a large group of performers. The

instruments they play are traditionally grouped in four classes: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion.

STRINGS

Members of the string family are generally played by drawing a bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. The wooden box to which the strings are attached is no more than a resonator, a sound box, which amplifies the sound of the string.

You can produce the same effect with your voice. Stand in any open space--i.e., by the side of a road--and sing a few notes. Next go home and try the same thing in a small room like your bedroom. Hear the difference? In an open area your voice (or instrument) sounds lost. It doesn't have anything to bounce off; there's nothing to give it some fullness. A closed space makes a better sound. That's why stages are built with a definite shape and

size--to project sound. That's also why people like to sing in the shower. You sound so good!

Today's professionals, instrumental or vocal, don't have to worry about the stage (most stadiums are not known for their acoustical excellence) because they use electronics to enhance the sound of their instrument or voice. All recordings have echo added by the recording technician.

Other effects can be produced by altering the way a string is set in motion. Plucking the string is known as pizzicato. In his Symphonie Fantastique Berlioz created another effect by changing the way the strings were played. He wanted to create the eerie sound of skeletons dancing, so instructed his string players to turn over their bows and play with the wood.

The string section, a remarkably agile and versatile choir, blends more readily into a homogeneous-sounding group than any other section of the orchestra. This section creates the sound that we

associate with orchestras. When we think of an orchestra we're really thinking about the strings.

VIOLIN Members of the violin family were developed in Italy in the late 16th century. Due to their superior sound, these instruments gradually replaced their predecessors, the viols, in the chamber ensembles and orchestras of Europe.

String instruments are like good wine, they get better with age. The most expensive today were made in the 1500's by Stradivarius in Italy. And although today's manufacturers have spent thousands of hours and dollars trying to chemically analyze what woods and glues he used, no one can duplicate his entire process. We don't know what the humidity was, the temperature, the age of the wood, etc., all of which combine to give his violins their unique sound (timbre). Today a "Strad" sells for more than a million--and that assumes you can even find one for sale.

The violin is the soprano voice of the string section. It is also physically the smallest.

VIOLA The viola is the alto member of the string family. It is slightly larger than the violin,

Yes, a bass is large

Elements of Music

and its thicker, longer strings result in a deeper, darker sounding tone.

CELLO While the proper name of this instrument is the violoncello, it is commonly known as the cello. It is lower in range than the viola and is noted for its resonant, lyrical quality. Due to its size, it is played from a seated position, being held between the knees.

DOUBLE BASS. This instrument, sometimes called the bass viol or contrabass, is the largest and lowest sounding member of the string family. It provides the darkly resonant foundation of the harmony.

Often the string instruments are grouped together in an ensemble known as the string quartet. A string quartet is composed of two violins, a viola and a cello. The most rapid melody sections are given to the violins in a quartet since it is easier to manipulate string length on the smaller sized neck of that instrument than on either the cello or the viola.

WOODWINDS

In the woodwind instruments, a column of air inside the instrument is set into vibration when the performer blows into the instrument. By opening and closing holes and keys running along the length of the instrument, the performer is able to change the length of the air column, thus producing a series of different pitches (since a longer column of air means a slower vibration cycle. The members of the woodwind choir can produce a wide variety of timbres.

Originally all woodwind instruments were either made of wood or employed wood as a vibrator. Today many of the instruments (like the flute) are no longer made of wood; but the category is still useful in grouping the instruments according to timbre. Besides the general grouping of woodwind, they may also be subdivided into flutes, double reeds, and single reed instruments.

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