The Elements of Music
Every piece of music is built from the same few ingredients: melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and form. Here's what each one means, with a sound example you can play.
- 1Melodythe tune
- 2Harmonynotes together
- 3Rhythmlong and short in time
- 4Tempospeed
- 5Dynamicsloud and soft
- 6Timbretone color
- 7Texturehow many layers
- 8Formthe shape of a piece
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Melody
A melody is a line of notes, one after another, that makes a tune: the part you hum or sing. Each note has a pitch, how high or low it sounds, and the melody moves up, down or stays put from one pitch to the next. To hear any single pitch, tap it on the online pitch pipe.
Read tunes you know in Songs →
Harmony
Harmony is notes sounding at the same time, usually as chords that support the melody. The same tune can feel quite different with different harmony under it.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds, and silences, against a steady beat. Play the same note in a different rhythm and it becomes a different idea.
Tempo
Tempo is the speed of the beat, counted in beats per minute (BPM). Composers often write it with an Italian word at the top of the music. To feel any of these speeds, set it on the online metronome, which shows the Italian name for each tempo.
| Term | Meaning | About |
|---|---|---|
| Largo | Very slow and broad | 40–60 BPM |
| Adagio | Slow, at ease | 66–76 BPM |
| Andante | At a walking pace | 76–108 BPM |
| Moderato | Moderate | 108–120 BPM |
| Allegro | Fast and lively | 120–168 BPM |
| Presto | Very fast | 168–200 BPM |
The speeds are rough guides: they vary from book to book and from piece to piece.
The opening of Twinkle, Twinkle at four tempos:
Dynamics
Dynamics are how loud or soft the music is. They’re written as letters from Italian words, and a hairpin shows a gradual change.
| Sign | Italian | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pp | pianissimo | Very soft |
| p | piano | Soft |
| mp | mezzo piano | Moderately soft |
| mf | mezzo forte | Moderately loud |
| f | forte | Loud |
| ff | fortissimo | Very loud |
Timbre
Timbre (say “TAM-ber”) is the color of a sound: it’s why a flute and a trumpet sound different even when they play the same note at the same loudness. It comes from the mix of quieter, higher sounds (overtones) inside every note.
The same A, four ways. These are simple electronic sounds, but each has a different mix of overtones, just as instruments do:
Texture
Texture is how many layers of sound play at once, and how they fit together. One line on its own is a thin texture (monophonic); a melody with a bass line and chords is thicker (homophonic, melody with accompaniment). Several independent tunes at once is polyphonic, like a round.
Form
Form is the shape of a whole piece: which parts come back and which are new. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star has three parts, A, B and A again, so its form is ABA (ternary form). Songs with verses and a chorus have a form too.
Repeat signs in music symbols →
How to remember them
| Element | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Melody | Which notes, one after another? |
| Harmony | Which notes sound together? |
| Rhythm | How long is each sound? |
| Tempo | How fast is the beat? |
| Dynamics | How loud or soft? |
| Timbre | What does the sound sound like? |
| Texture | How many layers at once? |
| Form | How is the whole piece put together? |
Teaching the elements of music? Free classroom games →