Aspect of music

This notation indicates differing pitch, dynamics, articulation, instrumentation, timbre, and rhythm (duration and onset/order).

An aspect of music (rudiment) is any characteristic, dimension, or element taken as a part or component of music. A parameter is any element that can be manipulated (composed) separately from other elements. "There is very little dispute about the principal constituent elements of music, though experts will differ on the precise definitions of each aspect. Most central are 'pitch' (or melody) and 'rhythm'...next in importance only to pitch and rhythm is 'timbre', the characteristic qualities of tone" (Gardner 1984, 104).

"Just as parameters within a culture are distinguished from one another because they are governed by somewhat different constraints, so it is with the parameters of music: melody, harmony, timbre, etc., are more or less independent variables" (Meyer 1989, 21.44). The first person to apply the term parameter to music may have been Joseph Schillinger, though its relative popularity may be due to Werner Meyer-Eppler (Grant 2005, 62n85). Gradation is gradual change within one parameter, or an overlapping of two blocks of sound. There is disagreement over the number and existence of specific aspects, as well as whether any aspects are common to all music.

European music

The traditional musicological or European-influenced aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music, so seven basic elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone, form, tempo and dynamics. White gives rhythm, melody, harmony, and sound, with sound including timbre, dynamics, and texture (White 1976, 14). Meyer gives, "melody, rhythm, timbre, harmony, and the like,"(Meyer 1973, 9) while Narmour lists, "melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, tessitura, timbre, tempo, meter, texture, and perhaps others" (Narmour 1988, 326). "Two aspects of each of these parameters should be taken into consideration: the quality of each parameter at any given moment and the way in which each parameter changes as the music progresses" (McClellan 2000, 142).

Silence is also often considered an aspect of music, if it is considered to exist. These aspects combine to create secondary aspects including form or structure, and style.

Sound perception

Most definitions of music include a reference to sound (Google.com.au 2015; Dictionary.com 2015; Merriam-webster.com 2015; Anon. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003) and sound perception can be divided into six cognitive processes. They are: pitch, duration, loudness, timbre, sonic texture and spatial location (Burton 2015, 22-28).

Definition of music

Main article: Definition of music

Does the definition of music determine its aspects, or does the combination of certain aspects determine the definition of music? For example, if, by definition, all music is sound but not all sound is music, silence is excluded from being music, after which the inclusion of silence as being music thus alters its definition.

Some definitions refer to music as a score, or a composition (Dictionary.com 2015; Merriam-webster.com 2015; Oxforddictionaries.com): music can be read as well as heard, and a piece of music never played is a piece of music notwithstanding. The process of reading music, at least for trained musicians, involves a process called “inner hearing” or "audiation" (Gordon 1999). This is where the music is heard in the mind as if it were being played. Although the product of this process is not called "sound" there seems to be no alternative name.

Definitions of music often list aspects or elements that make up music, but these lists vary widely. In addition to a lack of consensus, Jean Molino (1975, 43) also points out that "any element belonging to the total musical fact can be isolated, or taken as a strategic variable of musical production." Nattiez gives as examples Mauricio Kagel's Con Voce [with voice], where a masked trio silently mimes playing instruments. In this example sound, a common element, is excluded, while gesture, a less common element, is given primacy. However Nattiez goes on to say that despite special cases where sound is not immediately obvious (because it is heard in the mind): “sound is a minimal condition of the musical fact” (Nattiez 1990, 43). In classical music of the common practice period, melody and harmony are often given more importance at the expense of rhythm and timbre. John Cage considers duration the primary aspect of music as, being the temporal aspect of music, it is the only aspect common to both sound and silence.

Universal aspect

Some debate whether some aspects of music are universal, as well as whether the concept of music is universal. This debate often hinges on definitions. For instance, the fairly common assertion that "tonality" is a universal of all music may necessarily require an expansive definition of tonality. A pulse is sometimes taken as a universal, yet there exist solo vocal and instrumental genres with free and improvisational rhythms no regular pulse (Johnson 2002, ), one example being the alap section of an Indian classical music performance. "We must ask whether a cross-cultural musical universal is to be found in the music itself (either its structure or function) or the way in which music is made. By 'music-making,' I intend not only real performance but also how music is heard, understood, even learned" (Harwood 1976, 522).

One aspect that is important to bear in mind when examining multi-cultural associations, is that we are discussing an English language word, not a universal concept. For this reason it is important to approach apparently equivalent words in other languages with caution. Based on the many disparate definitions that can be found just in English language dictionaries (Google.com.au 2015; Dictionary.com 2015; Merriam-webster.com 2015; Music 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003), it seems we cannot agree what the word "Music" means in our own language, let alone determining a potentially equivalent word from another culture.

According to Merriam (1964, 32-33) there are three aspects always present in musical activity: concept, behaviour, and sound. Virgil Thomson (1957, vii) lists the "raw materials" of music in order of their discovery: rhythm, melody, and harmony; with the construction of these materials using two major techniques: counterpoint (the simultaneity and organization of different melodies) and orchestration. Rhythm does not require melody or harmony, but it does require melody if the instrument produces a continuous sound, harmony arises from reverberation causing the overlap of different pitches, and counterpoint arises from multiple melodies.

Kenneth Gourlay recounts that, "Writing of her own Igbo music, the Nigerian musicologist Chinyere Nwachukwu maintains that the 'concept of music nkwa combines singing, playing musical instruments, and dancing into one act' (Gorlay 1981, 59). Whatever concept of 'music' is held by members of western society, it is highly improbable that, apart from forward-looking scholars and composers, it will contain all three elements. Nkwa in fact is not 'music' but a wider affective channel that is closer to the karimojong mode of expression than to western practice. The point of interest here is that Nwachukwu feels constrained to use the erroneous term 'music': not because she is producing a 'musical dissertation,' but because the 'one act' the Igbos perform has no equivalent in the English language. By forcing the Igbo concept into the Procrustean bed of western conceptualization, she is in effect surrendering to the dominance of western ideas—or at least to the dominance of the English language! How different things would have been if the Igbo tongue had attained the same 'universality' as English!" (Gourlay 1984, 35). He then concludes that there exists "nonuniversality of music and the universality of nonmusic."

Other common aspects and terms

Other terms used to discuss particular pieces include:

For a more comprehensive list of terms see: List of musical topics

See also

Sources

Further reading

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