The Basic Elements of Music

Melody

Melody, most simply, is a succession of musical notes in a given amount of time. The
melody is usually the most memorable aspect of a song. Understanding melody can be thought
of as analogous to the use of language when reading a short story. There are phrases, themes,
syntax and slang, sentences, paragraphs, and lastly the overarching story itself as a whole.

A melodic phrase, like a sentence, usually encompasses a complete musical statement. It

usually defines itself by resting or coming to some point of resolution especially in vocal music,
and is often directly related to the natural areas to breathe.

Find examples of what you think is a full musical thought in this song. Full thoughts can
be expressed in short lengths, analogous to a sentence, or larger structures, analogous to a
paragraph or several sentences.

There is often a form of symmetry to complete musical thoughts as in a theme being expressed
twice or fours times and ending with a variation that gives the impression of resolution or
completeness.

Harmony

Harmony is the relationship that is created when two or more notes are played
simultaneously. When we describe the way a song evokes us to feel, this is usually the result of
the chosen harmony of a song. Thus, we often describe the effect of harmony as emotional
states.

Musical harmony can evoke emotions as complex as you could imagine; this is especially
evident in your favorite movies. However, to begin our study, we will examine the most basic
harmonic situations. In our modern music, the starting place for describing the harmony will be
one of two possibilities: Major or Minor harmony.

Major harmony songs are generally described as- bright, happy, lively. While minor harmony
songs are typically described as- melancholic, sad, dark. There are many more sounds and
descriptions we can use as well.