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Republic of the Philippines

President Ramon Magsaysay State University
(Formerly Ramon Magsaysay Technological University)
Iba, Zambales, Philippines
Tel/Fax No.: (047) 811-1683

College/Department College of Teacher Education

Course Code ESC 1
Course Title Teaching Music in the Elementary Grades
Place of the Course Major
in the Program
Semester & First Semester, AY 2022-2023
Academic Year

Module 2: Fundamentals of Music Part 1

Introduction

Music caters to all people. Music is not only for the few talented ones. Music under a
resourceful teacher helps excite the mind to intelligent thinking. Music acts as a springboard to
ignite the child’s insight and creativity, conceptualization, span of attention, and critical
judgement.

The truism that you can give only what you have or the teacher can teach only what she
knows is perfectly true. The teacher in music can deliver a song, only if she has the theoretical
knowledge of music and its components: Pitch and Melody, Rhythm, Texture and Harmony, color
and Timbre, and Form or Design.

Music is defined in the comprehensive approach as the “interaction of sound (Pitch),

horizontal (Melody), and vertical (harmony), Silence, Duration (rhythm), Qualities (Timbre),
Dynamics, Texture, and Form (organizational of musical elements and context – consideration of
music historically, socially, and aesthetically).

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of his module, you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the basic concepts of Rhythm, Melody, Harmony and

Texture.
2. Reflect on the importance of Fundamentals of music in teaching music.

Discussion

What is Rhythm?

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Rhythm is the way that music is systematically divided into beats that repeat a specific
number of times within a bar at a collectively understood speed or tempo. The term “rhythm” has
more than one meaning. It can mean the basic, repetitive pulse of the music, or a rhythmic pattern
that is repeated throughout the music (as in “feel the rhythm”). It can also refer to the pattern in
time of a single small group of notes (as in “play this rhythm for me”).

Rhythm is how musicians connect and play with one another. At least, that’s the definition
you would get if you asked a metronome. Rhythm is pretty hard to define. It’s what makes music,
music.

Rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, and texture are the essential aspects of a musical
performance. They are often called the basic elements of music. The main purpose of music theory
is to describe various pieces of music in terms of their similarities and differences in these
elements, and music is usually grouped into genres based on similarities in all or most elements.
It’s useful, therefore, to be familiar with the terms commonly used to describe each element.
Because harmony is the most highly developed aspect of Western music, music theory tends to
focus almost exclusively on melody and harmony. Music does not have to have harmony, however,
and some music doesn’t even have melody. So perhaps the other three elements can be considered
the most basic components of music.

Music cannot happen without time. The placement of the sounds in time is the rhythm of
a piece of music. Because music must be heard over a period of time, rhythm is one of the most
basic elements of music. In some pieces of music, the rhythm is simply a “placement in time” that
cannot be assigned a beat or meter, but most rhythm terms concern more familiar types of music
with a steady beat.

Parts of Rhythm – Rhythm has beat, accent, meter, rhythm pattern, and phrase.

1. Beat - the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the
mensural level (or beat level). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap
their toes to when listening to a piece of music, or the numbers a musician counts while
performing, though in practice this may be technically incorrect (often the first multiple
level). In popular use, beat can refer to a variety of related concepts, including pulse, tempo,
meter, specific rhythms, and groove.
2. Accent - an accent is an emphasis, stress, or stronger attack placed on a particular note or
set of notes, or chord, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent
mark. Accents contribute to the articulation and prosody of a performance of a musical
phrase. Accents may be written into a score or part by a composer or added by the
performer as part of his or her interpretation of a musical piece.
Compared to surrounding notes:
a. A dynamic accent or stress accent is an emphasis using louder sound or a stronger
sound, typically most pronounced on the attack of the sound.
b. A tonic accent is an emphasis on notes by virtue of being higher in pitch as opposed to
higher in volume

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c. An agogic accent is an emphasis by virtue of being longer in duration.

d. Accents which do not correspond to the stressed beats of the prevailing meter are said
to be syncopated. For example, in common time, also called 4/4, the most common
metre in popular music, the stressed beats are one and three. If accented chords or notes
are played on beats two or four, this creates syncopation, as the music is emphasizing
the "weak" beats of the bar. Syncopation is used in Classical music, popular music and
traditional music.

There are four kinds of agogic accents:

• Longer notated duration of a note, for example, a whole note/semibreve (four beats in
common time) among quarter notes/crotchets (each of which gets one beat).
• Extended duration of a note within its full-time value (without altering the tempo). For
example, players of organ and harpsichord (which do not allow the use of dynamic accents)
can emphasize one of a sequence of staccato quarter notes by making it less staccato (that
is, making one note longer to emphasize it).
• Extended duration of a note with the effect of temporarily slowing down the tempo (rubato
or rallentando).
• Delayed onset of a note, for example by doing a pause before starting a note.

3. Meter - refers to the regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike
rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the
performer (or performers) and expected by the listener. Meter is the measurement of the
number of pulses between more or less regularly recurring accents.

Metres classified by the subdivisions of a beat

1. Simple metre (or simple time) is a metre in which each beat of the bar divides
naturally into two (as opposed to three) equal parts.
2. Compound metre (or compound time) is a metre in which each beat of the bar divides
naturally into three equal parts.

4. Rhythmic Pattern – Rhythmic pattern is the division of beats into patterns of sound. The
music becomes clear when the components of rhythm – beat, meter, accent, and the rhythmic
pattern built into phrases.

5. Phrases – is a musical thought that is part of the musical sentences.

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What is Melody?

A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, melōidía, "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is
a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal
sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include
successions of other musical elements such as tonal color. It may be considered the foreground to
the background accompaniment. A line or part need not be a foreground melody.

Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or motifs, and are usually repeated
throughout a composition in various forms. Melodies may also be described by their melodic
motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches (predominantly conjunct or disjunct or with
further restrictions), pitch range, tension and release, continuity and coherence, cadence, and
shape.

A melody is a collection of musical tones that are grouped together as a single entity. Most
compositions consist of multiple melodies working in conjunction with one another. In a rock
band, the vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and bassist are all playing melodies on their respective
instruments. Even the drummer is playing one.

The melody in a piece of music consists of two primary components:

1. Pitch - this refers to the actual audio vibration produced by an instrument. These pitches
are arranged as a series of notes with names like C4 or D#5.
2. Duration - the definition of melody also includes the duration of time t at each pitch will
sound. These durations are divided into lengths such as whole notes, half notes, quarter-
note triplets, and more.

Five basic properties of Melody

1. Rhythm – All melody has rhythm but rhythm can exist without melody. The character of
the melody changes when the rhythm is changed.
2. Dimension – Melody has two dimensions:
a. Length – Melody may be short (motives, figures) or extended.
b. Range – The range of the melody is the pitch distance from its lowest to the highest
tones. The range may be narrow, moderate or wide.
3. Direction or Movement – Melodic direction is the movement. It may be ascending (going
Up), descending (going Down), or in a repeated movement.
4. Progression – Progression refers to the intervals between the tones.
a. Conjunction Progressions – notes move by whole or half steps.
b. Disjunct Progression – moves by thirds, fourths etc.

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5. Register – is the relative highness or lorwess of the aggregate tones of a melody.

Modulation is the shifting of the melody to another closely related key.

What is Harmony?

Harmony is the process by which the composition of individual sounds, or superpositions

of sounds, is analysed by hearing. Usually, this means simultaneously occurring frequencies,
pitches (tones, notes), or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and
chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them.
Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from
melodic line, or the "horizontal" aspect. Counterpoint, which refers to the relationship between
melodic lines, and polyphony, which refers to the simultaneous sounding of separate independent
voices, are therefore sometimes distinguished from harmony.
The simultaneous sounding of two or more pitches. Another word for harmony is chord. A
chord usually consists of three notes that make up what is called a triad. A triad consists of a root
(the note that the chord is named after) a third (the note three steps away from the root) and a fifth
(the note five steps away from the root). 1 3 5 = triad.
Harmonies or chords can support a melody by sounding together vertically in time. Or,
when two or more melodies overlap, the point of simultaneous sound is where the harmony occurs.
That is a more horizontal relationship.

These two types of harmonies are referred to as:

Consonance
Harmony that is stable, non-active, agreeable, free of tension, blending and resolved.

Dissonance
Harmony that is unstable, in opposition, conflicting, jarring and unresolved. A dissonant
chord leaves the listener with a feeling of expectation. It takes a consonant chord to complete the
gesture created by a dissonance. Most good music has a combination of consonance and
dissonance.

What is Texture?

Musical texture refers to the number and type of layers used in a composition and how
these layers are related. A texture may be monophonic (single melodic line), polyphonic (two or
more melodic lines) and homophonic (the main melody accompanied by chords). Texture is how
the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the
overall quality of the sound in a piece. Texture is often described in regard to the density, or

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thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as
more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship
between these voices.

Texture can be simple or elaborate, and is described using the following terms:

1. Monophonic: A single line of melody with no harmony.

2. Biphonic: Two different, simultaneous melodies. Some overlap of notes may create
harmony.
3. Heterophonic: A slightly elaborated melody with one or two voices and some intervals.
Harmony is sprinkled throughout.
4. Homophonic: A single line of melody with harmony in the form of chords.
5. Polyphonic: A composition with many voices and harmonies.

Suggested Readings

• https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/music-and-the-child/chapter/chapter-2/
• https://wmich.edu/mus-gened/mus170/170notes/Ch1-elements.pdf

Resources and Additional Resources

• https://blog.landr.com/what-is-rhythm-time-beat-meter/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_(music)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_(music)
• https://www.masterclass.com/articles/music-101-what-is-melody#what-is-melody
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody
• http://musicappreciation.com/lecture6.htm
• https://www.liveabout.com/harmony-definition-2701631

Prepared by:

RAYMOND DUMLAO ESPIRITU

Instructor I

Fundamentals of Music Part 1