Elements of Music

Elements of music include, timbre, texture, rhythm, melody, beat, harmony, structure,
tempo, pitch and dynamics.

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What are the elements of music?

The elements of music are essentially the different things that you can hear when you
listen to music. They are what differentiates a piece of music from other sounds.

If you perform a piece of music, even if you are just singing and dancing to your
favourite song, then - whether you know it or not - you are showing that you have a
sense of what the elements of music are.

Recognising your existing sense of what the elements of music are can really help you
to take your understanding of music and music theory further. If you sing a few lines of
one of your favourite songs, you will be repeating the rhythm and melody.

In order to replicate the rhythm you are showing that you have a sense of the pulse and
of the different durations of the notes you are singing and by singing the melody you are
showing a sense of how the different pitches relate to one another (these are called
intervals).

If you were then to sing along to a recording of the song, you would automatically adjust
your pitch and tempo so that they matched what you were listening to - you are more
musical than you know!

By learning to recognise and describe the different elements of what you hear, you will
be able to talk and write about music more accurately - not to mention enjoy and
appreciate new things about how a piece is constructed. This easy to download poster
will help you explain the elements of music to children and jazz up your display walls
too!
Sign up for a Twinkl account today to discover lots of teacher-made music resources to
support your teaching and save you valuable time!

Keep reading to learn what each of the elements of music are and some fabulous
suggested resources to help you teach them to primary children...

10 elements of music to teach to children

1. Rhythm

Combinations of long and short sounds which convey movement. When learning to
understand rhythm, you should try to understand it in terms of regularity. Later on, you
can learn about the ways that this regularity is played with and contradicted in
music.Music is measured in beats, and rhythms are made up of different types of beat.
This is the steady pulse that runs throughout a piece of music.

Rhythm alone is musical. Think of the intro to the song ‘Car Wash’ by Rose Royce - the
clapping is instrumented only with hands, but it forms the backbone to the rest of the
piece. Listen as the different textures of the song come in one by one and are layered
over the clapped rhythm.

More - Take your understanding of rhythm further by learning more about the

interdependent elements which it is made up of: metre, pulse and duration (of notes).
2. Beat

The underlying steady beat of music. This is what we may tap our foot to or clap along
with! If you can do this then, without necessarily being able to describe the rhythm in
terms of beats, you are showing awareness of something regular pulsing through the
music. You could say that the pulse is rhythm in its simplest form.

3. Duration

The length of the beats making up the music. In the main melody - the tune in a pop
song which you would sing along to - this would be the different lengths of the notes
which you are singing. In contrast to the pulse of the rhythm, which is regular, each note
of the melody would last for different portions of the pulse.

Try clapping a pulse as you sing a melody - try Frère Jacques - and notice how the
words aren't necessarily as long as the beats of the pulse. They can be longer (lasting
for one or more claps) or shorter (multiple notes or words between claps).

4. Pitch

Pitch is how high or low a sound is - every sound has a pitch, even if it isn't musical. In
written music, the notes on the staffare showing what pitch to play, when and for how
long.

Check out the Teaching Wiki page, 'What is pitch in music?' to learn more about this
basic element of music.
 Our Music Stave and Treble Notes Poster can help children get started with this
essential element of music. It clearly shows how pitch is written using music
notation, so they can get started learning to read it, and refer back to the poster to
help them.

5. Tempo

Tempo is an element of music which dictates and describes the speed that music is
performed at. This effects the mood of a piece of music. Often, sad music is slower than
happy music, but this isn't a strict rule. Complex moods are created in music by using
tempo in both expected and unexpected ways, as well as by changing the tempo during
a piece.

Tempo can be described precisely using metronome indications and BPM (beats per
minute). But it can also be described in a more general way using performance
directions. Performance directions usually appear at the beginning of a piece of written
music and describe the speed, or tempo, which the piece should be played at. These
sorts of tempo markings won’t be as precise as a metronome indication - instead, they
will state that the piece should be played ‘quickly’, ‘slowly’, ‘with fire’ or in any way the
composer thought was suitable!

Performance directions for tempo are mostly written in Italian, but you can also find
them in French, German or English. Common Italian terms for tempo include:

 lento - very slow;

 largo - very slow and ‘broad’;

 adagio - slow;

 andante - at walking speed;

 moderato - at moderate speed;

 allegro - fast and lively;

 vivace - lively.

As you can see, these descriptions are open to interpretation, and that is part of the fun
of playing music and interesting a piece for yourself.

Does tempo always stay the same in music?

No. In music, tempo is as changeable as we are, it alters the mood of a piece and
changes with the emotion of the music. A change of tempo can occur in the middle of a
piece. In classical music, works with several movements will each be in a different
tempo. For example, Mozart’s famous ‘Turkish March’ (Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major,
K. 331) is made up of these three movements:

1. Andante grazioso (slow and graceful);

2. Menuetto (at the tempo of a minuet);

3. Alla turca - Allegretto (Turkish style - moderately fast).

Words like ritardando and rallentando, which appear in the middle of a piece, tell

musicians to slow down the tempo in an expressive way to convey emotion. The
instruction a tempo primo would mean the players resume the original tempo after the
slowed-down passage.

6. Timbre

Timbre is the particular tone which distinguishes a sound or combinations of sounds.

Every sound - whether musical or not - has a timbre. When we talk about timbre we can
describe it in terms of colour and shape. A sound could be warm, silvery, round or sharp
- how would you describe different sounds?

When you sing to your favourite song, think about how your voice sounds different to
the singer in the recording. Close your eyes and listen to the sound of different
instruments - do you get different colours, feelings or images from the sounds of these
instruments? How do these compare? Can you notice differences between the timbre of
two of the same instrument?

You can read more about what this element of music is on our Teaching Wiki  article.
 7. Texture

The texture of music indicates the layers of sound in the work and the relationship
between them. A full orchestra might sound swollen and heavy, whilst a solo ukulele
could sound light.

You can read more about what this element of music is on our Teaching Wiki  article.

8. Melody

A sequence of notes and rhythms - these complement but are not identical to the notes
and beats of the accompanying sounds. They work together to make a layered sound.

The melody is what we usually sing along to (and the pulse is what we tap our feet to).
In your favourite song, the voice doesn't necessarily sing the same rhythm and notes as
the backing music, but it does sound as though it belongs with them. They work
together to create texture.

 A great way to get children used to melody and how it interacts with the other
layers of texture in music by singing together. We have lots of lyrics sheets and
PowerPoints - many available with recorded accompaniments - for children to
enjoy, you can look at them here.

9. Structure

Just how a novel is structured into paragraphs and chapters, and a poem is formed of
lines and stanzas, this refers to the different sections of a piece and what order they are
in.

In most music there is a formal structure - think of how pop songs have different verses
and a repeated chorus which they return to in between. The different verses explore the
theme of the song and develop it.

The chorus usually returns for one final rendition, in which it is altered or extended in
some way. It is the same in other musical forms - all have a structured way in which
they explored their themes, whether melodic or lyrical.

10. Harmony

This is the sounding of two or more notes at the same time. The sounds in a piece of
music harmonise with one another to produce a (typically) pleasant sound. How can you
tell when you have played or sung the wrong note? It was probably because it did not
harmonise in the way you were expecting!
Some 20th and 21st century classical compositions can be described as sounding
‘jarring’ or ‘scary’ - this is often because it deliberately avoids pleasant-sounding
harmony.

11. Dynamics

Dynamics are one of the core elements of musical expression. Learning about them will
help children to listen critically and get a more nuanced sense of meaning from the
music they study.

Dynamics are how we describe how strong or soft a sound is. Dynamics don’t
necessarily describe volume - all live music needs to be loud enough to be heard - but
about how hard or gentle the notes sound.

In written music, dynamics are indicated with words and symbols, which you can see in
the chart below: