MUSIC – CHAPTER 9

MUSIC AND ITS DEFINITION

Music organizes the movement of sound through time. Sounds are produced through vibration of
materials.
What makes music different from ordinary sound?
• Ordinary sounds are structured and continuous.
• The vibration of musical sounds are uniform and synchronous.
There is a scale
Scales, however, differ depending on the culture from where the music comes from. In much of
Western music, the major scales use seven tones progressing from the beginning note, or root, to
the next higher root.
Music Scales
Scales (as the other elements) are again nurtured by time and place which means that a culture
decides which combinations of tones to them sound pleasant.
Duration - is the length of sound in time. If vibrations continue, then sounds continue playing,
but when vibrations stop, we have silence.
Intensity - means the loudness and softness of a sound produced by the varying degrees of
pressure applied to the instrument producing the sound.

THE MEDIUM OF MUSIC

Tone - In music, sound is what we call tone which is music's medium. Tone produced by an
instrument or by the voice has four qualities: timbre, pitch, duration, and intensity.
Timbre - (also, tone color and tone quality) is the distinctive quality of a tone. Timbre
distinguishes between the sound of a trumpet and that of a flute. The sounds differ because the
materials that produce the vibrations also differ.

THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Categories of Music Instruments
• Idiophones - (instruments which produce sound by their bodies vibrating)
• Membranophones - (instruments which produce sound by a vibrating
membrane);
 • Chordophones - (instruments which produce sound by vibrating strings)
• Aerophones - (instruments which produce sound by vibrating columns of air).
• The fifth category - a result of our digital technology - is the Electrophones
(instruments which produce sound electronically).

Woodwinds - produce sound with musicians blowing air through them, directly across a hole
or through a reed or reeds at the mouthpiece.
Voice - is the most expressive of all the instrument, preceded instrument in the expression of
music. The voice was man’s first instrument.

THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC

Rhythm - Is the movement through time of the arrangement of tones, and silence.
• Is the most basic element of music because music can do without the other
elements but cannot exist without rhythm.
Melody - Is the coherent succession of notes. It is notes played on after another.
• It is the tune of a song you sing. Because of all the elements melody is the most
identifiable.
• Melody is the horizontal element of music.
Harmony - If melody is the horizontal element of music, Harmony is the vertical element of
music.
Texture - Is the thickness or thinness of segments in a music composition produced by the
combination of the elements of music.
Refers - To the overarching structure or organization of a musical composition. It involves
the arrangement and relationship of various musical elements such as melody, harmony, rhythm,
and texture throughout the piece.

THE FUNCTIONS OF MUSIC

• Music is a major component in communal activities, in rituals, religious services,
etc.
• In many societies music serves as the chief entertainment at royal courts.
• Music is also used in medical treatments.
 • Music also serves as symbols in other ways as well. As it symbolizes military
patriotic, and funerary moods and events.

SUMMARY
Music enriches human experience in countless ways, contributing to individual well-being,
social cohesion, cultural diversity, and artistic expression. Its importance extends across various
domains of human life, making it an integral part of human existence and civilization.