Themes > Arts > Music > Elements of Music > Fundamental Level of Music Making

by Danlee Mitchell and Jack Logan, Ph.D. The combining of meter, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, and musical instruments creates a sense that music is "organized". The combination of any or all of these elements to form "music" provides for the notion of musical unity. There are Eight Basic Elements of Music — meter, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, and instruments. It is these Eight Basic Elements which constitute the primary materials for the composition of music at the fundamental level, and it is the combining of these Eight Basic Elements that creates a composition of music. Once a composer begins combining the Eight Basic Elements into a work of music, there are various procedures by which the Eight Basic Elements are transformed. Three of these procedures exist as a mid-level group known here as the Three Foundational Procedures. The upper-level group of procedures is known here as the Four Combinational Operations. Any music must automatically contain two of the Eight Basic Elements — timbre and dynamics. Any sound source will automatically have an harmonic profile and will produce a certain intensity of sound. The six remaining Basic Elements are more variable in a piece of music. Some music may lack one or more Basic Elements. Some music may include all of the Basic Elements.

Information provided by http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M151/Elements_of_Music1.html