Elements of music

Music can be analysed by considering a variety of its elements, or parts (aspects, characteristics, features), individually or together.

A commonly used list of the main elements includes pitch, timbre, texture, volume, duration, and form.

According to Howard Gardner,[1] there is little dispute about the principal constituent elements of music, though experts differ on their precise definitions.

"[10] The first person to apply the term parameter to music may have been Joseph Schillinger, though its relative popularity may be due to Werner Meyer-Eppler.

[14] Alan P. Merriam[15] proposed a theoretical research model that assumes three aspects are always present in musical activity: concept, behaviour, and sound.

Virgil Thomson[16] lists the "raw materials" of music in order of their supposed discovery: rhythm, melody, and harmony; including counterpoint and orchestration.

Nattiez gives as examples Mauricio Kagel's Con Voce [with voice], where a masked trio silently mimes playing instruments.

Kenneth Gourlay describes how, since different cultures include different elements in their definitions of music, dance, and related concepts, translation of the words for these activities may split or combine them, citing Nigerian musicologist Chinyere Nwachukwu's definition of the Igbo term "nkwa"[25] as an activity combining and/or requiring singing, playing musical instruments, and dancing.