| It's no secret that virtually everyone loves music | | | | In musical notation, the melody is almost always |
| in some form or other. After all, it is the universal | | | | written in the treble clef - also known as the |
| language, and we all participate in it to some | | | | treble staff. It consists of a horizontal line of |
| degree from the cradle to the grave. It starts | | | | notes that move up and down on the clef as the |
| with our Mothers' lullaby, ends with our funeral | | | | tune moves higher or lower. |
| song, with a zillion other stops along the way. | | | | Rhythm is the beat - the swing - the throb of the |
| But what is music, anyway? What makes it tick? | | | | music. It happens in repeating patterns, depending |
| We all love some form of it and dislike other | | | | upon the type of music. It is like a horizontal line |
| forms of it. | | | | of beats which occur at regular or semi-regular |
| The country-western fan may not like jazz, but | | | | intervals. A waltz, for example, basically consists |
| he or she sure loves the sound of pickin' & | | | | of a heavy beat followed by two lighter beats. So |
| grinnin'. And the jazz fan feels just the opposite. | | | | we say that a waltz is in triple meter - one strong |
| And that's as it should be. If we all liked the same | | | | beat followed by two weak beats, then repeated. |
| kind of music, there just wouldn't be the variety | | | | A march, on the other hand, generally consists of |
| that is available to us now. We can choose from | | | | a heavy beat followed by a light beat, then |
| musical styles ranging from heavy classical and | | | | another heavy beat followed by another light |
| opera to rock to children's songs to Broadway | | | | beat. (I'm simplifying, of course - there are many |
| musicals to gospel music to the blues. | | | | varieties...) So a march is in duple meter - as you |
| Each has its place, and each seems on the | | | | might expect since we have two feet and we |
| surface to be drastically different than another | | | | march in left-right-left-right patterns. |
| form of music. The key word is "on the surface." | | | | All rhythms are some combination of triple meter |
| But beneath the surface of all music is a | | | | and/or duple meter, and the possibilities are |
| commonality that is organic to all forms and | | | | endless - from boogie to R&B to mambos and |
| styles of music. | | | | sambas and bossa novas and....on and on. |
| So what does all music have in common? | | | | Harmony, the 3rd aspect of music, is the musical |
| At least 3 things - sometimes more, but never | | | | background of a song - the chords, or intervals |
| less: | | | | "behind" the melody. Without harmony, a song |
| 1. Melody | | | | sounds empty - like a vocalist singing without an |
| 2. Rhythm | | | | accompanist - or accapella. Music doesn't HAVE to |
| 3. Harmony | | | | have harmony to function, but in actual practice it |
| The melody is the part of a song or composition | | | | almost always does, even if it is just the interplay |
| that you whistle or hum - in other words, the | | | | of two melodies, as in counterpoint. |
| tune of the song. In one sense, it is the most | | | | You could spend a lifetime learning all the nuances |
| visible of the 3 elements, because melody is what | | | | of music, but it its most basic form, it is these 3 |
| identifies a song. Without melody, it would be | | | | elements combined together; melody, rhythm, |
| difficult to even conceive of a song or piece. | | | | and harmony. |