Music and time

Music is meant to be listened with the heart, not only the ear. That is the part of music that appeals to the emotion. Emotion in music is sometimes lost when one only listen with the ears.

Melody is a strange thing as it is most often the only part in music that make us recall certain piece of music. The rhythmic part does not play that role. Maybe because if we could recall a piece of music from childhood, the melody is what we remember. The rhythm is almost always inevitably associated with it in our mind, whether it's a fast or slow rhythm.

Timbre and Texture

Timbre


To illustrate, first, place the violin into slot 1. Listen to how it sounds.

Then, put in place the flute into slot 1 and listen again. Finally, place the tuba into slot 1.

All three musical instruments sounded different although they are playing the same notes. This difference is what is known as the timbre (pronounced tam-ber) of the sound.

Melody, Rhythm and Harmony

What is a melody?

A melody is a sequence of musical notes of different pitches that forms the basic musical piece.

Simply put, when you hear a song and hum it, what you are humming is the melody of the song.

Using the popular nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the piano widget, try this:

Arpeggios and chords

What is a chord?

A chord is when three or more musical notes are played at the same time (simultaneously). Using the above piano widget (click once on the widget's piano key first), try playing:

Z-C-B representing "do-mi-sol" on the widget (by simultaneously pressing these 3-keys on your computer keyboard). This is the C-Major chord.