9781422287095

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MUSIC & MUSICIANS

Rhythm and percussion are huge parts of music. Bobbing your head to a beat or tapping your toe is a part of being human.

THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC When we talk about music being patterns of sound and silence, we can break down those patterns into several elements. These are pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, and timbre. All these elements work together to produce the emotional responses we have to music. Our ears pick up sound waves and our brains interpret them. Pitch depends on the frequency of these waves—how close together the waves are. Our minds perceive sound waves that come more closely together as being “high,” while sound waves that move more slowly sound “low.”