European music

The traditional musicological or European-influenced aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music, so 7 basic elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone, form, tempo and dynamics .

• Melody is a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit. It is a single line of tones that moves up, down, or stays the same using steps, skips and repeated tones.
• Harmony is the relationship between two or more simultaneous pitches or pitch simultaneities, chord progression affects the key.
• Rhythm is the variation of the accentuation of sounds over time.
• Tone color is timbre, see list below.
• Form is the structure of a particular piece, how its parts are put together to make the whole.
• Tempo is the speed of communicating an emotion in a particular piece, how fast or slow it's played.
• Dynamics is the volume of all parts as a whole and every layer in the structure.

However, a more comprehensive list is given by stating the aspects of sound: pitch, timbre, intensity, and duration. (Owen 2000:6)

• Pitch is the perception of the frequency of the sound experienced, and is perceived as how "low" or "high" a sound is, and may be further described as definite pitch or indefinite pitch. It includes: melody, harmony, tonality, tessitura, and tuning or temperament (ibid).
• Timbre is the quality of a sound, determined by the fundamental and its spectra: overtones or harmonics and envelope, and varies between voices and types and kinds of musical instruments, which are tools used to produce sound. It includes: tone color and articulation (ibid).
• Intensity, or dynamics, is how loud or quiet a sound is and includes how stressed a sound is or articulation.
• Duration is the temporal aspect of music; time. It includes: pulse, beat, rhythm, rhythmic density, meter, tempo (ibid).

These aspects combine to create secondary aspects including form or structure, texture, and style. Other commonly included aspects include the spatial location or the movement in space of sounds, gesture, and dance. Silence is also often considered an aspect of music, if it is considered to exist.

• Structure includes: motive, subphrase, phrase, phrase group, period, section, exposition, repetition, variation, development, and other formal units, textural continuity (ibid).
• Texture is the interaction of temporal and pitch elements. It includes: homophony, polyphony, heterophony, and simultaneity. (ibid)
• Style is defined by how the above elements are used. It is what distinguishes an individual composer or group, period, genre, region, or manner of performance (ibid).
• Aesthetics is another element that many do not know. This is how the music affects you emotionally. For example: an upbeat tune may make you joyful, while a slow violin song may make you feel lonely, cold, and depressed.