The Music Language

 What is music? 

According to the Oxford Dictionary:

“Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion”. In other words, we structure the sounds we make with our voice or instrument primarily to relay an emotion or tell a story. Beauty of form and harmony hints at the use of rules and guidelines. Where do these guidelines come from? In essence, the human ear and the perception of audible harmony determines what is pleasing. Centuries of musical history and development and the vast material available have established rules that apply to their respective styles and genres.

The basic elements of music are melody, harmony and rhythm. The harmony establishes the vertical framework or boundaries for the melody. The melody is the horizontal movement of a line or voice. Finally, the rhythm describes how the notes move, are spaced and organized. All three make up what is taught in music theory.

This is where the language part comes in. You've learned the notes which compare to the words in a spoken language, you've learned the harmonies which are the grammar and rules and you've practiced the flow and pronunciation of the words and syllables, the rhythm. You are ready to create a sentence or a phrase in music. And multiple phrases make up a melody or paragraph. You can now use your newly learned language to tell a story.

You want to tell your story to an audience, either in a conversation, a speech or another situation. If you want to capture your audience, the story and delivery should be compelling. This is no different in music. We all start with learning the vocabulary and some basic rules but it's what comes next, the phrasing and storytelling, that makes your playing interesting to the listener.

I will discuss all the elements of the musical language on this page and how you can apply them in your playing or singing to create captivating phrases and melodies and tell a story the audience wants to hear.