Page 71 - Glasbenopedagoški zbornik Akademije za glasbo, letnik 20, zvezek 40 ◆ The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, volume 20, issue 40

ves a sound’ (Tan et al., 2010, p. 10). Sound waves have physical properties, fre-
quency, amplitude, and complexity, which correspond to the psychological qua-
lities: pitch, loudness, and colour. Duration is another psychological quality, as
an acoustic/auditory event must occur across time.
At the musical surface, which corresponds to the level of discrete musical
events (the note level in a musical structure), each event (tone), e.g. ‘e1’ (see Fi-
gure 1), can have all or at least one of the basic properties (attributes): pitch, lo-
udness, colour, and duration. As all these properties are measurable, we may re-
fer to them as parameters.
If an additional event e2 is added to an existing event e1, it is possible to
apply sonic texture and to apply these two events horizontally or vertically as
depicted in Figure 1. Simply combining two occurrences of events yields an es-
sential building component, an interval, which can be represented sequential-
ly (horizontal) or simultaneously (vertical).

Figure 1 Lorena Mihelač ◆ FROM THE CONCEPTUALIZATION TO THE FORMALIZATION OF MUSICAL ELEMENTS
Sonic texture depicted horizontally and vertically

a) horizontal b) vertical

e2

e1 e2 e1

For each interval:
– pitch is fundamental to its creation, and
– pitch can be determined for both horizontal and vertical occurren-
ces.
ascending contour descending contour arch-shaped contour U-shaped contour
From this perspective, interval can be regarded as a ‘value’ within the pi-
tch ‘domain’. b) vertical
a) horizontal
If adding at least two events (e.g. e2 and e3) to the first event e1, and if at le-
e2
ast two of three events have a different pitch, then, putting these events in a ho-
rizontal way, a succession of events is obtained, defined as contour. The contour
7
e1
e1
e2
of these three events can be ascending, descending, arch-shaped, and U-sha-
ped (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 (silence)
The representation of contour
(silence)
onset offset onset offset
ascending contour descending contour arch-shaped contour U-shaped contour

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7
11

(silence)

20 (silence)
onset offset onset offset

11

20