Page 77 - 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

definitions/descriptions for musical element, musical parameter, and musical
dimension satisfy the proposed criteria of ‘eliminability’ and ‘non-creativity’.
Whether one views music as art using a collection of sounds or as an audi-
tory (cultural) activity, the truth is that sounds must be organized in some way,
from simple entities (one tone) to more complex patterns, up to a final struc-
ture (form) that allows the composer (creator) to express their own ideas and
emotions. During the process of composing a piece of music, the composer has
access to music material, to musical elements, which can be utilized in a vari-
ety of ways.
It is highly unlikely that these musical elements will be used ‘by chance’
or be unorganized. Each composer considers at some point which musical ele-
ments to use, how to use them, and how to combine them, but is not overly
concerned with the question of which of these elements is the primary or sec-
ondary element. The latter becomes interesting/important, for example, du-
ring the process of ‘decomposing’ (segmenting) the musical piece (structure) Lorena Mihelač ◆ FROM THE CONCEPTUALIZATION TO THE FORMALIZATION OF MUSICAL ELEMENTS
into its constituent elements, i.e. during its analysis, in a pure theoretical-mu-
sicological manner.
Last but not least, it would be beneficial in the field of music education
to make a clear distinction between primary and secondary musical elements.
This would be helpful for a number of reasons, including the following: (i) to
clarify for students how musical elements are co-creating a piece of music; (ii)
to determine which of these elements is considered to be the most fundamen-
tal one, from which more complex elements can be created.
The hierarchical approach to classifying fundamental musical elements
detailed in Section 3 is merely a proposal. The purpose of (re)listing, i.e. (re)ca-
tegorizing, these musical elements was to demonstrate that new efforts shou-
ld be made to categorize musical elements in a manner that would be generally
acceptable in the field of music theory and would consequently give a more un-
derstandable classification to the wider community interested in music.
The placement of musical elements in a two-dimensional or even three-di-
mensional musical space is intriguing and offers a different perspective from
which to comprehend the interaction of musical elements. Using horizonta-
lity, verticality, and depth (or mathematically, width) enables the formalizati-
on of musical elements in the musical space according to mathematical requ-
irements. However, such a formalization necessarily entails a transformation
because it calls for a reworking of the initial musical theory in order to make it
conform to the mathematical theory. This is necessary in order to ensure that
both theories are satisfied (Nicolas, 2009, p. 2).
The question to be asked is whether such ‘transformation’ that serves
mathematics rather than music is necessary. The assumption is that a ‘typical’
musician is more concerned about the musical structure, content, and its inter-
pretation, and is hardly worried about whether a particular musical element is
located horizontally or vertically in the musical space, or how to define the de-

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