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We can talk about music in lots of different ways. You can talk about:

• the genre of a piece of music, or how instruments are used
• when a piece of music was made and who made it
• the different dimensions of the music
• how music makes you feel, using descriptive words such as excited, sleepy, happy or nervous

The dimensions of music are the different parts that come together to make up a song or piece of music. It's like making a cake, the dimensions are the musical ingredients used to make the final piece.

They are:

• Dynamics
• Rhythm
• Pitch
• Structure
• Melody
• Instrumentation
• Texture
• Harmony

Some people like to remember them, using the first letter of each dimension to spell: DR P SMITH.

When talking about music, it's important to think about how the different musical dimensions are being used. You might say:

• at the end of the song, the music got faster (accelerando)
• the music had a thin texture
• the structure was in ternary form
• the trumpets played a short, sharp (staccato) rhythm
• there was a rising melody
• the start was very loud (fortissimo)

Music can also make listeners feel different emotions, depending upon how the dimensions of music are used.

We can talk about the style of a piece of music. This is called the musical genre.

For example - pop, jazz, classical, dance or rock music are all genres of music. Music from the same genres often use the dimensions of music in a similar way.

The genre of a song or piece of music can be decided by factors such as:

• What the music is used for, like music for film or musical theatre.
• When in history it was made, like Renaissance music (1400 - 1600) or Baroque (1600 - 1750).
• The place or culture it has come from, like Caribbean calypso or South Indian classical music known as Carnatic.

With a friend or grown-up, have a listen to one of your favourite songs or pieces of music.

Can you describe how the different dimensions of music are used. Remember, DR P SMITH.

For an extra challenge can you talk about how the music makes you feel?