Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book articulates the domain of music, and explores the appearances of music elements in popular music. It includes transcribing and describing music elements, lyrics and vocal lines; timelines at various levels of perspective are first encountered. The book provides an overview of the elements; it includes rhythm and time as recording elements, collecting information and transcribing recording elements, typology and syntax, and talking about sound. It dedicates to timbre and its link to pitch/frequency; the importance of timbre to the track is emphasized. The book also provides in depth coverage of the dimensions of space in records, and collecting observations of each spatial element. It concludes the coverage of individual recording elements with its exploration of loudness levels, contours and relationships as recording elements; then explores the confluence of domains in tracks, and how complex interrelations establish and co-function within tracks.