Question: how layers of sound occur in a piece of music

title: Elements of music
text: Meyer gives melody , rhythm , timbre , harmony , `` and the like '' ( Meyer 1973 , 9 ) , while Narmour lists , melody , harmony , rhythm , dynamics , tessitura , timbre , tempo , meter , texture , `` and perhaps others '' ( Narmour 1988 , 326 ) . According to McClellan , two things should be considered , the quality or state of an element and its change over time ( McClellan 2000 , 142 ) . Alan P. Merriam ( 1964 , 32 -- 33 ) proposed a theoretical research model that assumes three aspects are always present in musical activity : concept , behaviour , and sound . Virgil Thomson ( 1957 , vii ) lists the `` raw materials '' of music in order of their supposed discovery : rhythm , melody , and harmony ; including counterpoint and orchestration . Near the end of the twentieth century music scholarship began to give more attention to social and physical elements of music ( Moran 2013 , 59 ) . For example : performance , social , gender , dance , and theater .