What is important in understanding the composition of a piece is singling out its elements.
An understanding of music's formal elements
can be helpful in deciphering exactly how a piece is constructed.
A universal element of music is how sounds occur in time,
which is referred to as the rhythm of a piece of music.
When a piece appears to have a changing time-feel, it is considered
to be in rubato time, an Italian expression that indicates that
the tempo of the piece changes to suit the expressive intent of the performer.
Even random placement of random sounds,
which occurs in musical montage, occurs within some kind of time,
and thus employs time as a musical element.