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A system of category analysis, formulated by Jan LaRue, which breaks down musical material into elements,..."a set of categories that are satisfactorily distinct, yet without undue branching and proliferation. LaRue's system has only five categories (Its 'four Contributing Elements' and 'fifth Combining Element') and three degrees (the Aristotelian 'Rule of Three': two extremes and a mean)...The five categories are: Sound, Harmony, Melody, Rhythm, Growth. The categories are divided into subcategories, such as 'Timbre' and 'Dynamics' for Sound, and each subcategory has its own set of degrees of measurement (e.g. Rising, Falling, Level, Waveform, Sawtooth, or Undulating for melodic patterns). Each category is also considered at each of three levels of structure ('Dimension'): Large, Middle, Small. The resultant analytic grid is three-dimensional;, but the finished analysis is displayed as a table." (New Grove)