Chapter 5: Musical Texture +

Texture in Music

Definition: Texture refers to the interrelationship and blend of various sounds and melodic lines that occur simultaneously in a piece of music. Defined by how melody is treated

The interweaving of melodic (horizontal line) and harmonic (vertical line) in a musical work

Types of Texture:

  1. Monophony:

    • Description: The simplest texture in music.(only has one focus)

    • Characteristics

      • Single unaccompanied melody (one melody only)

      • all synchronous (all in sync)

      • interest is focused on the single melodic line rather than on any harmony

      • doesn’t matter how many people are singing

  2. Heterophony:

    • single melody played by multiple voices, each of which perform the melody slightly differently (nuanced variations)

    • variations can include a different rhythm or tempo, different embellishments and figures, or stylistic differences

    • initially introduced into systematic musicology to denote a subcategory of polyphonic music

    • Often found in music of non-western cultures

    • spirituals often depend on heterotrophic texture

  3. Polyphony:

    • Description: Involves two or more melodic lines played or sung simultaneously. Several independent melodies

    • Construction of the great cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris, one of the first centers in which polyphony was notated and integrated into musical worship

      • Organum: early polyphony of the late Middle Ages, plainchant single line melodies of early christian church (seen as tribute to divine power)

    • Texture Traits:

      • based on Counterpoint

        • compositional technique: combing two or more melodic lines in a single texture

          • Music compositions that use this texture are sometimes called “contrapuntal”

    • Subtypes: The two types of polyphony:

      • Imitative Polyphony:

        • Melodic lines use the same or similar melodies but at staggered time intervals.

        • the same melody at different times (asynchronous)

      • Non-Imitative Polyphony:

        • Melodic lines differ from one another.

        • more than two melodies at a time (diff melodies)

  4. Homophony:

    • Description: Emphasizes the melody over accompanying harmonies.

    • Melody and accompaniment

    • Texture Traits:

      • Melody is prominent (most important)

      • primary focus is on the main melody

      • accompaniment is subordinate

      • texture based on harmony

  5. Homorhythmic

    • A type of homophonic texture

    • all voices move together, with the same words, same rhythm.

    • Based on Harmony moving in sync with a melody

    • hymn like movement, vertical conception

Additional Information:

Imitation and Polyphony:

  • Common unifying technique in polyphony.

  • used to give unity and shape to the texture

  • Represents a melodic idea in one voice, that is then restarted in another voice.

  • continues with new material, adds a third thread to the aspects of music (diagonal thread)

  • Seen as the diagonal line

    • Canon = strictly imitative work

      • Rounds = The simplest and most familiar form of canon. each voice enters in succession with the same melody, can be repeated endlessly

The horizontal and vertical aspects of music (The two threads)

  • Vertical = Harmony

  • Horizontal = Melody

  • out of these two interaction, comes a texture (there interplay)