Chapter 3The Structures of Music

Texture

Texture

Melody looks horizontally at musical lines

Harmony looks vertically at chords

Texture looks at the relationship between a melody and all other lines and figures that co-exist with it

Like melody, texture is universal phenomenon

Texture

Listening for textureWho’s playing the melody?

What’s going on behind the melody?•Beethoven Symphony No. 9 excerpt (Listen

CD-ROM)•Copland Appalachian Spring excerpt

Texture

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 excerptTheme: played by cellos and basses with no accompaniment

Variation 1: violins play theme, low strings and bassoon play two countermelodies

Variation 2: violins play theme even higher, multiple countermelodies

Variation 3: trumpets take melody, block chord accompaniment (orchestral hits)

Texture

Copland Appalachian Spring excerpt:Theme: clarinet melody, offbeat long-tone accompaniment by flute, piccolo, harp

Var. 1: oboe melody, offbeat long-tone accompaniment by muted trumpets and (later) horns, flute, piccolo

Var. 2: “wall of sound” accompaniment (string pizzicato, glockenspiel, staccato woodwinds, harp, etc.); melody played by trombone and violas, imitated later by horns and violin, cellos and basses

Identifying Textures

Three questions to determine texture:How many “lines” can you hear?

Is there a foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?

How similar or different are the lines?

Identifying Textures

How many “lines” can you hear?•How many “lines,” or different “things,” are

going on at a time• Is it melody only?• Is there more than one melody?•Are there various chords, figures, bass lines,

and/or countermelodies in addition to the melody?

Identifying Textures

Is there a foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?• Is there one main melody with clearly

accompanimental patterns supporting it?• Is it hard to tell which is the main melody,

because it is so busy and confusing?

Identifying Textures

How similar or different are the lines?•Are they rhythmically the same or different?•Do they use the same melody or a different

one?

Monophonic Texture

How many “lines” can you hear?•Only one, nothing else

Foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?•N/A

How similar or different are the lines?•N/A

Homophonic Texture

How many “lines” can you hear?•Two or more

Foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?•Foreground/background; there is one main

melody and the other parts support it

How similar or different are the lines?•Different rhythms = melody and

accompaniment•Similar rhythms = chordal (homorhythmic)

Homophonic Texture

Melody and accompaniment texture

Chordal (homorhythmic) texture

Polyphonic Texture

How many “lines” can you hear?•Two or more

Foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?•All lines equally interesting, all competing for

your attention; can be hard to follow

How similar or different are the lines?•Same tune = imitative polyphony•Different tunes = non-imitative polyphony

Polyphonic Texture (1)

Imitative polyphony

Polyphonic Texture (2)

Non-imitative polyphony

Key Terms

Texture

Monophony

Monophonic texture

Homophony

Homophonic texture

Polyphony

Polyphonic texture

Counterpoint

Contrapuntal writing

Imitation

Imitative polyphony

Non-imitative polyphony

Texture Listening

Name that texture!How many “lines” can you hear?Foreground/background relationship, or are all lines equally interesting?How similar or different are the lines?Texture type?•Monophonic? •Homophonic? Chordal or melody and

accompaniment?•Polyphonic? Imitative or non-imitative?