Chapter 3
The 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 texture
Who’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 excerpt
Theme: 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?