Chapter 4
Harmony, Texture,
Tonality, and Mode
Key Terms
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Chord
Harmonize
Harmony
Consonance
Dissonance
Resolve
Harmony
• Prominent feature of Western
music
• Simultaneous pitches
• Accompaniment for a melody
Chords
• Groupings of simultaneous pitches
• A shifting sound background for
melody
Consonance
• Sounds pleasing or at rest
• Octaves are most consonant
Dissonance
• Sounds discordant, creates tension
• Creates a desire to resolve to
consonance
Listening Exercises
• Stability and instability
• Tension and release
• Consonance, dissonance, and
resolution
Key Terms
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Texture
Monophony (monophonic)
Homophony (homophonic)
Polyphony (polyphonic)
Counterpoint
Imitative and non-imitative
Texture
The relationship between a melody
and all other lines and figures that
coexist with it
Three Questions to Identify
Texture
• How many melodic lines do you
hear?
• Are all the lines equally interesting?
• How similar or different are they?
How many melodic lines
do you hear?
• How many different things are
going on at one time?
• Melody only?
• More than one melody?
• Any chords, figures, bass lines, or
countermelodies?
Are all the lines equally interesting?
• Is there a foreground/background
relationship?
• Is there one main melody with clear
patterns supporting it?
• Is it hard to tell which is the main
melody?
How similar or different are they?
• Same rhythms or different
rhythms?
• Same melodies or different
melodies?
Monophonic Texture
• Only one line, nothing else
Homophonic Texture
• Two or more lines
• One main melody with other parts
supporting it (accompaniment)
Polyphonic Texture
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Two or more lines
All competing for your attention
Same melodies = Imitative
Different melodies = Non-imitative
Imitative Polyphony
Non-imitative Polyphony
Listening Exercises
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Monophonic?
Homophonic?
Polyphonic?
Imitative or non-imitative
polyphony?
Key Terms
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Tonality, tonal
Tonic
Modality
Mode
Major mode, minor mode
Key
Modulation
Tonality
• Musical center of gravity
• Feeling of a “home” pitch
• A nearly universal phenomenon
Tonal vs. Atonal
• Tonal = Having sense of tonality
• Atonal = Absence of tonality
– Creates a wandering, unsettled
quality
– Used in some contemporary styles
Tonic Pitch
• The “home” pitch toward which
other pitches lead
• The first note of a scale (do re mi fa
sol la ti do)
• The most stable, fundamental pitch
• The “at rest” note on which tonal
melodies end
Modality
• Different ways of organizing the
diatonic scale
• Most Western music uses major
and minor
• Major scale = do re mi fa sol la ti do
• Minor scale = la is the tonic, not do
Major and Minor Modes
Major vs. Minor
• Major scales
– Begin with two whole steps
– End with a half step
– Tend to sound brighter, happier
• Minor scales
– Begin with a whole step and a half step
– End with a whole step
– Tend to sound darker, sadder
Major vs. Minor
• Scale steps 3, 6, and 7 are a half step
lower in the minor mode
Key
• Scales can begin on any note on
the keyboard
• Tonic pitch = Name of key
• Scales can be major or minor
– Pattern of whole and half steps must
be observed
Keys
• Key of C major:
major scale
beginning on C
• Key of D minor:
minor scale
beginning on D
Modulation
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Changing to a different key
Disrupts the pull toward the tonic
Creates a new tonal center
Creates variety, mystery,
excitement, disorientation, etc.
Listening Exercises
• Tonal or atonal?
• Major or minor mode?
• Modulation?