chapter 3 the structures of music texture. melody looks horizontally at musical lines harmony looks...
TRANSCRIPT
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)
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
Key Terms
Texture
Monophony
Monophonic texture
Homophony
Homophonic texture
Polyphony
Polyphonic texture
Counterpoint
Contrapuntal writing
Imitation
Imitative polyphony
Non-imitative polyphony