3) Melody with a Chordal AccompanimentĪ melody with a chordal accompaniment is a texture frequently used in the Romantic Period. The melody from the song Rio Grande is accompanied by a drone.

Drones are often formed from bare 4th’s and 5th’s and are used frequently in folk music.

2) DroneĪ drone is a continuos note or chord which sounds throughout the piece. This kind of bass pattern is a favourite texture of classical music composers such as Mozart.Ĭlassical composers often use an Alberti bass in classical piano sonatas. In the opening of Mozart’s Sonata in C, K545, the melody is in the right hand whilst the left-hand plays an Alberti bass. Much of the world’s music today comes under this category however, I like to encourage my students to broaden their perception by describing in more detail the melody and/or the accompaniment.įor example the texture is homophonic, there is a melody which is accompanied by a: 1)Alberti BassĪn alberti bass consists of a broken chord or arpeggio pattern that repeats. You play the lowest note of the chord followed by the highest and then the middle note. There are several ways, however, that you can define homophonic music in more detail. The majority of pop songs have a homophonic texture. Homophony-meaning similar is the category that most western music falls into today. The general texture of classical music is mostly homophonic although there are examples of contrapuntal music within this era. Homophonic music has one melody which can either be accompanied or chordal such as in hymns or Chorales. When a second voice imitates the first, it creates polyphony. Nursery rhymes sung in a round have a contrapuntal texture. Contrapuntal textureĬounterpoint is a type of polyphonic texture in which there is a harmonic relationship between the melodic lines or voices. You can use two part-writing to describe a piece that has only one melodic or harmonic line per part. It’s a baroque music texture that Bach used in his two-part inventions. Two-part writing is a simple type of polyphony. You can learn more about other characteristics of the Baroque period here.įugues are an excellent example of polyphonic texture. Polyphonic music often uses imitation and is a familiar texture of baroque music. Polyphonic texture in music occurs when there are two or more independent melodic lines. There is no additional harmony, hence the music is monophonic. Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder is an example of a unison texture as all the parts have the same melody in different octaves. However, there is still one melody which either played/sung at the same pitch or in octaves. We can also use unison as another way to define monophonic texture. Monks sang these, and although they did notate many of the tunes, the musical notation was different from that which we use today. The plainsongs and Gregorian chants are the earliest monophonic examples in music. It’s the most accessible type of musical texture to recognise as there is only one instrument or one voice playing a melody. Monophonic texture has a single line of music with no accompaniment. We can explain the type of combination ‘aka’ the texture of the music in the following ways. The word phonic means “relating to sound”. The ‘phonics’ describe how the melodic and harmonic parts combine to produce the sound in a composition. The melody, rhythm, and harmony affect the texture as they relate to the overall sound. In music, musical texture refers to the way a piece sounds. It’s also unlike the texture of material things which relate to the touch and feel of an object.

The definition of texture in music can be confusing as there are many subcategories. In this guide, I’ll go into detail on the phonics and the different types of texture in music. I like to call these terms the phonics, and they provide a good starting point for students. While these are correct, there are more specific terms such as monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic that are useful to learn when describing the texture of music. People often use words such as thick, dense or thin to describe the musical texture. Texture in music is how the melodic and harmonic layers combine when you hear them in a piece of music.

Polyphonic texture songs