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{{short description|Way in which tempo, melody, and harmony are combined in a musical composition}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}File:Sousa - "Washington Post March," m. 1-7.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Introduction to Sousa's "Washington Post March", mm. 1–7 features octave doubling{{sfn|Benward & Saker|2003|p=133}} and a homorhythmic texture.(File:Sousa - "Washington Post March," m. 1-7.mid) ]]In music, texture is how the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition, determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see Common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these layers could be a string section or another brass. The thickness also is changed by the amount and the richness of the instruments playing the piece. The thickness varies from light to thick. A piece's texture may be changed by the number and character of parts playing at once, the timbre of the instruments or voices playing these parts and the harmony, tempo, and rhythms used.{{sfn|Benward & Saker|2003|loc={{Page needed|date=August 2015}}}} The types categorized by number and relationship of parts are analyzed and determined through the labeling of primary textural elements: primary melody (PM), secondary melody (SM), parallel supporting melody (PSM), static support (SS), harmonic support (HS), rhythmic support (RS), and harmonic and rhythmic support (HRS).{{sfn|Isaac & Russell|2003|p=136}}{{incomplete short citation|date=May 2021}}

Common types

In musical terms, particularly in the fields of music history and music analysis, some common terms for different types of texture are:{| class="wikitable"! Type! Description! Visual! Audio

Monophony>Monophonic	Benward & Saker	p=136}} PSMs often double or parallel the PM they support.{{sfn	2003|p=137}}	thumb	"	1975">pp=270–301}}	filename=Pop Goes the Weasel.ogg	image=none}}

| Biphonic

Pedal point>Pedal tones or ostinati would be an example of a SS.{{sfn	2003|p=137}} It is generally considered to be a type of polyphony.	thumb	Pedal tone in Johann Sebastian Bach	's Prelude No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851, from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, mm. 1–2. All pedal tone notes are consonant except for the last three of the first measure.{{sfn>Benward & Saker	p=99}}(File:Pedal tone Bach - BWV 851, m.1-2.mid) ]]	filename=Kimiko Ishizaka - Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 - 11 Prelude No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851.ogg	image=none|help=no}}

Polyphony>Polyphonic or Counterpoint or Contrapuntal	Renaissance music, also prevalent during the Baroque music>Baroque period.{{sfn	2003	date=May 2021}}}} Polyphonic textures may contain several PMs.{{sfn	2003|p=137}}	thumb	250px	Fugue No. 17 in A-flat major, BWV 862, from The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book I), example of counterpoint>contrapuntal polyphony(File:BachFugueBar.mid) ]]	filename=Johann Sebastian Bach - The Well-tempered Clavier - Book 1 - 11Efuge Bbmaj.ogg	title=Fugue No. 21 in B-flat major (BWV 866)	Martha Goldstein>help=no}}

Homophony>Homophonic	Classical music>Classical period and continued to predominate in Romantic music while in the 20th century, "popular music is nearly all homophonic," and, "much of jazz is also" though, "the simultaneous improvisations of some jazz musicians creates a true polyphony".{{sfn	2003	Benward & Saker	p=137}} HS and RS are often combined, thus labeled HRS.{{sfn	2003|p=137}}	thumb	250px	Thomas Tallis>Tallis' "If Ye Love Me", composed in 1549. The voices move together using the same rhythm, and the relationship between them creates chords: the excerpt begins and ends with an F major triad.]]	filename=If ye love me.ogg	image=none|help=no}}

|Homorhythmic|Multiple voices with similar rhythmic material in all parts. Also known as "chordal". May be considered a condition of homophony or distinguished from it.|see above|

Heterophony>Heterophonic| Two or more voices simultaneously performing variations of the same melody.|||

Rest (music)>Silence| No sound at all or the absence of intended sound||

Many classical pieces feature different kinds of texture within a short space of time. An example is the Scherzo from Schubert’s piano sonata in B major, D575. The first four bars are monophonic, with both hands performing the same melody an octave apart:(File:Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 1-4.wav|thumb|Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 1–4)(File:Schubert Piano Sonata in B major scherzo bars 1-4.png|thumb|center|400px|Schubert Piano Sonata in B major scherzo bars 1–4 )Bars 5–10 are homophonic, with all voices coinciding rhythmically:(File:Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 5-10.wav|thumb|Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 5–10)(File:Schubert Piano Sonata in B scherzo bars 5-10.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert Piano Sonata in B scherzo bars 5–10)Bars 11–20 are polyphonic. There are three parts, the top two moving in parallel (interval of a tenth). The lowest part imitates the rhythm of the upper two at the distance of three beats. The passage climaxes abruptly with a bar’s silence: (File:Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 11-20.wav|thumb|Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 11–20)(File:Schubert Piano Sonata in B major Scherzo bars 11-20.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert Piano Sonata in B major Scherzo bars 11–20)After the silence, the polyphonic texture expands from three to four independent parts moving simultaneously in bars 21–24. The upper two parts are imitative, the lowest part consists of a repeated note (pedal point) and the remaining part weaves an independent melodic line: (File:Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 21-24.wav|thumb|Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 21–24)(File:Schubert Piano Sonata in B majore Scherzo bars 21-24.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert Piano Sonata in B majore Scherzo bars 21–24)The final four bars revert to homophony, bringing the section to a close; (File:Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 25-28.wav|thumb|Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars 25–28)(File:Schubert Sonata in B major Scherzo bars 25-28.png|thumb|center|500px|Schubert Sonata in B major Scherzo bars 25–28) A complete performance can be heard by following this link: Listen

Additional types

Although in music instruction certain styles or repertoires of music are often identified with one of these descriptions this is basically added music{{Clarify|date=September 2017}} (for example, Gregorian chant is described as monophonic, Bach Chorales are described as homophonic and fugues as polyphonic), many composers use more than one type of texture in the same piece of music.A simultaneity is more than one complete musical texture occurring at the same time, rather than in succession.A more recent type of texture first used by György Ligeti is micropolyphony. Other textures include polythematic, polyrhythmic, onomatopoeic, compound, and mixed or composite textures.{{sfn|Corozine|2002|p=34}}

See also

• Style brisé

References

{{reflist|22em}}Sources

• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Benward & Saker|2003}}|reference=Benward, Bruce, and Marilyn Nadine Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, seventh edition, vol. 1. Boston: McGraw-Hill. {{ISBN|978-0-07-294262-0}}.}}
• BOOK, Corozine, Vince, Arranging Music for the Real World: Classical and Commercial Aspects, 2002, Mel Bay, Pacific, Missouri, 0-7866-4961-5, 50470629,
• {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Kliewer|1975}}|reference=Kliewer, Vernon (1975). "Melody: Linear Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music". In Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music, edited by Gary Wittlich, pp. 270–301. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. {{ISBN|0-13-049346-5}}.}}

Further reading

• Anon.: "Monophony", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane L. Root {{Subscription required}}.
• Copland, Aaron. (1957). What to Listen for in Music, revised edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
• Demuth, Norman. 1964. Musical Forms and Textures: A Reference Guide, second edition. London: Barrie and Rockliff.
• Frobenius, Wolf, Peter Cooke, Caroline Bithell, and Izaly Zemtsovsky: "Polyphony", Grove Music Online. edited by Deane Root {{Subscription required}}.
• Hanning, Barbara Russano, Concise History of Western Music, based on Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca's A History of Western Music, fifth edition. Published by W. W. Norton, New York. {{ISBN|0-393-97168-6}}.
• Hyer, Brian: "Homophony", Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root {{Subscription required}}.
• Keys, Ivor. 1961. The Texture of Music: From Purcell to Brahms. London: D. Dobson.
• Kokoras, Panayiotis (2005). Towards a Holophonic Musical Texture. In Proceedings of the ICMC2005 – International Computer Music Conference,{{Page needed|date=August 2015}}. Barcelona: International Computer Music Conference.
• White, John David. 1995. Theories of Musical Texture in Western History. Perspectives in Music Criticism and Theory 1; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1678. New York: Garland Publishers.

External links

• A Guide to Musical Texture with multimedia
• Add Texture: A web app with examples of different sonic textures

{{Texture (music)}}{{Authority control}}