TEXTURE: The vertical structure of the music: what is going on simultaneously. How many melodies are there? how many different layers are there sounding at the same time? what are the different melodies and layers doing all at the same time? Each LAYER is like a track – one horizontal unit. it could be melody, it could be a beat. Most of the music we hear has at least a couple of layers, frequently a melodic layer, a layer with a beat, and a layer with accompaniment that has chords.
Layers: A layer is a set of sounds that has single function within the music, be it accompanimental, rhythmic, harmonic, or melodic.
Here is an example that begins with two layers – a melody and and an accompaniment – and then a third layer of drums come in.
Layers and instruments are not the same thing. Many instruments can play in the same layer, and the similar instruments can create different layers. This song, “In the Upper Room” sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock only has voices, but they create many different layers with their voices.
This next example starts with just one instrument, and then a voice enters. But since the voice and the instrument are playing the same melody, this can easily be considered only one layer.
While we can describe layers and textures primarily in terms of function such as melody, and accompaniment, in many songs we hear that there are multiple melody layers and multiple accompanimental layers. Listen to Aretha Franklin sing “Respect” and count the layers by listening to how many different things are going on at once.
One type of texture that combines two different melodies into one layer is Call and Response. This sounds exactly like its name: one melody line calls, and another responds. Frequently we hear voices call and respond to each other, like we hear Aretha and her back up singers in “Respect” above – we can hear this type of alternation at the beginning when Aretha sings the ‘what you want’ and the chorus punctuates these lines with their ‘ooh’ and then ‘just a little bit’. Call and response can also sound between voices and instruments, and between instruments. Notice at the very beginning of this song, before the voices come in, that the saxophones call, and the guitar responds.
Texture can change frequently and continuously. For example, In this song by the Manhattan Transfer, as the texture changes and becomes more complex, as more layers are added on at the beginning. Finally in the chorus, the top melody is divided into four layers, and more harmony and rhythmic layers are heard underneath. Describing only one layer for each function would suggest that this song only has two or three layers when it has many many more than that. How many times do you hear layers come in and go out? How many layers do you hear at this song’s most complex moments?
Because layering can be complex, and because different melody lines can be doing different things simultaneously, there are ways of describing what goes on with, and between the melody lines in layers, so that we can more accurately identify and describe different types of textures.
Monophony: One melody only, no other pitches.
This is Joan Baez singing “Swing Low Sweet Charriot” all alone without accompaniment. Because there is only one pitch at a time, this is monophony.
This is the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, where the opening notes are played by many string instrument. For the first eight notes, the strings are all playing the same notes, so those two phrases are monophony.
MONOPHONY WITH PERCUSSION: One melody only, with percussion but no other tunes or notes.
In this Japanese piece, the flute starts by itself in monophony, and then the percussion comes in.
In this Native American Powwow song, the percussion starts first, then a single singer joins in for monophony with percussion, then the chorus enters, singing in heterophony.
Heterophony: one melody played in different layers by different people simultaneously, all a bit different and individual. In the above Powwow song, once the chorus comes in, they are singing the same melody, but not always the exact same notes at the exact same time. That is heterophony. In this next example, the stringed instrument begins with one monophonic melody, and then a voice comes in. He is singing the same melody, but does not always sing the exact same notes in exactly the same way at exactly the same time, so its heterophony.
Polyphony: more than one melody heard simultaneously.
Chordal Polyphony: all of the notes move at the same time. This sounds like moving chords rather than moving melodies, but the moving chords are created by the melodies all moving at the same time.
Frequently we need to combine terms and descriptions to completely describe what is going on in a song, as multiple textures occur simultaneously. For example, in the example above, Howard University’s performance of “Listen to the Lamb,” not only is the texture chordal, but there is also call and response between the men and the women. In this next song, the Andrew Sister’s singing “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” we hear the sisters singing in a chordal texture on top of accompaniment, so to describe this completely we would have to include both aspects of the texture, possibly calling it chordal texture with accompaniment.
Of course throughout the song the texture changes, too, away from that, so at each change we’d describe a new texture.
Imitative Polyphony: same tune in different layers overlapping.
This is what a round is.
This type of texture has been around for a very, very long time in European history. This is just the opening of a song that is about six-hundred years old. While this example only includes the opening, where you can hear the imitation most clearly, the entire song continues like this, with each phrase imitating a new melody.
Non-imitative polyphony: different independent tunes simultaneously.
In King Oliver’s “Dippermouth Blues” we hear several melody instruments all playing an independent melody at the same time. So many different tunes are playing, in fact, that it is sometimes hard to just pick out one.
“An Old Fashioned Wedding” is from Irving Berlin’s musical Annie Get Your Gun. First we hear Frank sing about the kind of wedding he wants, and then we hear Annie sing about her ideal wedding. Not only do they describe completely different weddings, but they sing in totally different melodies. After they each sing alone, they sing their two different tunes at the same time. That part of the texture, then, is non imitative. Because they are always singing with an accompaniment, what we really hear is first melody with accompaniment (through both Frank and Annie’s sections) and then non-imitative over accompaniment.
Melody with Accompaniment: one main melody with pitched (other notes) accompaniment. This accompaniment layer has no tune of its own. In Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” the higher notes have a tune and the lower notes only play chords to accompany the tune.
In this Indian Raga, the accompaniment starts first, then the main tune comes in.
ELEMENTS OF MUSIC 