The Three Main Textures of Western Art Music Are

Texture

A texture describes the way that melodies behave and interact with each other in a piece. At that place are 3 textures that account for the majority of western music: monophony, polyphony, and homophony.

Monophony

When a piece of music is nothing more than a tune, this texture is called monophony. There may be just i voice or instrument (monophony literally means "one sounding") or there may be several, all performing the same line of music. When all the performers are playing or singing the aforementioned notes, they are performing in unison. When a room full of people sings "Happy Altogether", the men are usually singing the melody an octave lower than the women, and then they are no longer singing in unison but at the octave. However, due to octave equivalence (see the section on pitch), the same melody sung in a different octave notwithstanding sounds the same, so singing at the octave is also considered monophony.

The body of Medieval religious chant known equally "Gregorian" dirge is largely monophonic.

Gregorian Chant

Polyphony

Polyphony, meaning "many sounding", refers to music in which several independent melodies occur simultaneously. These melodies intermingle and overlap, and are generally designed to sound adept together.

Another term that is closely related to polyphony is counterpoint. Counterpoint is a style and method of writing polyphony that was used from the 15th through 17th centuries. So, a discussion of counterpoint is really a give-and-take of a specific type of polyphony. In many cases the ii terms can be used like synonyms (example: contrapuntal texture = polyphonic texture).

In that location are two subtypes of polyphony: imitative and free. Imitative polyphony occurs when the melody of the first voice is copied past subsequent voices. The nearly strict grade of this type of imitation is the canon. In a catechism, the original melody is emulated precisely and without variant in every voice. Perhaps the most well-known catechism is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat": (if the image is too small, click to view it larger)

Round

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

A fugue is some other imitative polyphonic class. Fugues are less strict than canons: the different voices begin by imitating each other, just gradually diverge and go unique. Bach's "Little" G Minor Fugue is an instance of this type of imitative polyphony. The video beneath allows you to follow the basic contours of the dissimilar parts without needing music annotation. For more on the fugue, see the section on form in popular and fine art music.

J.S. Bach, "Little" Chiliad Minor Fugue

Complimentary polyphony, on the other hand, can be constitute in traditional New Orleans jazz and in the early on polyphony of the belatedly Medieval and early Renaissance periods. In this texture, the independent voices are each unique and do not copy each other. "Hotter Than That" performed past Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, is an example of New Orleans jazz that begins with a section of free polyphony followed past improvised solos (trumpet, clarinet, voice, then trombone).

"Hotter Than That" performed by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

Homophony

When at that place is one melody, and the other parts are designed to support and accompany the melody (the accompaniment), so the texture is homophony. The majority of western music falls into this category. For our purposes, whatever music that is non monophonic and not polyphonic can be considered homophonic.

There are two main types of homophony: tune-and-accessory, and chorale-blazon (homorhythmic) homophony. The bulk of pop music, fine art song, and opera falls into the kickoff category. To be considered chorale-blazon homophony, all the voices (or instruments) must be homorhythmic - all executing the aforementioned rhythm at the same time. The different parts volition be singing unlike notes (otherwise information technology would exist monophony), but they volition say the lyrics at the same time and motility with the same rhythm.

The beginning of Queen'south "Maverick Rhapsody" is a good case of chorale-blazon homophony. The residuum of the song is predominantly the tune-and-accompaniment type of homophony.

Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"

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Source: https://musiccrashcourses.com/lessons/texture.html

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