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Melody, Texture & Counterpoint

Texture

Definition

Texture is how the layers of a piece fit together: how many lines sound at once and what each one does. The main types are monophony, homophony, polyphony and heterophony.

Texture is how the layers of a piece fit together: how many lines there are and what each one is doing. The word comes from fabric. A few threads make a thin cloth and many make a thick one, and the way they are woven gives the pattern. In music, the threads are melodies, chords, bass lines and rhythms.

Three examples in 4/4. The first is one treble staff with quarter notes G4, C5, E5, D5, then C5, B4 and a half note C5. The second is a grand staff with the same tune over left-hand chords: C major as a half note and again as a quarter, G major, then C major, G major and a half-note C major. The third is a grand staff with the same tune over a left-hand line: half note E3, quarter notes G3 and B3, then eighth notes A3 and F3, a quarter G3 and a half note C3.
The same original two-bar tune three ways. Monophonic: the tune alone. Homophonic: the tune over block chords that move with it. Polyphonic: the tune with a second, independent melody in the left hand that has its own rhythm and shape.

The main kinds of texture

  • Monophony: one line alone, with no accompaniment, even if many people sing it together.
  • Homophony: one main melody with accompaniment, or all the parts moving together in chords.
  • Polyphony: two or more independent melodies at once, as in counterpoint and imitation.
  • Heterophony: several slightly different versions of the same melody at once.

The example plays one tune in the first three textures, so you can hear the difference.

Other ways to describe texture

Beyond the four names, musicians talk about texture as:

  • thick or thin: many parts, or few;
  • dense or open: notes packed close together, or spread far apart;
  • high or low: which register the parts sit in;
  • where the melody is: on top, in the middle or in the bass.

Texture as a tool

Composers change texture to shape a piece. A song might open with a single voice, add a guitar, then the whole band for the chorus. A fugue starts with one line and grows to three or four. Producers think the same way when they bring layers in and out of a track: see Arrange a Dance Track in Eight-Bar Blocks.

Hearing texture

Ask three questions: How many things are happening at once? Is one of them clearly the tune? Do the parts move together or separately? Practice with Texture, Name the texture and Ear Training: One Line, Tune with Chords, or Two Independent Lines?.

Common questions

What are the four types of musical texture?

Monophony (one line), homophony (a melody with accompaniment, or parts moving together in chords), polyphony (several independent melodies) and heterophony (several versions of one melody at once).

What does thick or thin texture mean?

A thick texture has many parts or notes sounding at once; a thin texture has few. A solo flute is thin; a full orchestra playing chords is thick.

Practice it: free worksheets