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Texture (music)
In music, texture is how the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a
composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. 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
Introduction to Sousa's "Washington Post March,"
number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see Common types
mm. 1–7  Play  features octave doubling
below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these (Benward & Saker 2003, p. 133) and a
layers could be a string section, or another brass. The thickness also is changed by the homorhythmic texture.
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 (Benward & Saker 2003,).
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) (Isaac & Russell 2003, p. 136).

Contents
Common types
Additional types
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Common types
In musical terms, particularly in the fields of music history and music analysis, some common terms for different types of texture are:

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Type Description Visual Audio

Monophonic texture includes a Pop Goes the Weasel

single melodic line with no
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accompaniment. (Benward &
Monophonic Saker 2003, p. 136). PSMs Tune for Pop Goes the Weasel
often double or parallel the
PM they support (Benward & "Pop Goes the Weasel" melody (Kliewer Problems playing this file? See media
Saker 2003, p. 137). 1975, pp. 270–301). help.

Pedal tone Bach

Two distinct lines, the lower
sustaining a drone (constant
pitch) while the other line
creates a more elaborate
Biphonic
melody above it. Pedal tones
or ostinati would be an
example of a SS (Benward &
Saker 2003, p. 137).
File:Pedal tone Bach - BWV 851,
m.1-2.mid
Pedal tone in Bach's Prelude no. 6 in D
Pedal tone in Bach's Prelude no. 6 in D
Minor, BWV 851, from The Well
Minor, BWV 851, from The Well
Tempered Clavier, Book I, mm. 1–2.
Tempered Clavier, Book I, mm. 1–2. All
pedal tone notes are consonant except
Problems playing this file? See media
for the last three of the first measure help.
(Benward & Saker 2003, p. 99).

Multiple melodic voices which

are to a considerable extent
independent from or in
imitation with one another.
Characteristic texture of the
Polyphonic or
Renaissance music, also
Counterpoint
prevalent during the Baroque
or
period (Benward & Saker
Contrapuntal
2003, pp. 1999,199,158,137,
136,129,110,90,59,35,11,9,0)).
Polyphonic textures may
contain several PMs (Benward
& Saker 2003, p. 137).
Book 1 – Fugue No. 21 in B-flat major
(BWV 866)
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performed on a Flemish harpsichord by
Martha Goldstein
Problems playing this file? See media
help.
A bar from J.S. Bach's "Fugue No.17 in A
flat", BWV 862, from Das Wohltemperirte
Clavier (Part I), a famous example of
contrapuntal polyphony.  Play 

The most common texture in

Western music: melody and
accompaniment. Multiple
voices of which one, the
melody, stands out
prominently and the others
form a background of
harmonic accompaniment. If
all the parts have much the
same rhythm, the homophonic
texture can also be described
as homorhythmic. Tallis' "If ye love me"
Characteristic texture of the
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Classical period and
continued to predominate in Beginning of Tallis' "If ye love me,"
Homophonic notated above.
Romantic music while in the
20th century, "popular music is Homophony in Tallis' "If Ye Love Me",
nearly all homophonic," and, Problems playing this file? See media
composed in 1549. The voices move
"much of jazz is also" though, help.
"the simultaneous together using the same rhythm, and the
improvisations of some jazz relationship between them creates
musicians creates a true chords: the excerpt begins and ends with
polyphony" (Benward & Saker
2003, p. 136). Homophonic an F major triad.
textures usually contain only
one PM (Benward & Saker
2003, p. 137). HS and RS are
often combined, thus labeled
HRS (Benward & Saker 2003,
p. 137).
Multiple voices with similar
rhythmic material in all parts.
Also known as "chordal". May
Homorhythmic see above
be considered a condition of
homophony or distinguished
from it.

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Two or more voices

Heterophonic simultaneously performing
variations of the same melody.

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:

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Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars

1–4

Schubert Piano Sonata in B major scherzo bars 1–4

Bars 5–10 are homophonic, with all voices coinciding rhythmically:

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Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars

5–10

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:

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Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars

11–20

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 21-4. 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:

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Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars

21–24

Schubert Piano Sonata in B majore Scherzo bars 21–24

The final four bars revert to homophony, bringing the section to a close;

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Schubert Sonata in B scherzo bars

25–28

Schubert Sonata in B major Scherzo bars 25–28

A complete performance can be heard by following this link: Listen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGSMAb1SIQ&t=14m51s)

Additional types

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Although in music instruction certain styles or repertoires of music are often identified with one of these descriptions this is basically added music
(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 (Corozine 2002, p. 34).

See also
Style brisé

References
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.
Corozine, Vince (2002). Arranging Music for the Real World: Classical and Commercial Aspects. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay. ISBN 0-7866-4961-5.
OCLC 50470629 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50470629).
Hanning, Barbara Russano, Concise History of Western Music, based on Donald Jay Grout & Claudia V. Palisca's A History of Western Music,
Fifth Edition. Published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York, Copyright 1998. ISBN 0-393-97168-6.
Isaac, and Russell (2003)..
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.
Kokoras, Panayiotis (2005). Towards a Holophonic Musical Texture (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/i/icmc/bbp2372.2005.188?rgn=main;view=fulltext).
In Proceedings of the ICMC2005 – International Computer Music Conference,. Barcelona: International Computer Music Conference.

Further reading
Anon.: "Monophony", Grove Music Online (http://www.grovemusic.com), edited by Deane L. Root (accessed 1 August 2015) (subscription
required).
Copland, Aaron. (1957). What to Listen for in Music, revised edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
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 (http://www.grovemusic.com). edited by
Deane Root (accessed 1 August 2015) (subscription required).
Hyer, Brian: "Homophony", Grove Music Online (http://www.grovemusic.com), edited by Deane Root (accessed 1 August 2015) (subscription
required).
Keys, Ivor. 1961. The Texture of Music: From Purcell to Brahms. London: D. Dobson.
Mailman, Joshua B. 2014. "Trajectory, Material, Process, and Flow in Robert Morris’s String Quartet Arc (https://www.academia.edu/9495273
/Trajectory_Material_Process_and_Flow_in_Robert_Morriss_String_Quartet_Arc)". Perspectives of New Music 52, no. 2: 249–83.
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 (http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/liske/musicalelements/textureframes.html)

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