“Wild Mountain Thyme,” by The Longest Johns listen from 0:20–0:44. In this example, there is a melody that stands out from the texture, but the voices still move in rhythmic unison.Įxample 6. Remember that in a homorhythmic texture, there is a similarity of rhythm throughout all of the voices. Now let’s listen to the folk song “Wild Mountain Thyme” recorded by The Longest Johns in 2018 (0:20–0:44). Six Horn Quartets: no 6, Chorale by Nikolai Tcherepnin, performed by the Deutsches Horn Ensemble. Notice how both the melody and harmony move mostly in block chords, creating a unified rhythm.Įxample 5. 6, Chorale (1910), written by Nikolai Tcherepnin. This is most often seen in chorale-like compositions, where the melody and harmonies move together in block chords. Homorhythm is a type of homophonic texture in which all voices move in an extremely similar or completely unison rhythm. Homophony is sometimes further divided into two subcategories, homorhythm and melody and accompaniment. Many times, this takes the form of having a single melody that predominates, while other voices are used to fill out the harmonies. HomophonyĪ homophonic texture is characterized by having multiple voices moving together harmonically at the same pace. “The Wind That Shakes The Barley/The Reel With The Beryle” by The Chieftains listen starting at 0:50. This slight variation between the violin and flute presents a second example of heterophony.Įxample 4. Now listen to the traditional Irish reel “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” recorded by the Chieftains in 1978 (beginning at 0:50), and notice the slight variation between the melodic lines of the fiddle (violin) and the flute. While the instruments play different embellishments, they present essentially the same melodic material.Įxample 3. Notice how the winds embellish the melody presented by the plucked strings. Listen to “Ana Hasreti” (2001) by Göskel Baktagir, an example of Turkish classical music. These variations can range from small embellishing tones to longer runs in a single voice, as long as the melodic material stays relatively constant. HeterophonyĪ heterophonic texture is characterized by multiple variations of the same melodic line that are heard simultaneously across different voices. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger. Note that Seeger’s voice is the only musical line therefore, this work is a second example of monophony.Įxample 2. Now let’s listen to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” (1955) by Pete Seeger. Prelude, (BWV 1007) by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Yo-Yo Ma. Notice how the solo cello line is the only voice in this work.Įxample 1. 1 in G Major (1717) by Johann Sebastian Bach is an example of a monophonic texture. Monophony involves all instruments playing or singing in unison, making it the simplest and most exposed of all musical textures. MonophonyĪ monophonic texture is characterized by a single unaccompanied melodic line of music. There are many types of musical texture, but the four main categories used by music scholars are monophony, heterophony, homophony, and polyphony. Texture is an important (and sometimes overlooked) aspect of music.
Most music does not conform to a single texture rather, it can move between them.Polyphony is characterized by multiple voices with separate melodic lines and rhythms.Homophony is characterized by multiple voices harmonically moving together at the same pace.Heterophony is characterized by multiple variants of a single melodic line heard simultaneously.Monophony is characterized by an unaccompanied melodic line.Musical texture is the density of and interaction between a work’s different voices.
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