Texture and Melody

Question 1

Texture

Answer 1

The layers in a piece of music, and the way they interact and combine.

Question 2

Monophonic Texture

Answer 2

A single line of melody, with no accompaniment at all.

Question 3

Unison Texture

Answer 3

Where everyone sings/plays the same melody at the same time, with no accompaniment.

(Audio Example has a unison vocal line)

Question 4

Octaves Texture

Answer 4

The pitch of the singers or instruments is one or more octaves apart (e.g. a flute and a cello playing a ‘C’ note together)

In the audio example boys and men are all singing the same melody, but an octave apart fom ach other.

Question 5

Homophonic Texture

Answer 5

The different parts of the music move together at the same time (in chords), like an old fashioned hymn.

Question 6

Melody and Accompaniment

Answer 6

Where there is a strong melody over a mainly homophonic accompaniment.

Also known as Melody Dominated Homophony.

Question 7

Polyphonic Texture

Answer 7

The different parts of the music are interwoven and are equally important. The parts are rhythmically independent.

Audio example is from the Baroque masterpiece the Messiah by Handel (1741).

Question 8

Imitative Texture

Answer 8

One musical part copies or repeats what another part has just done.

Question 9

Canonic Texture

Answer 9

Each part is the same and overlaps, but they start at different times (at regular intervals). Like a round (Frere Jaques etc).

Question 10

Antiphonal Texture

Answer 10

Two groups of musicians who take it in turns to play/sing, in a kind of musical conversation.

Audio example is ‘Young Man’s Blues’ recorded live by the Who (1970).

Question 11

Contrapuntal Texture (Counterpoint)

Answer 11

Same as polyphonic.

Question 12

Heterophonic Texture

Answer 12

Two or more slightly different versions of the same melody played at the same time.

Question 13

Melody

Answer 13

The Tune!

Question 14

Modal Melody

Answer 14

Uses notes from the ancient scales known as Modes.

Question 15

Conjunct Melody

Answer 15

Where the melody moves smoothly in short steps.

Question 16

Disjunct Melody

Answer 16

Where the melody contains large leaps between notes.

Audio example is from West Side Story by Bernstein and Sondheim.

Question 17

Melodic Sequence

Answer 17

Where a melodic phrase is immediately repeated but at a different pitch.

Question 18

Ascending Sequence

Answer 18

A sequence where the melody is repeated but higher.

Question 19

Descending Sequence

Answer 19

A sequence where the melody is repeated but lower.

Question 20

Triadic Melody

Answer 20

Melodies that use the notes from a triad. (e.g. using C, E and G in C major)

Question 21

Arpeggio

Answer 21

Playing the triadic notes between an octave quickly. (So in C major, C-E-G-C)

Question 22

Ornamentation

Answer 22

The decoration of the melody (e.g. trills). Used a lot in the Baroque period.

Audio example is by Scarlatti, from his piano sonata K159.

Question 23

Chromatic Melody

Answer 23

Using some notes (accidentals) that don’t belong to the scale.

Chromatic notes are in pink in the audio example.

Question 24

Inversion

Answer 24

Where the melody is turned upside down.

E.g. if the original goes up a major 3rd, the inversion will descend a major 3rd.

Audio example is from ‘the Lamb’ by John Tavener, and features the original melody and its inversion being sung simultanously (inversion is red)

Question 25

Improvisation

Answer 25

Composing (making up) music on the spot.

Used a lot in jazz (as in the audio example).

Question 26

Ostinato / Riff

Answer 26

A short repeated pattern; can be a rhythm or a melody.

Question 27

Phrasing / Articulation

Answer 27

Marks in the score that give information about how the melody should be played.

Question 28

Legato

Answer 28

(Phrasing / Articulation): Move between notes smoothly.

Question 29

Staccato

Answer 29

(Phrasing / Articulation): Play each note short and detached.

Question 30

Slur

Answer 30

(Phrasing / Articulation): Very smooth, with no gaps between notes.

Question 31

Accent

Answer 31

Emphasise the beginning of certain notes.

This famous audio example is from Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ (1913).

Question 32

Interval

Answer 32

The distance (in pitch) between two notes

(e.g. the interval between C and G is a perfect fifth)

Question 33

Slide

Glissando

Portamento

Answer 33

All these words describe sliding from one note to another, a performance technique used by both singers and instrumentalists.

Audio example is the opening to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Question 34

Pitch Bend

Answer 34

When the pitch of a note is raised or lowered slightly.

eg, on a guitar

Audio example is by Jimi Hendrix.

Question 35

Passing Notes

Answer 35

Notes which are between the main notes of the melody.

“No-o crib for a bed”

Question 36

Layered Texture

Answer 36

Sections of music that are repeated over and over again are known as loops.

When lots of loops are played at the same time, this is a layered texture. Used a lot in Minimalism (20th Century)

Audio Example is from Electric Counterpoint by Steve Reich (1989)

Question 37

Retrograde

Answer 37

Playing a melody backwards.

The audio example is from ‘The Lamb’ by John Tavener and features a melody immediately followed by a retrograde version of the same pitches (in blue).