Texture and Melody Flashcards
Texture
The layers in a piece of music, and the way they interact and combine.
Monophonic Texture
A single line of melody, with no accompaniment at all.
Unison Texture
Where everyone sings/plays the same melody at the same time, with no accompaniment.
(Audio Example has a unison vocal line)
Octaves Texture
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.
Homophonic Texture
The different parts of the music move together at the same time (in chords), like an old fashioned hymn.
Melody and Accompaniment
Where there is a strong melody over a mainly homophonic accompaniment.
Also known as Melody Dominated Homophony.
Polyphonic Texture
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).
Imitative Texture
One musical part copies or repeats what another part has just done.
Canonic Texture
Each part is the same and overlaps, but they start at different times (at regular intervals). Like a round (Frere Jaques etc).
Antiphonal Texture
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).
Contrapuntal Texture (Counterpoint)
Same as polyphonic.
Heterophonic Texture
Two or more slightly different versions of the same melody played at the same time.
Melody
The Tune!
Modal Melody
Uses notes from the ancient scales known as Modes.
Conjunct Melody
Where the melody moves smoothly in short steps.
Disjunct Melody
Where the melody contains large leaps between notes.
Audio example is from West Side Story by Bernstein and Sondheim.
Melodic Sequence
Where a melodic phrase is immediately repeated but at a different pitch.
Ascending Sequence
A sequence where the melody is repeated but higher.
Descending Sequence
A sequence where the melody is repeated but lower.
Triadic Melody
Melodies that use the notes from a triad. (e.g. using C, E and G in C major)
Arpeggio
Playing the triadic notes between an octave quickly. (So in C major, C-E-G-C)
Ornamentation
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.
Chromatic Melody
Using some notes (accidentals) that don’t belong to the scale.
Chromatic notes are in pink in the audio example.
Inversion
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)
Improvisation
Composing (making up) music on the spot.
Used a lot in jazz (as in the audio example).
Ostinato / Riff
A short repeated pattern; can be a rhythm or a melody.
Phrasing / Articulation
Marks in the score that give information about how the melody should be played.
Legato
(Phrasing / Articulation): Move between notes smoothly.
Staccato
(Phrasing / Articulation): Play each note short and detached.
Slur
(Phrasing / Articulation): Very smooth, with no gaps between notes.
Accent
Emphasise the beginning of certain notes.
This famous audio example is from Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ (1913).
Interval
The distance (in pitch) between two notes
(e.g. the interval between C and G is a perfect fifth)
Slide
Glissando
Portamento
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.
Pitch Bend
When the pitch of a note is raised or lowered slightly.
eg, on a guitar
Audio example is by Jimi Hendrix.
Passing Notes
Notes which are between the main notes of the melody.
“No-o crib for a bed”
Layered Texture
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)
Retrograde
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).
