Texture

Texture is the way in which individual musical lines interact within a musical work. Texture describes the complexity of a musical composition. There are different types of texture:

Monophony. Monophonic music has only one melodic line with no accompaniment.

 «Girls and boys come out to play» from Teledmus

Polyphony. Polyphonic music has several melodic lines. Types of polyphony:

• Drone. The simplest way to add harmony to a melody. The melody is played alog with a note fixed in pitch.

 Pericote. Asturian bagpipe

• Heterophony. Two or more voices simultaneously performing variations of the same melody. It ca be considered as a type of complex monophony.

«Good souls» from Curlew River by Benjamin Britten

from «Maintaining identity» Anthony Brandt. www.cnx.org

• Homophony. Is a texture in which two or more parts move at the same time, together in harmony. A homophonic texture is also homorhythmic.

If ye love me, by Thomas Tallys

from Wikimedia.org

• Melody-dominated homophony (also called accompanied melody). It has one clearly melodic line and all other parts provide accompaniment for the lead voice.

Moonlight Sonata. Beethoven
 from Wikimedia Commons

• Counterpoint. The combination of two or more independent melodies played at the same time. Parts move with rhythmic independence (contrapuntal texture).

Fugue nº 17 by J. S. Bach
 from Wikimedia Commons

Harmony. Chords and arpeggios

Harmony is the use of different notes (pitches) simultaneously.

from http://www.bluesjazzpiano.com

Most harmony is based on chords.

A chord is a group of notes played simultaneously. The basic chord is named triad. It consist of three notes: the root (any note you like) together with the the third an the fifth above the root.

When the notes of a musical chord are played one after another instead of together, we speak about an arpeggio.

• Chord
• Arpeggio   
• Arpeggios  by J.S. Bach 

Chords can be majors and minors. 

• The third above the root is major (two tones) in major chord.
• The third above the root is minor (one tone, one semitone) in minor chords.

from http://www.piano-play-it.com

• Major chord
• Minor chord

Consonance (concord) is a nice sound that you get when some notes are played together

Consonance

Disonance (discord) is an awful sound that you get when some notes are played together

Disonance

Listening examples from Wikimedia Commons

Ear training. Intervals

Improve your aural skills!

• Skips, steps and repeats
• Watch your step!
• Intervals listen to 2nd and 3rds 
• Intervals listen to 4ths and 5ths

from http://www.musictechteacher.com

Melodic phrases

A melodic phrase is a succession o notes that has a complete musical sense. Different phrases form melodies, periods and larger sections. When phrases are organised in pairs, the first phrase is called the antecedent phrase and the second is called the consequent.

Verse melodic phrase  from «Die young» by Kesha

by http://smartpopscott.tumblr.com

Now, listen to the song «Die young»

Accidentals

Accidentals change the pitch of a particular note

• Sharp. One semitone higher
• Flat. One semitone lower
• Natural sign. Cancels the effect of sharp and flat

Key signature: a group of sharps and flats placed on the stave indicating the notes altered in a piece of music. Key signature depends on the scale in which that piece is written.

Scales

A scale is a set of notes played or sung in order, going up or down. To create a piece of music, composers use only the notes of a particular scale.

The most common scales in western music are diatonic scales. Diatonic scales have five full tones and two semitones. The most important notes are the tonic (first note) and the dominant (fifth note).

There are two types of diatonic scales

Major. Scale model is C major (below and above). Major scales sound bright and cheery.

Minor. Scale model is A minor. Minor scales sound a bit sad.

Listen to «Pop goes the weasel»

Now, listen to the minor version

Range

The range is the interval between the top and bottom notes of a melody.

Top note is C, low note is F.
Range: fifth

Intervals

An interval is the gap between two notes.

You get the number by counting up from the bottom note to the top note

Fifth

Types of  intervals

• Melodic: if the two notes sound one after another (horizontal).
• Harmonic: if the two notes sound simultaneously (vertical).
• Ascending: from a low note to a high note.
• Descending: from a high note to a low note.
• Step: are intervals between consecutive scale degrees (e.g. C-D or D-E)
• Skip: are intervals between non consecutive scale degrees (e.g. C-E, F-B)

Third. Melodic. Ascending. Skip

Second. Melodic. Ascending. Step

Fourth. Melodic. Descending. Skip

Third. Harmonic.

Intervals from http://www.musicalintervalstutor.info

Melody

A melody (also tune) is described as a series of various pitches sounded in succession.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, from aboutmusictheory.com

Contour describes the linear motion of a melody up and down.  Melodic contour (shape) can be: ascending, descending, linear, undulating, broken line

Undulating. Good morning, from Teledmus

Broken line. From aboutmusictheory.com

Linear. One note samba. From jazz-styles.com