One of the most delightful examples of this is the final strain of Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The trombones give us the wonderful tune in their full-throated middle register while the piccolos dance in the stratosphere with their sprightly jumping figures - a marvelous counterpoint of color, register, rhythm, and conjunct versus disjunct melody. Bach: Prelude in Eb Major, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1.Ĭounterpoint without imitation fits two or more different melodies to each other. Example 3 illustrates this procedure in a prelude by Bach note the sense of drive and accumulation he builds as the voices enter successively. Imitation can also be used to build a tight, continuous line of action in broadly scaled, complex pieces. A familiar type of imitative polyphony is the round, such as “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” In singing such a piece, you feel your part working against the others in a neatly fitted texture. Imitation may involve as few as two parts or as many as five or six separate parts. In imitation, one part begins with a melody very shortly a second part enters with the same melody, while the first continues to spin out its line. The simplest kind of polyphonic texture is created by imitation. When several voices play clearly separate lines, each with some degree of melodic importance, the texture is called polyphonic (meaning “many-voiced”) or contrapuntal. When a single voice performs a melody without accompaniment, the texture is designated as monophonic, meaning “one-voiced.” When two or more voices perform the same melodic line, the texture is designated as unison. But notice that all voices are moving in the same rhythmic pattern, to reinforce the melody, rather than set it off. The next Example (2) is also homophonic, since the heavy chords support a powerful melody in the uppermost voice.
Mozart: Sonata in C Major, second movement. Accompaniments use various patterns - struck chords, sustained tones, or a pattern of light, quickly moving notes as in Example 1, where the simple accompaniment figure creates a light and flowing sense of movement. From the earliest moments of our musical history to the present day, this kind of melody-accompaniment texture has been front and center in music-making. Simple melody and accompaniment, such as singing to plucked guitar sounds, represents the most familiar and accessible kind of texture. The textures created by these roles are of two general types: (1) homophonic, in which a single principal melodic idea is presented, and (2) polyphonic, or contrapuntal, in which two or more important melodic lines are heard at the same time. a line moving in the same pattern as the principal melody, but at a different pitch.a melodic line working against another melodic line.a middle part, less prominent, that fills in the sound.The principal textural roles a voice might be assigned are: You would hear yet another texture if exactly the same music were played by a brass quartet. Their composite action, the total effect of their sound and motion, constitutes musical texture.įor example, a string quartet produces one texture when each instrument is busy spinning out its own flurry of short notes, and produces a different texture when three instruments play long notes together to accompany a soloist. Each voice or part is assigned its particular kind of action, as though it were one dancer or actor among an ensemble. We designate these lines as voices or parts regardless whether they are played by instruments or sung.
Polyphonic texture example full#
The full sound of a composition, as you hear it, is built from individual lines.
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