AREA OF STUDY 03:

TEXTURE AND
MELODY
TEXTURE
AQA GCSE Music
AREAS OF STUDY
AoS 01: Rhythm and Metre
AoS 02: Harmony and Tonality
A0S 03: Texture and Melody
AoS 04: Dynamics and Timbre
AoS 05: Structure and Form
TEXTURE
Texture describes how much is going on in the music at
any one time

It is about the different ways instruments and voices are
combined in a piece of music

Monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic are all the
different types of texture
MONOPHONIC

There is no harmony, just one line of tune. However, it may be
played/sung by more than one instrument/voice at a time
Remember it will still be Monophonic as they are doing EXACTLY the same thing
Thin texture
Example of monophonic
MONOPHONIC
CONTINUED


UNISON When everyone sings/plays one part together e.g. when we
all sing Happy Birthday we are singing in unison (therefore, unison is
monophonic)
OCTAVES
if the instruments or parts play or sing notes an octave apart, this is called octaves
An 8
th
apart (so, C-C, D-D, E-E etc)
OCTAVES
If the notes werent the same pitch, it could not be a
MONOPHONIC texture
G C D E C D E C D G
Etc
Part 01
Octave
Higher then
Part 02
Part 02
HOMOPHONIC
A texture where all parts move in the same rhythm. So, chordal
movement, same rhythm, different notes.
BROKEN CHORDS

Playing the notes of the chord separately, one after
the other.
Broken Chords provide a more flowing
accompaniment than when they are played as
block chords.
ExampleSomeone Like You by Adele
POLYPHONIC/CONTRAP
UNTAL
A texture where 2 or more equally important melodies
interweave (weave in and out of each other).
This gives quite a complex effect as there is more than one
tune playing together
IMITATION
A phrase is repeated (imitated so not necessarily exactly the
same).
Could be one instrument/voice imitating itself, or 2 or more
imitating each other.