TEXTURE, COUNTERPOINT, INSTRUMENTATION, AND MORE TIMBRE
Besides melody, rhythm, and harmony, a number of factors greatly affect how a performance sounds. Texture in music has a specific meaning. It describes the number of things that are going on at once in a piece of music. The four types of texture in Western music are monophony, homophony, polyphony, and heterophony. Monophonic music consists of a single, unaccompanied melodic line. Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase” begins with a single piano playing a monophonic motive. A second piano joins in unison, and they gradually separate into multiple polyphonic parts. Multiple instruments or voices may be playing that melody, but they are all performing the same pitch at the same time—that is, they are playing the one melody in unison.
Homophonic texture has two different things going on at once: a melody and a harmonic accompaniment. The accompaniment differs from the melody, but plays a clearly subordinate role. Similarly, Bob Dylan accompanies himself on the guitar (with occasional harmonica breaks) as he sings “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” Nearly all popular songs today employ homophonic texture; as listeners, we focus on the voice, but the voice is supported by background instruments. Sometimes the accompaniment lines move in the same rhythm as the melody itself, as the lower voices in a church hymn or chorale, but the notes of the accompanying voices fill out the chord pitches; they are not independent melodies.
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In a polyphonic texture, however, two or more separate melodies unfold simultaneously. Each could stand alone, but the composer created them to relate to each other on a note-by-note basis while retaining their independence. There are two main types of polyphony: counterpoint and imitative polyphony. In counterpoint, the simultaneous melodies are usually in different registers. They are different melodies—each has its own pitches, contour, shape, and rhythm, but they follow the same beat. Most importantly, their pitches fit into the same harmonic progression. The two (or more) melodies are carefully coordinated by the composer on a note-by-note basis. Any dissonances or non-harmonic tones must occur within a complicated and detailed set of parameters. If the “rules “are broken, the music will not sound right to experienced Western ears, and most performers will find the music especially difficult to play or sing. The rules are a bit like grammar rules; they were created to describe a complex process but can also be used in a prescriptive way to create successful sentences. Composing counterpoint is a bit like completing a difficult number puzzle, like Sudoku. Every choice affects many other choices. When complete, everything fits together in a complex but fulfilling system in which vertical and horizontal components mesh at every point of intersection.
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Imitative polyphony, on the other hand, features only one melody, but it is played by multiple people at staggered intervals, such as the way that children are taught to sing “Row Row Row Your Boat”: each group sings the same tune, but starts slightly later in time than the previous group, so that polyphony (“many sounds”) results. Despite its nontraditional nature, Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase” is probably the ultimate example of imitative polyphony.
If two performers are producing versions of the same melody at the same time, but are not playing in precise unison—that is, each has its own slight differences—the texture is called heterophony. Heterophonic texture is fairly rare in Western music, but was employed quite often in the earliest styles of jazz.
If two performers are producing versions of the same melody at the same time, but are not playing in precise unison—that is, each has its own slight differences—the texture is called heterophony. Heterophonic texture is fairly rare in Western music, but was employed quite often in the earliest styles of jazz.
Instrumentation, the instrument or combination of instruments used, is among the most noticeable features of a given piece of music. If the pitches of a melody fall within the range of an instrument, that instrument can play the melody. An electric guitar playing “Happy Birthday” “ sounds quite different from a piano playing it—yet even a small child will recognize it as the same tune. If the same pitches were divided up and given to members of a symphony orchestra, a marching band, or a four- part choir, the effect would be drastically different each time. Arranging is the art of taking an existing piece of music (melody, harmony, rhythm) and giving instructions as to what each individual performer should play. Two different arrangements of “Happy Birthday” for the same combination of instruments may sound very different, depending upon which instruments are given prominent, as opposed to secondary or background, roles.
Each instrument has a unique pattern of overtones. All the partials we have discussed are present to some degree, but they differ in their relative strength. With a clarinet, for instance, the first and third partials are very strong. Partials that produce other pitches are relatively very weak on the clarinet. As a result, the clarinet produces a soundwave that looks very similar to a pure sine wave, with little ambiguity in pitch. On the opposite end of the spectrum are church bells. Sometimes the overtones with bells are so strong that they seem to drown out the fundamental, and the listener may wonder what the “real” pitch is supposed to be. The timbre of a pitch is also affected by the thickness and density of the instrument’s material and the amount of resonance. The timbre (also called tone color) of an acoustic guitar is affected by the size and shape of its hollow wooden body, where the sound waves produced by the strings resonate and are amplified.
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For much twentieth-century music, both popular and classical, the choice of instruments and the way they are combined play a central role in making each piece a unique work of art. In Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (Listening Example 1), Penderecki takes the traditional string instruments of the orchestra and requires them to be played with non-traditional techniques, producing a unique soundscape. In the absence of common-practice harmony, many twentieth-century compositions use changes in timbre to mark changes in form. In popular music, many listeners can distinguish styles—rockabilly, Motown, bluegrass, disco, punk, or house—after hearing just a few seconds of music, due to the differences in characteristic combinations of instruments and timbres.
FORM IN MUSIC
Form describes how music is organized on a larger time scale—how units are combined to make larger structures. Form is the architecture of music.
ELEMENTS OF FORM
Motive
A motive is the smallest unit of form. A motive is best defined as the smallest identifiable recurring musical idea. A motive has a distinctive melodic and rhythmic profile. In “Happy Birthday,” the first four notes (corresponding to the four syllables of text) could be called a motive. This motive has rhythmic traits (“happy” consists of a long duration followed by a shorter one, while “birthday” consists of two durations of equal length, and “birth” falls on the downbeat, which gives that syllable rhythmic emphasis and melodic traits (the two notes of “happy” occur on the same pitch; then on “birthday,” the melody rises a step and falls back to the first pitch). To describe the motive’s melodic contour, we would say it rises and falls. A melodic or rhythmic motive that is repeated many, many times in immediate succession is called an ostinato (from the Italian word for “obstinate”). Ostinatos can be heard in the opening of “Take Five” and in the bass part (joined by the snare drum) at the beginning of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” (Listening Example 14).
Phrase
A phrase is a cohesive musical thought. In “Happy Birthday,” the music for the first four words can be thought of as a short phrase. It has a beginning (the motive) and an end (“...you”), followed by a brief pause. The second time the words “Happy Birthday to you” are sung, they constitute a second short musical phrase, also followed by a brief pause. It begins with the same motive but ends a little differently.
Cadence
The term for a resting point in a piece of music is cadence. Not all cadences have the same amount of strength originality, and there are different names to indicate this. A half cadence rests on the dominant harmony, like the first short phrase of “Happy Birthday.” A full cadence, also called an authentic cadence, uses the progression V-I, as the second short phrase of “Happy Birthday” does. Authentic cadences are broken down further by the degree of finality they convey. Other types of cadences also exist, but the important idea is that a cadence is a point of relative rest in music, roughly analogous to a comma, semicolon, or period in language. Cadences occur at the ends of most phrases, themes, larger sections, and entire pieces of music.
Motive
A motive is the smallest unit of form. A motive is best defined as the smallest identifiable recurring musical idea. A motive has a distinctive melodic and rhythmic profile. In “Happy Birthday,” the first four notes (corresponding to the four syllables of text) could be called a motive. This motive has rhythmic traits (“happy” consists of a long duration followed by a shorter one, while “birthday” consists of two durations of equal length, and “birth” falls on the downbeat, which gives that syllable rhythmic emphasis and melodic traits (the two notes of “happy” occur on the same pitch; then on “birthday,” the melody rises a step and falls back to the first pitch). To describe the motive’s melodic contour, we would say it rises and falls. A melodic or rhythmic motive that is repeated many, many times in immediate succession is called an ostinato (from the Italian word for “obstinate”). Ostinatos can be heard in the opening of “Take Five” and in the bass part (joined by the snare drum) at the beginning of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” (Listening Example 14).
Phrase
A phrase is a cohesive musical thought. In “Happy Birthday,” the music for the first four words can be thought of as a short phrase. It has a beginning (the motive) and an end (“...you”), followed by a brief pause. The second time the words “Happy Birthday to you” are sung, they constitute a second short musical phrase, also followed by a brief pause. It begins with the same motive but ends a little differently.
Cadence
The term for a resting point in a piece of music is cadence. Not all cadences have the same amount of strength originality, and there are different names to indicate this. A half cadence rests on the dominant harmony, like the first short phrase of “Happy Birthday.” A full cadence, also called an authentic cadence, uses the progression V-I, as the second short phrase of “Happy Birthday” does. Authentic cadences are broken down further by the degree of finality they convey. Other types of cadences also exist, but the important idea is that a cadence is a point of relative rest in music, roughly analogous to a comma, semicolon, or period in language. Cadences occur at the ends of most phrases, themes, larger sections, and entire pieces of music.
Theme
A theme is a set of phrases that make a complete melody, which plays a prominent role in a longer piece of music. For example, the entire song “Happy Birthday” could be used as the main theme for a twelve-minute composition called “Variations on a Birthday Tune, for Concert Band.” |
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Introduction and Coda
Many pieces of music begin with an Introduction, which is music that precedes the first main theme of the piece. It is particularly common in popular music to have an instrumental introduction that precedes the singing. Examples of the USAD Music CD that begin with an instrumental introduction include “Aquarius,” and “Satisfaction.” Similarly, a great many pieces end with a coda, which means “tail” in Italian. A coda sounds conclusive, as if it is wrapping up the composition. When analyzing the form of a piece of music, introductions and codas are usually disregarded; they serve mainly as an outer “frame” for the central piece. The Beatles’ “When I’m 64” has a short coda at the end, while “Aquarius”(Listening Example 7) has a coda of a type common in rock and roll: the final word is repeated several additional times.
Many pieces of music begin with an Introduction, which is music that precedes the first main theme of the piece. It is particularly common in popular music to have an instrumental introduction that precedes the singing. Examples of the USAD Music CD that begin with an instrumental introduction include “Aquarius,” and “Satisfaction.” Similarly, a great many pieces end with a coda, which means “tail” in Italian. A coda sounds conclusive, as if it is wrapping up the composition. When analyzing the form of a piece of music, introductions and codas are usually disregarded; they serve mainly as an outer “frame” for the central piece. The Beatles’ “When I’m 64” has a short coda at the end, while “Aquarius”(Listening Example 7) has a coda of a type common in rock and roll: the final word is repeated several additional times.
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COMMON FORMS
Musical form controls larger spans of time. Just as mystery novels, thirty-minute television sitcoms, and movie scripts tend to follow certain patterns, so does music. Balance, proportion, drama, climax, and denouement operate in musical form. Some music-specific vocabulary will help explain common forms. Repetition, variation, and contrast are the most basic formal processes in music. The listener must remember what he/she has already heard to recognize any of these. Often, musical memory happens on a subconscious level. A phrase may simply sound “right”; a song heard for the first time may seem oddly familiar when the composer makes skillful use of repetition.
Musical form controls larger spans of time. Just as mystery novels, thirty-minute television sitcoms, and movie scripts tend to follow certain patterns, so does music. Balance, proportion, drama, climax, and denouement operate in musical form. Some music-specific vocabulary will help explain common forms. Repetition, variation, and contrast are the most basic formal processes in music. The listener must remember what he/she has already heard to recognize any of these. Often, musical memory happens on a subconscious level. A phrase may simply sound “right”; a song heard for the first time may seem oddly familiar when the composer makes skillful use of repetition.
Repetition
Repetition means, literally, repeating musical material, using the identical pitches, rhythms, and harmonies, or at least a very close approximation. If a musical idea (usually two measures or less) is repeated at a different pitch level, it is called a sequence. A sequence can be rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, or any combination thereof. In A Love Supreme (Listening Example 8), John Coltrane repeats the four-note “Love Supreme” theme in a sequence that takes him through all twelve keys. When describing musical form, complete sections of music are labeled with capital letters. The music to a song made up of a single, multi-phrased melody (perhaps two sets of antecedent-consequent phrases), repeated four times with different words each time would be diagrammed as follows: A A A A.
Repetition means, literally, repeating musical material, using the identical pitches, rhythms, and harmonies, or at least a very close approximation. If a musical idea (usually two measures or less) is repeated at a different pitch level, it is called a sequence. A sequence can be rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, or any combination thereof. In A Love Supreme (Listening Example 8), John Coltrane repeats the four-note “Love Supreme” theme in a sequence that takes him through all twelve keys. When describing musical form, complete sections of music are labeled with capital letters. The music to a song made up of a single, multi-phrased melody (perhaps two sets of antecedent-consequent phrases), repeated four times with different words each time would be diagrammed as follows: A A A A.
Variation
The principle of variation is also central to music. Variation is repetition with enough alterations that the listener senses both continuity and contrast.
The principle of variation is also central to music. Variation is repetition with enough alterations that the listener senses both continuity and contrast.
WHICH IS THE REAL MUSIC?
SCORES, RECORDINGS, AND PERFORMANCE
Music theory traditionally describes pieces of music as if they were fixed objects. However, it is important to remember that (most) music is performed by living people. Music notation can convey some things precisely—pitch relationships, rhythms, instrumentation, and to some degree phrasing, dynamics, and articulation. Yet it also has obvious limitations. We cannot know how smoothly people in the 1870s performed a “legato” phrase. Historians have found written comments suggesting that the exact pitch for concert A may have varied as much as a minor third in either direction from today’s A440—which even today is not universally adopted. Recording technology has allowed us to preserve far more information than notation allows, but this too is limited in different ways. An entire subfield called “performance practice” exists to address the question, how did the music really sound?
One quick way to grasp basic terminology about rhythm is to think of the tick of the seconds on a clock as beats. Beats refer to the steady pulse that underlines most music. The subdivisions of the time between those beats as pulses (as in 1-one-thousand, 2-one-thousand), and the total of sixty beats as making up one cycle (which is one minute long). Minute-long cycles on a clock then repeat over and over again. Meter refers to imposing some kind of organization to the pulses and beats (usually by an accent on the first pulse or beat in a group) to form measures (also called bars) or cycles.
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Scales, Modes
Texture
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