6

Texture

Texture refers to the way melody and harmony (the horizontal and vertical) interact and blend with each other in a musical composition. How many melodies do you hear? Is the harmony the result of several melodies sounding simultaneously, or is the harmony the result of accompanimental chords only? The "thinnest" musical texture would involve merely a single melody with no harmony whatsoever. As layers are added to the music, it becomes "thicker." These are some of the questions and ideas that are part of the study of musical texture. Listen to the following three examples of different musical textures:

			Example 1 of texture

			Example 2 of texture

			Example 3 of texture