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Texture: The layers that make up a piece of music such as melody, bass and chords.

Texture

Monophonic

Monophonic music only has a single line playing at any one time.  The line can be played alone (solo) or by many musicians together (unison)

 

 

Homophonic

In homophonic music, all parts move at the same time but do not play the same notes.  There are two types of homophony: chordal homophony and melody dominated homophony (sometimes known as melody and accompaniment).

 

 

Polyphonic

Polyphonic music has many different layers intertwining to create the music.  Polyphony is sometimes also referred to as counterpoint.  Fugues, Canons, Trio Sonatas and Descants are all examples of polyphonic or contrapuntal music.

 

 

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