Texture
How all the puzzle pieces fit together
Texture refers to how the different musical elements of the piece, including melody, harmony, and rhythm, fit together to create the sound you hear. All the instruments, voices, and sounds together create a composition, but how the composer decides which instruments should be heard, which should be playing at the same time, and which voice plays the melody, are all a part of the texture. Here are some examples of texture:
Monophonic
This term refers to a single melody line that all parts sing or play together. There are no accompanying chords or harmonies, only the single melody. This is the simplest of musical textures, one that is not often found in mainstream music. An example of this may be a group of people singing a song with no musical accompaniment. This texture can be described as thin, with only one musical element happening at one time.
Figure 3: Example of Monophony From the Traditional Song "Pop Goes the Weasel." 2021. Wikipedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pop_Goes_the_Weasel_updated.png
Fig. 4: Example of Homophonic Texture Via Frederic Chopin's Nocturne, Op 62 No. 2. 2021. Wikipedia Commons. https://upload.wikimedia.org/score/e/f/efr4h86wrv5h1czlwytsza2e9fatk2l/efr4h86w.png
Homophonic
Polyphonic
Within a piece of music, the texture of a piece can change, and the changing of textures by the technique of layering happens in both "Atchafalaya" and "Ishq Kameena."
"Atchafalaya:"
The piece begins with a bass line played by the low brass section. This eight-bar phrase is played almost constantly throughout the piece, but at the beginning, this monophonic section, shown in the image in the bottom left, is used to introduce the song. There is only a small rhythm accompaniment, until eight bars in when the drum section comes in with a beat.
After the fourth time this phrase is played, the high brass come in with their own melody, where it becomes polyphonic, as shown on the image to the right. The bass line becomes secondary to the high brass, but they are each still an important melody. After this more instruments come in as accompaniment until the piece is thick with all the instruments playing together. At this point, the bass line becomes an accompaniment to the rest of the band, much as a bass guitarist would accompany a rock band.
Listen here to clip Atchafalaya 1.
The same thing happens again around the three minutes and 50-second mark, when a different bass line, accompanied by drums, enters alone. Again, the high brass introduces a new melody, followed by the whole band.
This layering effect creates natural dynamics and allows the piece to have some movement. By the time everyone comes in, the piece is quite loud and boisterous. When the bass line is alone, the piece is quieter and it can crescendo into the polyphonic part. This effect also allows the listener to hear all the parts individually, and then hear how amazing they sound together. Often times in other pieces, the audience can't even hear the bass line, so it is interesting to see them showcase it at the beginning. Also, the fact that the composer decided to use low brass instruments instead of bass guitar shows the creativity of this group.
Fig. 6 & 7: Screenshots from a Video Score of Atchafalaya arr. by Todd Thorsen. 2016. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc9_eLuFvPs
"Ishq Kameena:"
This piece fades in with two bass lines. One that plays consistently on each beat, and one sounding like thunder cracks for effect. After that, ankle bells are added in and a drum called a tabla provides rhythm to the monophony at the beginning. The texture changes when the girl's chorus comes in repeating "Ishq Ishq Hahn," creating a homophonic texture as the bass becomes background accompaniment.
Listen here to clip Ishq Kameena 1.
The piece stays homophonic for most of the song, as most pop songs are bound to do, but around the three-minute and eight-second mark, there is a dance break that gives the composer another opportunity to change the texture by layering. The dance break starts with 20 seconds of a drum solo, then the electric guitar comes in doing its own solo with a "waka waka" sound, the monophony accompanied by shakers and drums. Then the synthesized trumpet adds in its own melody on top; the electric guitar becomes background, and the texture once again moves to homophonic. This type of layering gives the song a build back into the verse and gives it some dynamic contrast as well. In this piece, the melody can be easily found by seeing which rhythm the dancers are dancing to. In Bollywood pieces, their dances follow the rhythm of the melody almost exactly.
Both pieces use a layering of instruments and voices to create different textures throughout. They both use layering also as a means of dynamic contrast and to build tension in the song. The difference comes, however, in how often they use dynamic contrast. Atchafalaya uses it more frequently, probably because they have a larger amount of instruments to remove and add into the song. Meanwhile, Ishq Kameena stays at the same forte level for almost all of the song, excepting the two moments outlined above. In a song and dance piece, normally it stays at forte for the entirety because the dancer's energy has to match the dynamics of the piece, and it is often hard to dance with a 'low energy.'