HIGHER Q & A 8: What is meant by texture?

Question: What is meant by texture?

Answer: Musical texture can be polyphonic or homophonic.

Music which is polyphonic is usually said to be more complex, with several melodic lines heard at the same time. 

Look and listen to this and notice that the colours appear one at a time, each playing the same theme. As each new line appears, the previous ones keep developing their own melodic lines. 

Here is some polyphonic vocal music - 

Music which is described as homophonic is less complex in terms of its texture.

Homophonic can mean:

music in which all the parts play a similar rhythm at the same time, like this -

                 

or

music which contains a single line of melody with accompaniment, like this - 

In the music above, a piece for piano, you will see that the left hand consists of a drone. The action is happening in the right hand part - our ear will be drawn to this. 

Listen to a couple of examples of homophonic music -