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"The composer . . . joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sound." —ALAN HOVHANESS

Key Points

  • Texture refers to the interweaving of the melodic lines with harmony in music.
  • The simplest texture is monophony, or single-voiced music without accompaniment.
  • Heterophony refers to multiple voices elaborating the same melody at the same time.
  • Polyphony describes a many-voiced texture based on counterpoint—one line set against another.
  • Homophony occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines, or voices; homorhythmic texture is a subcategory of homophony in which all the voices move in the same rhythm.
  • Imitation—when a melodic idea is presented in one voice, then restated in another—is a common unifying technique in polyphony; canons and rounds are two types of strictly imitative works.

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