Texture is the “fabric” of music, the way all the sonic lines of a work — melody, accompaniment, voices — are combined and distributed. It is texture that largely determines the character and “density” of the sound — whether it is transparent and light or rich and monumental.
Several basic types of texture are distinguished: monody (a single voice without accompaniment, like Gregorian chant), homophony (one main melody with a chordal accompaniment — the basis of classical and popular music), polyphony (several equal melodies at once, as in a Bach fugue), and a dense chordal, “chorale” texture. A composer constantly varies the texture, directing the listener's attention and the work's dramaturgy. Understanding texture is the ability to hear music “in the round,” in all the layered richness of its structure.
