Chapter 6 How Music Part 4 Texture and Form I Introduction a Texture b Form i The kinds of relationships that emerge and evolve between the characters in a musical work the notes rhythms melodies patterns and vocal and instrumental parts i Form is the element of music that pertains to the large scale dimensions of musical organization 1 When studying form we are interested in how musical works and performances develop and take shape II Texture a Types i Single line textures the simplest type 1 2 otherwise known as monophonic textures 3 is not limited to performances by a single musician so long as all performers play or sing together in unison 4 a single melodic or rhythmic line may be divided among two or more instruments or voices the result is textures based on interlocking a b The opening melody 0 03 0 14 of CD ex 2 6 features folkloric music of the Andes mountains of Bolivia South America i The melody is divided between two Andean panpipes siku whose parts on the recording are clearly split between the left and right speakers ii Each panpipe has only half of the pitches of the complete scale needed for the melody and each provides about half of the total number of melody notes in the interlocking texture c where two or more instruments split a single melody between them is sometimes called hocket ii polyphonic 1 Textures in which there are two or more distinct parts 2 Could result from a playing or singing of different parts on different b instruments it may occur in the part of a single instrument that can play more than one note at the same time i example as a piano or guitar 3 Even a single human voice can create polyphony a Mongolian khoomii selection of CD ex 1 6 4 A melody accompanied by a drone is one of the simplest types of polyphonic textures a the melody unfolds over a sustained continuous tone i example Scottish bagpipe performance of Amazing Grace on CD ex 1 16 5 Harmonized textures a emerge when notes of different pitch occur together to form chords or harmonies i Each note of a melody can generate its own chord Example Fijian church hymn of CD ex 1 11 or the chords may be supplied by one instrument e g guitar in accompaniment of a melody played on another e g saxophone Example in CD ex 1 27 6 Multiple melody texture a occurs in polyphonic music that features two or more essentially separate melodic lines being performed simultaneously i example The Zimbabwean music excerpt of CD ex 2 3 which features a multiple melody texture 1 with one group of male vocalists singing a unison melody in a low register 2 a second group singing a harmonized 3 melody in a higher register two layers of vocal melody interweave over an accompaniment of chordal and rhythmic instruments b need not be built from or even include melodies i two or more distinct rhythmic lines performed at the same time can also create polyphony b Javanese gamelan music of Indonesia CD ex 1 7 i provides rich and varied multiple melody textures 1 typically includes many different layers of melody all being sung and played at once ii In the example both male and female vocalists and musicians performing on a diverse array of instruments spin out many melodic layers 1 Each of these layers is unique yet all of them are interrelated c traditional elephant hunting song of the BaMbuti people of Central Africa CD ex 2 4 i The relative equality of all the different vocal parts in this music is reflective of the high value placed on egalitarianism in BaMbuti culture and society 1 there are no soloists or accompanists ii This is a pervasive cultural value among other so called pygmy societies of Central Africa d Polyrhythm e Call and response i the term used to describe music in which there are several different parts or layers with each defined mainly by its distinctive rhythmic character rather than by melodies or chords 1 CD ex 2 5 is a West African drumming based selection with a richly polyrhythmic texture i involves back and forth alternation between different instrument or voice parts ii This dialogue may take any of a variety of forms 1 It can occur between a lead singer and a group of background singers 2 a singer and an instrumentalist two groups of instrumentalists 3 4 two groups of singers 5 or any other such combination iii CD ex 2 7 the complete track of the West African piece 1 features call and response singing between a lead vocalist and a group of vocalists 2 The call and response vocal parts are presented over an accompaniment of polyrhythmic percussion at 0 40 following the all percussion introduction f The Debater Over Polyrhythms in West African Music i Some types of polyphonic music are characterized as polyrhythmic ii Much West African music is portrayed in this way but there are some scholars and musicians who suggest that this is misleading 1 They argue that the term polyrhythmic does not accurately reflect how West African musicians actually conceptualize their music a Rather than perceiving this as music of many rhythms i e polyrhythms instead perceived as music defined by a single unified rhythmic expression with multiple manifestations III Form The Designs of Musical Works a through composed i no repetition of musical materials occurs and there is an absence of distinct sections in the music s design b The repetition of these materials may be exact or it may be varied from one occurrence to the next i Varied repetition is common in many music traditions c Forms Based Repetition i Ostinato Based Forms 1 A short figure that is repeated over and over again is called an ostinato a The ostinato is typically the smallest unit of organization upon which musical forms are built 2 An example of an ostinato based musical CD ex 2 8 Xai Elephants a It comes from the Qwii people aka Bushmen San of the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa b The instrument is an nkokwane a Qwii hunting bow that doubles as a struck chordophone instrument i The string of the bow is struck with either an arrow or a stick ii Two different tones with different pitches are produced as well as a wide range of timbres c The basic ostinato pattern of Xai repeats roughly every two seconds or every six beats 3 Ostinato based forms may gain richness and complexity through a texture of layered ostinatos a In this type of texture two or more ostinatos are stacked one on top of the other i Example CD ex 2 9 Oye Como Va by ii Cycle Forms Tito Puente 1 similar to ostinato based forms but the repeated unit of the cycle is typically
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