


Monks sang these, and although they did notate many of the tunes, the musical notation was different from that which we use today. The plainsongs and Gregorian chants are the earliest monophonic examples in music. It’s the most accessible type of musical texture to recognise as there is only one instrument or one voice playing a melody. Monophonic texture has a single line of music with no accompaniment. We can explain the type of combination ‘aka’ the texture of the music in the following ways. The word phonic means “relating to sound”. The ‘phonics’ describe how the melodic and harmonic parts combine to produce the sound in a composition. The melody, rhythm, and harmony affect the texture as they relate to the overall sound. In music, musical texture refers to the way a piece sounds.

It’s also unlike the texture of material things which relate to the touch and feel of an object. The definition of texture in music can be confusing as there are many subcategories. In this guide, I’ll go into detail on the phonics and the different types of texture in music. I like to call these terms the phonics, and they provide a good starting point for students. While these are correct, there are more specific terms such as monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic that are useful to learn when describing the texture of music. People often use words such as thick, dense or thin to describe the musical texture. Texture in music is how the melodic and harmonic layers combine when you hear them in a piece of music.
