16 INTRODUCTIONTEXTURE
Let’s add just one last concept to our arsenal before we begin our discussion of
A merica’s music. That concept, texture, concerns the interactions between mul-
tiple melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic layers.
The simplest texture is monophony, meaning “one sound”: a single melody,
whether sung or played on an instrument. Jean Ritchie sings “The Gypsy Laddie”
(LG 9.2) with no accompaniment of any kind; her rendition is monophonic. “The
Liberty Song” (LG 2.1) also begins with a single voice; when other voices join in
(0:13), they all sing the same melody, and for that reason the texture does not
change but remains monophonic. The singer of “John Henry” (LG 14.4) accom-
panies himself by swinging an ax, but because the ax doesn’t produce a specifi c
pitch, we can still describe this as a monophonic texture.
W hen a prominent melody is heard over a discreet accompaniment, the
resulting texture is called homophony. W hen Bob Dylan sings “Only a Pawn in
Their Game” (LG 17.6) and accompanies himself on guitar, the texture is homo-
phonic. The same is true when Sara Carter sings at the beginning of the Carter
Family’s “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” (LG 11.2). But when two other singers join
in (0:24), they sing different pitches—they harmonize with the fi rst singer. This
texture, where multiple voices sing the same words in the same rhythm but with
different pitches, is also called homophony. We can distinguish between these
two kinds of homophonic textures by labeling the fi rst melody and accompa-
niment and the second hymn texture or block chords. Hymn texture is also
evident in Olivet (LG 3.3)—fi ttingly, since that tune is a hymn.
Block chords can also be heard at the beginning of Sherburne (LG 3.1). But
after only eight seconds, the voices seem to split apart: the basses sing alone for
a moment (a brief bit of monophony), then the other voices join in one by one,
each singing its own melodic line. All are singing the same words, but not at the
same time. The effect is something like a round, such as “Row, Row, Row Your
Boat” or “Frère Jacques.” This polyphonic texture, consisting of multiple inde-
pendent melodic lines, is considerably more complex than the block chords that
came before. Polyphony is a feature of much classical music, but it can be heard
as well in other types of music, such as early New Orleans jazz. The last section
of King Oliver’s Dippermouth Blues (LG 12.2) is a particularly adroit example of
spontaneous-sounding polyphony.USING THE LISTENING GUIDES
As you become acquainted with more of America’s diverse musical traditions,
you will have many opportunities to increase your technical vocabulary and
refi ne your listening skills. A crucial means of doing so is through the use of
the listening guides found in every chapter. There is a listening guide for every
musical selection that accompanies this book. Each listening guide draws your
attention to specifi c musical features, with timings to indicate formal divisions
in the music and places where notable events occur. Thus it is important to lis-
ten to the selections with an audio player that indicates minutes and seconds.
(Your player’s readout may differ from the timings in the book by a second or
two.)172028_00b_001-017_INTRO_r3_ko.indd 16 23/01/13 9:47 AM