Some music is written with 'block' chords, some has weaving parts around the tune, and some music has no harmony at all. These are all examples of textures in music.
Texture describes how layers of sound within a piece of music interact.
Imagine that a piece of spaghetti is a melody line. One strand of spaghetti by itself is a single melody, as in a monophonicA texture consisting of a solo musical line. texture. Many of these strands interweaving with one another (like spaghetti on a plate) is a polyphonicTwo or more melodies or parts that play at the same time, weaving in and out of each other. texture. If all of these strands were placed directly on top of each other and all lined up (like spaghetti in a packet), they could move together in chords. This would be similar to a homophonicA texture based on chords. texture.
A unisonWhen all voices or instruments sing or play the same melody at their chosen octave. is when all voices or instruments are singing or playing the same melodic line, so there is no harmony. It doesn鈥檛 matter which octave the melody is in - it is still a unison texture. An excellent example of unison texture is when everyone in a room (adults and children) sing Happy Birthday. Children and adults with higher voices will generally choose a higher octave than men with lower voices, but they are all singing the same melody.
Texture comes in three kinds - unison, homophonic and polyphonic. These are demonstrated using classical and contemporary examples, including the Beach Boys