Musical Texture & Chordal Spacing

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Musical Texture & 

Chordal Spacing

A network of relationships involving a variety 

of musical elements including: 

Pitches 

Rhythmic patterns 

Density 

Range 

Timbre 

Dynamics 

Voice doublings 

Texture

Monophonic Texture 

Single melody line with no accompaniment 

Uncommon in the common-practice period 

Occur at compositional openings or at a climatic 

point 

Sibelius: Symphony No.2, I 

Types of Texture

Homophonic Texture 

 

Music with more than one voice part 

Attention is drawn to the prominent melodic line the 

other voice parts are secondary 

Chordal or Homorhythmic Texture 

 

 

All voices proceed in the same rhythm 

The ear is drawn to the soprano part; the melody may 

appear in other voices 

Figured Chordal Texture 

 

 

Series of blocked chords and arpeggiated harmonies 

with a consistent figuration 

Upper voices of the broken chords act as the principal 

melodic line 


HOMORHYTHMIC 

Bizet: Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 

Homophonic Texture

FIGURED CHORDAL TEXTURE 

Bach: Prelude in C Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I BWV 846 

Homophonic Texture

Melody and Accompaniment 

 

The melodic line is set apart both rhythmically and 

spatially from the accompaniment 

Bach-Gounod: “Ave Maria” 


Contrapuntal / Polyphonic Texture 

 

Simultaneous combination of melodic lines 

 

Each voice maintains its own melodic contour and 

rhythmic identity 

Free Counterpoint 

Imitation 


A 

Bizet: Farandole 

A. Free counter point B. imitation 

B 

Contrapuntal Texture

Strict Texture 

 

 

 

Specific number of voices are retained throughout 

an entire composition 

Compositionally each voice is maintain separate by 

careful stemming of notes and given its own rests 

Ex. Two-part inventions; three-part fugue, four-part 

chorale style 

Free-Voiced Texture 

 

Number of voices is not consistent 

 

Typical of Classical-era instrumental pieces 

Strict vs. Free Structure

Distribution of chord member over a specified 

number of voices 

In both strict and free texture be mindful of the 

actual number of parts in a passage; what may 

look like four voices may only be three which 

are doubled at the octave 

Chord Voicing

Simple Chordal Style 

Note-against-note texture 

 

 

all voice parts maintain the same rhythm 

Only tones that are chord members will be used 

“Real” music seldom maintains this type of 

simplicity for long, usually the texture will be 

embellished by figuration (quicker notes in one or 

more of the parts) 

More on figuration to come later… 

Introduction to 

Four-Voice Texture

Four-voice texture favor by 18 th Century music 

theorist for illustrating basic harmonic 

progressions 

Four-voice literature for choirs and string 

quartets help support this preference 

When writing for voice, we must consider an 

appropriate vocal range for each part; this 

range is called tessitura 



Soprano Alto Tenor Bass 

The four choral voices and the corresponding tessitura. These ranges are 

suggested for ease to the composer and singer. Naturally, the range of 

each voice part is incumbent upon the individual singer. 



Condensed or Closed 

Choral Score 

Open Choral Score 

Keyboard Style 

Upper three voices (Sop. Alto. & 

Tenor) are in the right hand, and the 

bass line is alone in the left hand. 



Several standard methods for distributing 

voices in a four-voice chord 

Chord structures are distinguished by the 

intervallic distance between the soprano and 

tenor voices 

Chordal Spacing in 


Close Structure (C) - less than an octave 

between the soprano and tenor voice (Fig. 1) 

The chordal 5 th may be omitted in certain root 

position seventh chords, a chord member may be 

missing between adjacent upper voices (Fig. 2) 

Figure 1 Figure 2 

5 th omitted 

Close Structure

Open Structure (O) – more than an octave 

between the soprano and tenor voice 

At least one chord member is missing between 

the adjacent voices (Fig. 3) 

Figure 3 

Open Structure

Open Octave/Neutral Structure (O/O) – 

commonly found with first inversion chords 

Exactly one octave between the soprano and 

tenor voice 

Octave doubling between soprano & tenor 

Open /Octave Structure

The distance between consecutive upper voices 

(soprano to alto and alto to tenor) must never 

exceed an octave 

On the other hand, no restriction is placed on 

the distance between the tenor and the bass 

(Fig. 4) 

Figure 4 

avoid 

ok! 

Chordal Spacing in 


Doublings are inevitable 

Doubled voice will occur at the octave or unison 

There is a convention from the common-practiceera 

of which voices should be doubled 

Atypical doublings may occur in certain 

harmonic situations 

Doubling in 

Four-Voice Chords

In root position Major and 

minor triads, double the pitch 

class that appears in the bass 

voice (this will always be the 

root of the chord in root 

position) 

That’s what it means to be in 

root position after all! 

Voice Doubling 

– Root Position

In first inversion Major and 

minor chords, double the 

pitch class that appears in 

the soprano voice 

regardless of what chord 

member it represents 


– First Inversion

In second inversion Major and minor triads, double the 

pitch class that appears in the bass, the chordal 5 th 


– Second Inversion

In seventh chords, assign each of the four voices different 

pitch classes a separate voice part (Fig. 5) 

Occasionally the chordal 5 th may have to be omitted and 

the root doubled (Fig. 6) 

Figure 5 Figure 6 


– Seventh Chords

Two-part texture is very common in the music 

of the common-practice era. 

i.e.; Bach’s Two Part Inventions 

Jazz ensemble; trumpet and bass perform 

without piano or guitar accompaniment 

Dyads only contain two chord members 

Triads and seventh chords must be implied in 

two-part texture 

Chordal Implications in 

Two-Voice Texture

Unison or Octave almost always suggest the root 

of a triad 

Occurs at the opening or at a phrase cadence 

P5 implies a root-position triad 

 

Missing third is supplied through tonal context 

Imperfect consonances; 3 rds and 6 ths 

 

Imply root-position triads, may imply 1 st inversion 

Summary of Chordal 

Implications

Sixths usually suggest triadic first inversions via 3 rd 

and root 

If comprised of ^5 and ^3 it may imply a 6/4 or 

second inversion sonority 

 

Seventh chords involve two inversions of the majorminor 

7 th (dominant 7 th ) 

Diminished 5 th (chordal 3 rd and 7 th ) suggest a 6/5 or 

first inversion 

 

Augmented 4 th (chordal 7 th and 3 rd ) suggest a 4/2 or 

third inversion 

Summary of Chordal 

Implications

Two-Part Chordal Practice

Musical Texture & Chordal Spacing

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