IN THE THICK OF IT MAKING THE MOST OF RICH TEXTURES
The word ‘texture’ conjures up a range of definitions and meanings. Cambridge University’s online definition reads: ‘The quality of something that can be decided by touch; the degree to which something is rough or smooth, or soft or hard.’ To this, we can add any number of variations – a crumbly biscuit or the feel of a piece of fabric. These help us to make sense of texture applied to music, perhaps most simply by confining our vocabulary to the words ‘thin’, ‘thick’ or ‘rich’. When musicians wish to be more specific about types of texture, we might use the term ‘monophonic’ (a single, unaccompanied melodic line), ‘homophonic’ (melody and accompaniment – considered a hallmark of the Classical period), or ‘contrapuntal’ (two or more overlapping layers, made up of independent imitative voices, typical of the Baroque period).
In general, we might expect thickly textured piano music to arise more often introduction, on a harpsichord, we’d quickly discover how the textures and many other features simply don’t work. The artistic trait of arpeggiating (i.e. breaking up) thick chords on earlier keyboards became a highly effective, idiomatic way of enriching textures, often done on the hoof, adding tonal clarity as well as rhythmic definition when needed.
