Download Texture, Dynamics, Cadences

Musical Textures
Monophonic
One musical strand – no accompaniment.
Unison – more than one instrument or voice performing the same
musical strand.
Tune and accompaniment. Tune is harmonised but is the most
prominent strand
Several musical strands that interweave. No one strand dominates.
Stereo effects. One group answered by another.
Exact imitation – a round. One group starts then the next starts a bit
later so the same tune overlaps
Homophonic
Polyphonic
Antiphonal
Canon
Dynamics – these symbols refer to the volume of the music and how it changes. The symbols
used are mainly abbreviations of Italian words.
pp
p
mp
mf
f
ff
Pianissimo
Piano
Mezzo piano
Mezzo forte
Forte
Fortissimo
Very quiet
Quiet
Fairly quiet
Fairly Loud
Loud
Very loud
= crescendo = get gradually louder
= diminuendo = get gradually quietly
Cadences
Cadences are endings of musical phrases.
Cadences are the equivalent of commas and full stops in English
Cadences consist of two chords
There are 4 types of cadence
2 types of cadence sound finished, like the piece could end at the cadence.
2 types of cadence sound unfinished, like the piece needs to continue or go off in a new
direction.
Cadences that sound finished:
Perfect – uses chords V to I, so G – C in the key of C, A – D in the key of D. Creates a strong
ending.
Plagal - uses chords IV – I, so F – C in the key of C, G – D in the key of G. Creates a gentler
ending than Perfect cadence. Not used as much as Perfect cadences.
Cadences that do not sound finished:
Imperfect – uses any chord – V, leaves music ‘up in the air’, feels like it needs to continue.
Interrupted – uses chords V – vi, so Am – G in the key of C, Bm – A in the key of D. Sounds like
the music is going off in a different direction.