Homophonic, polyphonic and monophonic
Ain't gonna let nobody | Lyrics
Wow your audience with this hip-hop inspired arrangement of a traditional spiritual.
Eye of the tiger | Lyrics
A roaring anthem on the theme of resilience from the rock ‘hall of fame’.
Hotaru koi | Lyrics
A charming traditional Japanese round about fireflies
Laudate Deum | Lyrics
A spirited baroque canon by Henry Purcell
Lean on me | Lyrics
This is a soul ballad from the 1970s which resonates strongly with PSHE themes of maintaining supportive and empathetic school communities.
Mercy | Lyrics
Pitch perfect arranger Deke Sharon puts his spin on Duffy’s modern classic
Monophonic monks | Lyrics
A tongue-in-cheek tune to teach about monophonic texture
Now is the month of Maying (Mixed voices) | Lyrics
Thomas Morley’s thoroughly enjoyable English madrigal in five parts
O Haupt voll blut und Wunden | Lyrics
One of Bach’s favourite chorales, perfect as a springboard into studying harmony
Oh how lovely is the evening | Lyrics
This traditional round provides a great introduction to singing in canon
Polly-phonic! | Lyrics
A jaunty warm-up piece demonstrating polyphonic texture – simple to learn and satisfying to sing!
Rise | Lyrics
A super catchy and motivating song about self-belief and perseverance
Rose, rose | Lyrics
A traditional English round forming beautiful melodic minor harmony
Sing (Pentatonix) | Lyrics
Whatever life throws at you, all you have to do is ‘Sing!’
Team tough | Lyrics
A catchy little number with cheeky rhythms written to demonstrate homophonic texture
Throw, catch | Lyrics
This is a fun, simple warm-up song to get everyone energised
Tue tue | Lyrics
This traditional Ghanaian folk song is simple to learn and works brilliantly as a round
The aim of these activities is to:
Listen:
Firstly, listen to the three pieces that introduce the textures: monophonic, polyphonic and homophonic. These songs introduce the textures both in the lyrics but also in how the music is written.
Monophonic has one melodic line and no harmony. It could be sung by one voice or lots of voices in unison
Homophonic has one clear melody while everything else fills in the chords, harmony, rhythm
Polyphonic has more than one melody happening at the same time
Sing:
Your next task is to work your way through learning to sing songs with different textures. Musical texture is best experienced through singing and playing music. Here are some suggestions to sing:
List 1: songs in unison e.g. Rise, Eye of the tiger
List 2: songs that are in a round e.g. Tue, tue, Rose, rose, Laudate Deum
List 3: songs in parts e.g. Ain't gonna let nobody, Lean on me, O haupt vol blut und Wunden, Now is the month of Maying
Listening and appraising:
Now you’ve sung different types of songs think about the textures they each had. Take a listen to songs in the playlist and see if you can find examples of:
A song where:
Compose/ Arrange
Compose or arrange a short piece of music for two or three voices or instrument parts. Try and include an example that is monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic. Take inspiration from songs like Sing (Pentatonix), Mercy and Lean on me. Some ideas to get you started:
Lots of singers are on Tik Tok creating arrangements collaboratively. Pick a tune and sing it. Send it to a friend and ask them to add a harmony. You could do this multiple times. Give it a go. Check out this version of Viva la Vida https://vm.tiktok.com/WxNhc1/
Or download a trial version of the Acapella App and create your own vocal arrangement video.
Example answers: