Biphonic, Homophonic or Heterophonic Texture

[DirtyGrits]

If I have a single melodic line and have staccato 1/16th notes playing just the tonic of the key behind my melody with another instrument, would that be considered a heterophonic texture? What I mean is, are the 16ths notes considered a melodic variation of my original melody (heterophonic), are they forming a harmonic accompaniment (homophonic), or are the 16th notes more of a pedal tone (biphonic). Is it something totally different?

I'm trying to learn my various musical textures and want to make sure I am using the correct terms. Hope the question makes sense?

-DG

[bandcoach]

Love how you are trying to use the language

Some definitions for those who don't know

When describing musical concepts we make use of four prefixes and several postfixes to create new words

Prefixes	Meaning	Postfixes	Meaning
Mono-	Single	-phonic	Sound
Poly-	Many	-chordal	Chord
Homo-	Same	-rhythmic	Rhythm
Hetero-	Different	-tonal	key/scale

Taking each of our prefixes and postfixes we end up with the following words to describe texture and other aspects of a musical piece:

Mono-phonic	Single sound
Mono-chordal	Single chord
Mono-rhythmic	Single rhythm
Mono-tonal	Single key/scale
Poly-phonic	Many sounds
Poly-chordal	Many chords
Poly-rhythmic	Many rhythms
Poly-tonal	Many keys/scales
Homo-phonic	Same sound
Homo-chordal	Same chords
Homo-rhythmic	Same rhythm
Homo-tonal	Same key/scale
Hetero-phonic	Different sounds
Hetero-chordal	Different chords
Hetero-rhythmic	Different rhythms
Hetero-tonal	Different keys/scales

Now back to your question

It would not be heterophonic unless the melody itself consisted mostly of the tonic.

Harmonic based texture is possible but only if the tonic forms part of the currently active chord, otherwise you have to discount it as a harmonic compnent and treat it as wider textural component

As for biphonic - very rarely used; you more likely to say that it is a two part texture. Possible to consider it as a pedal point accompaniment but it would still be referred to as a two part texture rather than biphonic (that is so awkward to read and say )

[DirtyGrits]

Wow. Thanks Bandcoach. I guess there is more to it than what I expected. It is much easier to think of ideas when you have words for them. I appreciate you talking time to answer. Have a good weekend.

-DG