Texture (music)
In music, a texture is understood to be a vertical sound structure in the sense of a state that is created by stringing together variations of a motif . This can be the continuous variation of a basic rhythm or melody , but also a sequence of differently manipulated versions of a noise or sound . In principle, a texture can be continued indefinitely without ever repeating itself, whereby the basic rhythmic and tonal impression is retained. Deviating from this, in English, texture is also understood more generally to mean the overall structure of a piece of music.
From the 1970s onwards, IRCAM in Paris developed algorithmic music programming software , for example the Upic program by Iannis Xenakis , followed by Open Music based on patchwork , developed by Marco Stroppa and Tristan Murail , among others . These programs are designed to program musical textures according to algorithmic , mathematical processes, such as on the basis of certain integer numbers or Fibonacci sequences . As a result, textures can become musical content that originate from superordinate reference values, according to an FFT analysis. But also areas of analytical number theory, such as researching the L-function, can influence an acoustic composition. In this case, due to the formal, mathematical structure, the music is created in a program such as Max / MSP or Open Music, for example, and is imported into a program such as Sibelius or Finale as a midi file and processed further. The musical syntax is subject to certain laws. When importing a spectral analysis in programs such as Open Music and Patchwork the syntax is usually still not been clarified. The musical syntax is difficult to set algorithmically in such a way that it can also be used in a musically meaningful way. In this regard, the composer Philippe Manoury invented his so-called musical-generative grammars, which, for example, help to make sensible use of a spectral analysis. A short motif becomes an object, a phrase becomes a cell, and a musical unit becomes a section or state. A developing sequence of sections is called a process , which can be generated, for example, by interpolation. This can be made possible with Audiosculpt and Open Music . Texture-based compositions are also called algorithmic compositions. Representatives are the Swiss composer Hanspeter Kyburz , Georg Hajdu and the Austrian Karlheinz Essl . Research in this area is carried out at the Paris IRCAM and the SWR experimental studio in Freiburg.