In this video I'm going to be talking about the polyphonic orchestral texture
from George Frederick McKay's book Creative Orchestration.
In that book he outlines eight distinct orchestral textures.
I made a video where I introduced the concept from the book and I'm making a distinct video for each
of the textures where we look at what the texture is, listen to an example, and I'm taking the
Breath of the Wild theme and arranging it in the style of that texture to see how it can be used.
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So the polyphonic texture is what we think of as maybe traditional counterpoint.
So if you ever listen to a fugue or an invention, it's that idea of
many independent lines working together, kind of creating a fabric.
So the independent lines all doing their own thing kind of
counter-intuitively actually blend together.
They lose their distinct independent voice to create the overall whole.
So the way the polyphonic texture is different than maybe the heterophonic, or what we're going
to look at is one called the polythematic, is that they should be functioning together.
So usually you'll be having sounds that are very similar.
So just in the woodwinds, or just in the strings,
because you don't want too much distinction between the different parts.
Them kind of meshing together into a unified whole is part of the point.
So there are a lot of examples in the Classical repertoire of the polyphonic texture.
Any fugue arranged for the orchestra will do that.
So I decided to choose something a little more contemporary,
This is Anakin's Theme from the Phantom Menace by John Williams, and this is the B section to
the theme where he's using the polyphonic texture to contrast what we had before in the A section.
I will say that, unlike what I was just describing with a fugue,
he's still putting a lot of emphasis on the melody.
And I think that for us in 2021 that's
a little more realistic of how we would be using this texture in our own writing as well.
I think the top line or the melody line is something that
we generally tend to write around more.
So I thought this was a good example, that it feels like the polyphonic texture
but there is still some emphasis on the melody.
So if we look here we can see the melody is definitely the busiest
line, in the violins and the highest pitch.
So it's clearly going to stand out to us.
But what really partly gives away that this is a polyphonic texture is that the four
main voices in the violin one, violin two, viola, cello, all start on a different beat.
So they all have a different moment to introduce.
And that really helps you feel each one enter separately.
In the playback by Sibelius maybe the cello and the viola won't sound that different.
But in the presence of a real orchestra, where everybody's sitting in a different place,
you will feel each section, even just in a moment, kind of having their moment to start speaking.
And that will give that impression of some independence.
But they're all in the string orchestra.
They have very similar timbres.
So there is going to be this, more of just kind of a fabric of a, you know, unified sound going on.
But also notice that each voice going in has some distinct flavor to it.
So the melody here is roughly staying around the same place of this fourth,
and going up a third, going down a fourth, whereas the cello line is clearly descending down
through the octave from the C down all the way to this G, to the Gb.
So there is some separation there, even from the top and bottom lines.
And then the middle lines here, there's some passing tones, there are a couple moments.
They are simpler lines because their
duty is in a lot of ways to handle the missing chord tones that we need in the middle.
But they still do have some phrasing and they do still have a chance to have some melody.
I do want to emphasize here this double bass part
which is only working here on the cadence, and that's really important.
John Williams does this really well.
We've seen this example with the Scheharezade, and the
Nutcracker already as well, that these moments of beginning or these moments of
end are really important and really special to add just a little extra for a little subtlety.
So saving the double bass just for that cadence here, which he does a lot throughout
this whole piece, adds some importance and weight to that cadence, and helps us really
feel like that's a structural moment, and feel the significance of the pause and the rest there.
Also see that for the only time in this four bar phrase he also uses that cadence to
punch with the woodwinds those chords and have a little harp fill.
And it's really pretty subtle.
It's one of those things that's, again, kind of felt
more than you maybe even realize it or hear it.
But again it gives some power to the cadence.
It makes the cadence special, whereas if we had just the clarinets and bassoon holding those
chord tones the whole time we would lose that.
We would lose the extra unique punch that the cadence is given here.
So let's take a listen to this.
So what I really want you to hear is the richness and lushness in those strings,
that it feels very full and flowing and moving.
You know it's not just like the violin has chord tones being held underneath it.
Every string part below it has something to say, has
as a player has something to play, and has some phrasing to it.
It feels like a line.
I mean, even if we just listen to these lower lines without the melody
we can hear that they all have some interesting parts to play.
So let's see if we can apply a similar concept to the Breath of the Wild theme.
Find a way to add some counter lines and some polyphonic texture to make this sound very rich.
I'm going to do the same thing, I think,
and use strings, because I think that was working really well on the other part.
So let's start by adding in the string instruments.
And then I'm going to copy this up to the violins and we'll keep that in the top voice.
Let's add some bowing.
So in a traditional kind of counterpoint writing context you might not be coming in with these
chord symbols, especially maybe these kind of jazzy chord symbols already given to you.
So when that's the case, when I already have chord symbols,
I'm going to be a little more conscious of finding those missing chord tones.
I might even in this case maybe start with,
you know, what are the chord tones underneath and then how can I carve some lines out of it.
I want to start on the bottom with the cello, and I'm thinking of introducing the cello
right here because that is the first gap and that's a way for it to be heard.
So when we have... I might even bring the violin one down an octave too, but let's see.
And we want to end up somewhere on the Ab, maybe even on the Ab.
That will be a good start.
So what's nice there is we're starting on a chord tone,
which is nice, that G creates a third with the Bb which would be nice.
We got contrary motion.
All that as a start will be pretty good.
Let's have everybody be kind of quiet.
Then we can look at what's inside.
Do we want to fill in?
Let's work on, um, just the chord, just...
I was thinking about "Do I want to fill in these inner voices now, or do them later?"
I want to go a little further, at least to the end of this first four bar phrase with just you.
With just you, with just the cello.
And then we'll fill in those voices after.
So we could have...
I think I might do that, echoing that line.
And then maybe just get from this F down there.
That would probably be enough.
So our outer voices on these first four bars,
now let's fill in who's missing.
No that's a little too close to the cello.
The Eb is not missing, the G is definitely missing, so let's emphasize.
I think we can do that.
Get an Eb on you somewhere.
All right let's see where are we going to end up here.
That's what's on top, somewhere you might want to be somewhere around here.
Oops
Just trying to hear it.
So we end up emphasizing that.
Someone want you in this range.
I'm gonna want you in this range, and then can we add something a little more interesting.
I'll deal with you Mr. Viola at some point.
That might just work.
Then..
Maybe we could even do..
What would that be like.
That guy's real small.
All right and now the next phrase.
Let's get a little more respect to maybe viola friend here.
Well since this is so high..
Let's think about where we might want to end up.
Maybe you'll want to be...
Come on.
So let's watch it again.
Cool, that will work.
We're gonna emphasize that guy down there.
We're gonna want to end up making sure we get the sus, so that will probably come in there.
But we don't want it on that.
Somewhere around there. Oh.
Maybe open D on that.
That might work.
Let's listen to the whole thing here now.
I think it's pretty good.
There are moments where I might want to go in with a fine-tooth comb.
I'm sure there's a couple little clashing intervals
and a couple moments where we could make other parts more interesting.
I kind of left this blank here on purpose just so that cello line could be heard,
but then the cello got a little basic going forward.
But you know we were coming from a melody that's already pretty active on the top.
Like we were saying, unlike a fugue where every voice has kind of equal importance,
in a more modern actual use of the polyphonic texture the melody is
still king and everybody else is going to be serving to that role in a different way.
That is a general idea of how you can use the polyphonic texture in an orchestral setting,
and again notice the emphasis on keeping the timbres pretty similar.
These are all on the strings, which is partly just because it's very lush and rich sounding.
But also it makes it that feeling of a fabric, where all the different voices
feel very close together as a family, and there is a sense of unification throughout it.
So that is my example of the polyphonic orchestral texture.
For videos about the other seven orchestral textures that maybe already exist or I'm
still working on please subscribe and you'll know when those are out.
I'll see you next time!