Sometimes the notes in the melody voice and the chordal accompaniment voices move together with exactly the same (or very nearly the same) rhythm. Or the notes in all of the voices may move together without a definitive melody in any voice. When this happens, the texture is considered to be homophonic because there is chordal harmony:
The excerpt below is an example of pure homophonic texture because the voices move together in rhythm to create chordal harmony. Note that there is a melody (in the upper-most voice), but all the voices move together as chords. Click the play arrow to hear the example.
Voices which produce chordal harmony may move together with identical rhythms, as in "America" above, or the voices may have only similar rhythms, making the chords appear less obvious in printed music. The example below shows homophonic texture with rhythmically similar voices. Chords are produced by all four voices, and a melody is present in the upper-most voice. Listen for the chords. Click the play arrow to hear the example.
