Quick questions on Texture from monophonic to polyphonic: HSC Music concept

The standard textures are defined by how the layers relate. Monophonic texture is a single melodic line with no accompaniment, whether one performer or many performing in unison or at the octave. Homophonic texture is a main melody supported by chordal accompaniment that moves with it, the most common texture in popular music, hymns and much classical writing. Polyphonic (or contrapuntal) texture has two or more independent melodic lines of roughly equal importance woven together, as in a fugue or a Baroque chorus.

Polyphonic textures use specific devices worth naming. Imitation is when one line states an idea and another echoes it shortly after, as in a round or canon. A canon is strict imitation throughout; a fugue develops a subject through successive imitative entries. A pedal point is a sustained note (often in the bass) held while harmonies change above it.

To hear texture, count the independent layers and ask how they relate. Is there one line, or a tune with backing, or several equal lines, or variations of one tune at once? Then track how the layer count changes through the excerpt. Many students default to calling everything homophonic; resist this by genuinely listening for whether the accompanying parts are chordal (homophonic) or independent and melodic (polyphonic).

Name the texture type, the density, the roles of the layers, and the changes. For example: "The excerpt opens monophonically with a solo voice, then becomes homophonic as a guitar adds chordal accompaniment, before thickening into a four-part texture with an independent bass riff in the final section, building intensity toward the close." That single sentence names the type, the density, the roles and the structural effect.