Five Voices

“Musical texture focuses on how the material is structured rather than the material itself. As the way of weaving threads decides the texture of the fabric, the way of com- posing musical material—in other words, melodies—determines the quality of the sound in relation to complexity, thickness, and degrees of consonance. Musical texture can be briefly classified in three types: monophony, which includes a single melody; polyphony, which contains multiple independent melodies; and homophony, which, in short, combines a main melody with the accompaniment. Polyphony, in Western classical music, was bred and developed as a progression from monophony to homophony. More specifically, polyphony was prompted by a simple technique of adding another melody to the original melody by laying a note on top of each note of the original melody with the same interval. Then, it was slowly complicated with an evolution of the technique such as counterpointing a note with a different interval, or multiple notes to one note, or multiple melodies to one melody, or unrelated lyrics to the original lyric. Afterwards, it inclined to cooperate between voices, along with the development of imitating technique. In search of ways of harmonizing individual voices while keeping its independence, it progressed towards homophony where vertical logics of harmonics guide a horizontal flow.”

“Does film have matière? If so, how can it be formulated or how can we perceive it? I have contemplated several possible approaches that could determine the texture of film: physical texture of the subject in film such as metallic, wooden, or stony; characteristics of pixels decided by technical specifications such as resolution, file format, projection technique, or models of equipment; fundamental visual elements that might not necessarily have to do with texture in other art media such as color, form, light, or perspective; film editing technique such as composition of scenes or transitions between scenes; sense of mobility decided by movement of the subject in film or its frequency or speed; the language of the camera such as exposure, shutter speed, or ISO setting. And last but not least, the narrative structure of film.”