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Timbre definition: the characteristic quality of a sound independent of pitch and dynamics; tone colour.
Texture definition: simultaneous layering of sounds (e.g., multi-part music making)
Timbre can be:
- Bright to dark, soft to hard, warm to cold, etc.
Texture can be:
- Dense to sparse, thick to thin, active to still
- Layered (may be made up of a combination of melody, harmony, rhythm)
Discussion points:
- The choice of instrument timbre can be used to convey the attributes of a character, emotion, place or mood.
- Many instruments have more than one timbre they can produce
- Changing the number of instruments changes the density of the texture, more instruments = thicker, and less instruments = thinner.
Texture Example:
Boléro M. 81, London Symphony Orchestra
Timbre Activity:
- Instrument Colour Worksheet: assigning colours to each instrument as heard
- BeepBox: Rate the waveforms in terms of darkest and lightest
Texture Activity:
- Worksheet: vocab to texture (ie. How to convey isolation, thick or thin)
Resources:
Career Pathway Videos
Shannon Mason
Composer & Sound Designer
Vancouver, BC
Caitlin Yu
Head of Quality Assurance
Phoenix Labs
Burnaby, BC
Adrian Talens
Freelance Composer
Vancouver, BC
What is it like to work in Interactive & Digital Media?
Where can I go to college or university for a career in IDM?
The Art Institute of Vancouver