In music, homophony (; Greek: ὁμόφωνος, homóphōnos, from ὁμός, homós, "same" and φωνή, phōnē, "sound, tone") is a texture in which a primary part is supported by one or more additional strands that flesh out the harmony and often provide rhythmic contrast. Homophony produces one dominating melody, … Please add askdifference.com to your ad blocking whitelist or disable your adblocking software. A good example is the moment in the "Hallelujah" chorus where the chorus sings a series of "Hallelujahs" in the same rhythm. Polyphony produces multiple non-competing layers of music, requiring the listener to pay closer attention. Chorale texture is another variant of homophony. I'm having a hard time understanding the differences between polyphony and homophony. Having a single, accompanied, melodic line; not polyphonic. Homophony is when you have multiple parts moving together with the same rhythm to create harmony. Homophonic music has one clear melodic line, the part that draws your attention, and all other parts provide accompaniment. of or relating to or characterized by polyphony; having two or more independent but harmonically related melodic parts sounding together. We do not implement these annoying types of ads! A homophonic texture may be homorhythmic, which means that all parts have the same rhythm. Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; (music) a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. What is monophony, polyphony, homophony, monody etc.? Polyphony appeared in 1864 to distinguish certain contrapuntal sections from homophony. This differentiation of roles contrasts with equal-voice polyphony (in which similar lines move with rhythmic and melodic independence to form an even texture) and monophony (in which all parts move in unison or octaves). The difference between homophonic and polyphonic is that polyphony is more complex. Something like this. In particular, polyphony consists of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, which is called homophony. Polyphonic (adjective) of, or relating to polyphony. Polyphony vs. homophony? Polyphony is when there is multiple melody lines at the same time, interacting with each other. The difference between homophonic and polyphonic is that polyphony is more complex. Characterized by polyphony; as, Assyrian polyphonic characters. Homophony appeared with Burney in 1776, emphasizing the concord of harmonized melody. Baroque forms such as fugue, which might be called polyphonic, are usually described instead as contrapuntal. As nouns the difference between homophony and polyphony is that homophony is (music) a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords while polyphony is (music) musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). Homophony and polyphony coexisted in the 1600s and 1700s. Homophonic music has one clear melodic line, the part that draws your attention, and all other parts provide accompaniment. Polyphony produces multiple non-competing layers of music, requiring the listener to pay closer attention. Within the context of the Western musical tradition, the term polyphony is usually used to refer to music of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. See Wiktionary Terms of Use for details. Heterophony finally appeared in 1919, as a term to apply to music of other cultures, as noted. In music, polyphony is one type of musical texture, where a texture is, generally speaking, the way that melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic aspects of a musical composition are combined to shape the overall sound and quality of the work. We don't have any banner, Flash, animation, obnoxious sound, or popup ad. The most common type of homophony is melody-dominated homophony, in which one voice, often the highest, plays a distinct melody, and the accompanying voices work together to articulate an underlying harmony. During the Baroque period, monophony became the new modern style. Monophony appeared in 1890, as the clear analog to polyphony. Polyphony was the common melody during the Renaissance period. Originally, sounding alike; of the same pitch; unisonous; monodic. Homophony is the concept of a single ‘line’ as such, potentially split across several parts, but all moving at the same time – parts mainly follow the same rhythm. The terms monophony and polyphony have very straight-forward literal meanings.Monophony means music with a single "part" and a "part" typically means a single vocal melody, but it could mean a single melody on an instrument of one kind or another.Polyphony means music with more than one part, and so this indicates simultaneous notes. Such a perspective considers homophony as a sub-type of polyphony. This point-against-point conception is opposed to "successive composition", where voices were written in an order with each new voice fitting into the whole so far constructed, which was previously assumed. Polyphonic (adjective) having two or more independent but harmonic melodies; contrapuntal. having two or more independent but harmonic melodies; contrapuntal, able to play more than one musical note at the same time. We need money to operate the site, and almost all of it comes from our online advertising. Polyphony has multiple different melodies layered over each other simultaneously, which can even be the same melody layered over each other but started at different times, called a “round.” A good example is the moment in the "Hallelujah" chorus where the chorus sings a series of "Hallelujahs" in the same rhythm. Initially, in Ancient Greece, homophony indicated music in which a single melody is performed by two or more voices in unison or octaves, i.e. In my opinion this song has a Monophonic feel to it at the beginning but continues to grow into a powerful Polyphonic style then it moves again to Homophonic because all the people are singing the same melody line in sync and ending all together with all the people singing at once it creates a rich counterpoint effect to the piece. monophony with multiple voices. Also, as opposed to the species terminology of counterpoint, polyphony was generally either "pitch-against-pitch" / "point-against-point" or "sustained-pitch" in one part with melismas of varying lengths in another. The choral arrangement of four voices (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) has since become common in Western classical music. I know homophony is a melody with an accompaniament, but does that necessarily mean a voice and an instrument? We've detected that you are using AdBlock Plus or some other adblocking software which is preventing the page from fully loading. Expressing the same sound by a different combination of letters; as, bay and bey. Also, does polyphnoy only mean 2 voices in counterpoint or can it be more than 2 voices? Homophony has one melody with multiple harmony layers playing in the background. Homophony produces one dominating melody, being supported by another… In all cases the conception was probably what Margaret Bent (1999) calls "dyadic counterpoint", with each part being written generally against one other part, with all parts modified if needed in the end. There are a few musical texture forms, but let us focus on the two most commonly used in today’s music: homophony and polyphony. having a single melodic line with accompaniment. Polyphonic (adjective) able to play more than one musical note at the same time. Homophony as a term first appeared in English with Charles Burney in 1776, emphasizing the concord of harmonized melody. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. Historically, homophony and its differentiated roles for parts emerged in tandem with tonality, which gave distinct harmonic functions to the soprano, bass and inner voices. Consisting of several tone series, or melodic parts, progressing simultaneously according to the laws of counterpoint; contrapuntal; as, a polyphonic composition; - opposed to homophonic, or monodic. (music) Musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). Homophonic (adjective) Having a single, accompanied, melodic line; not polyphonic. The term polyphony is also sometimes used more broadly, to describe any musical texture that is not monophonic.