Monophony

In music, monophony is the simplest of

musical textures, consisting of a melody
(or "tune"), typically sung by a single
singer or played by a single instrument
player (e.g., a flute player) without
accompanying harmony or chords. Many
folk songs and traditional songs are
monophonic. A melody is also considered This melody for the traditional song "Pop Goes the Weasel"
to be monophonic if a group of singers is monophonic as long as it is performed without chordal
(e.g., a choir) sings the same melody accompaniment.[1] Play
together at the unison (exactly the same
pitch) or with the same melody notes
duplicated at the octave (such as when men and women sing together). If an entire melody is
played by two or more instruments or sung by a choir with a fixed interval, such as a perfect
fifth, it is also said to be monophony (or "monophonic"). The musical texture of a song or
musical piece is determined by assessing whether varying components are used, such as an
accompaniment part or polyphonic melody lines (two or more independent lines).

In the Early Middle Ages, the earliest Christian songs, called plainchant (a well-known example
is Gregorian chant), were monophonic. In the 2010s, songwriters often write songs that
intersperse sections using monophony, heterophony (two singers or instrumentalists doing
varied versions of the same melody together), polyphony (two or more singers or
instrumentalists playing independent melodic lines at the same time), homophony (a melody
accompanied by chords) or monody (a single melodic line with instrumental accompaniment)
elements throughout the melody to create different atmospheres and styles. Monophony may
not have underlying rhythmic textures, and must consist of only a single melodic line.

According to Ardis Butterfield (1997), monophony "is the dominant mode of the European
vernacular genres as well as of Latin song ... in polyphonic works, it remains a central
compositional principle."[2]

Contents
Western singing
Plainchant
Plainchant styles
Troubador song monophony
Geisslerlieder or Flagellant songs
Lutheran church chorale
Monophony with instrumental doubling
Music of India
See also
Sources
Further reading
External links

Western singing

Plainchant
The earliest recorded Christian monophony was plainchant or plainsong (of which one well-
known style was called Gregorian chant) a single unaccompanied vocal melody sung by monks.
Sung by multiple voices in unison (i.e. the same pitch and rhythm), this music is still considered
monophonic. Plainsong was the first and foremost musical style of Italy, Ireland, Spain, and
France. In the early 9th century, the organum tradition developed by adding voices in parallel to
plainchant melodies. The earliest organum merely augmented the texture of the melody by
adding a second voice in parallel octaves or parallel fifths, which could still be considered
monophonic; however, by the 11th century the organum had developed a style called "free
organum" in which the voices were more independent, evolving into a polyphonic tradition.

Plainchant styles
Mozarabic chant, Byzantine Chant, Armenian chant,
Beneventan chant, Ambrosian chant, Gregorian
chant and others were various forms of plainsong
Gregorian chant of the Kyrie (plainsong)
which were all monophonic. Many of these
monophonic chants were written down, and contain
the earliest music notation to develop after the loss of the ancient Greek system. For example,
Dodecachordon was published by the Swiss Renaissance composer Heinrich Glarean (also
Glareanus) and included plainsong or Gregorian chant and monophony. The earliest
manuscripts which contain plainsong were written in neumes, a primitive system which
recorded only the outline of the melody, and it was not until the 11th century that Guido
d'Arezzo invented a more modern musical notation system that the exact notes of the melodies
were preserved.

Troubador song monophony

Most troubadour songs were monophonic. Troubadour songs were written from 1100–1350 and
they were usually poems about chivalry or courtly love with the words set to a melody.
Aristocratic troubadours and trouvères typically played in courtly performances for kings,
queens, and countesses. Poets and composers in the 14th century produced many songs which
can be seen as extensions of the Provençal troubador tradition, such as secular monophonic lais
and virelais. Jehan de Lescurel (or Jehannot de l'Escurel), a poet and composer from northern
French from the Trouvère style also wrote monophonic songs in the style of virelais, ballades,
rondeaux and diz entés. Minnesänger were similar to the French style but in Middle High
German.[3]
Geisslerlieder or Flagellant songs
A tradition of Lauda, or sacred songs in the style of Troubador songs, was popularized in the
13th and 14th centuries by Geisslerlieder, or Flagellant songs. These monophonic Laude
spirituale songs were used in the 13th and 17th century by flagellants, as recorded in the
medieval chronicle Chronicon Hugonis sacerdotis de Rutelinga (1349).[4]

Lutheran church chorale

Monophony was the first type of texture in the Lutheran Church. A well-known example is
Martin Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"), written
as a monophonic tune sometime between 1527 and 1529. Many of Luther's hymns were later
harmonized for multiple voices by other composers, and were also used in other polyphonic
music such as the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Monophony with instrumental doubling

See Voicing (music)#Doubling

DeLone[5] more loosely defines monophony as "passages, movements, or sections in which

notes sound alone, despite instrumental doubling" even if "such passages may involve several
instruments or voices."

Music of India
Indian classical music is an ancient musical tradition where monophonic melodies called ragas
are played over drones, sometimes accompanied by percussion and other accompaniment.

Hindustani music from the North of India

Carnatic music from the South of India, encompassing compositions in Kannada, Telugu,
Tamil, Sanskrit, and Malayalam.

See also
Drone (music)
Duophonic
Polyphony
Voicing (music)#Doubling

Sources
1. Kliewer, Vernon (1975). "Melody: Linear Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music", Aspects of
Twentieth-Century Music. Wittlich, Gary (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-
13-049346-5.
2. Ardis Butterfield (1997). "Monophonic song: questions of category", Companion to Medieval
& Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816540-4.
3. crusades article template Music of the Crusades Era (http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/topics/
 music/music-article.html)
4. Medieval secular song: Introduction (http://www.arts.arizona.edu/mus535/535-20.htm)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070315234524/http://www.arts.arizona.edu/mus53
5/535-20.htm) 2007-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
5. DeLone, Richard (1975). "Timbre and Texture in Twentieth-Century Music", p. 99, Aspects
of Twentieth-Century Music. Wittlich, Gary (ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
ISBN 0-13-049346-5.

Further reading
Copland, Aaron (1999). "What to Listen for in Music". New York: Mentor LCCN 98-53893 (ht
tps://lccn.loc.gov/98053893).

External links
What is monophony, polyphony, homophony, monody etc.? (http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/
misc/homophony.html)
3EarlyMusic : monophony (https://web.archive.org/web/20061230092313/http://trumpet.sds
u.edu/M345/Knowledge_Webs/3Early_MusicY/monophony.htm)
Music Texture Monophony Polyphony (http://www.aboutmusictheory.com/music-texture.html
)
Ratio Representation Project (http://www-classes.usc.edu/engr/ise/599muscog/2004/project
s/harlan-chidambaram/monophony.htm)
Chapter 1: Plainchant and Secular Monophony (https://web.archive.org/web/201202251301
14/http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_bonds_hisofmusic_1/0,7832,731071-,00.html)

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