One way of looking at it is polyphony is two or more voices making complex music while homophony is two or more voices making relatively simple music. Think of a symphony that has a wild array of different parts going on with one important right now but a few seconds later, another part becomes important. Polyphony is more than one voice but there’s a lot going on. That would likely be considered homophony. Think of 10 people singing the national anthem in unison. No one part is more important than any other because the parts are exactly the same. You and your friend are singing the same song using the same rhythm with the same pitches. Homophony could also be what theorists call rhythmic unison. If you’re playing a duet with your friend and you’re singing the melody while they’re playing a bass guitar, that’s homophony because one voice is more important than the other. If two musicians played a duet, a theorist may consider it either homophony or polyphony but which is it? The distinction has to do with the importance of the voices. Homophony and polyphony both have two or more voices happening at the same time. Hundreds of years ago when music was chanted in unison, that was often monophonic. (unless you count the sound of the water as a voice) When somebody plays a trumpet on stage without any accompaniment, that’s monophony. When you sing your favorite song in the shower, you’re making monophonic music. You might know from science class that mono means one and in this case monophony means one voice. Monophony doesn’t ignite much controversy. Here is a beautiful rendering of an example of polyphony: The words used to describe these textures are Monophony, homophony, and polyphony.
Another device used has to do with texture. Sometimes it’s fast, other times it’s slow. Sometimes music is loud, sometimes it’s soft. You know that what makes music unique is the different ways that the tools of the composers are mixed together. Monophony? homophony? polyphony? Or is it all bologna? Just like performing, there are a fair amount of questions left up to the person analyzing the music. Most classically trained musicians have a large degree of knowledge on both sides. There are performers and there are theorists. Having knowledge of both makes both professionals better at what they do. If engineers spent their days seeing the cars come to the shop, they would see the practical shortcomings of their design and be able to fix those problems in later models. If mechanics had some engineering knowledge, they would be better mechanics. Think of it this way: In the automotive world, there are mechanics who actually service vehicles and engineers who design and analyze how a car is put together.Įach side may think they’re more important than the other but in reality, both are essential. Music theorists spend all of their time studying the nuts and bolts of music.
If you decide to study how music is constructed, you’ll enter the world of music theory.
Monophony, homophony, polyphony – or is it all bologna?
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