A musical ‘line’ is a linear series of pitches that occur one after the other, which a listener perceives as a single entity, most often referred to as a melody. When a whole or section of a piece of music contains only a single line or ‘tune,’ it is monophonic in texture (see example I). The term is derived from the Greek mono, meaning single or one, and phone, meaning sound.

Bruckner, *Inveni David* (WAB 19), Bars 1 - 6. Monophony (bars 1 - 2) moving to Homophony (m.3 to 5)—a common fingerprint of Bruckner.

In the Bruckner example, the doubling is at the unison and octave: the line is still perceived by a listener as a single entity because of the perfect sonority of the unison and octave interval (there is also no rhythmic differences between the voices). Therefore a piece of music may be monophonic with multiple parts.

The doubling present in example I is an orchestration of the voice. Bruckner requires the combined color of the tenor and bass choirs. Sonically, the melody or line in measures 1-2 will sound louder, generating a cohesive dynamic and vocal range within this phrase providing a smoother transition to homophony at measure 3. If Bruckner had assigned this melody to a single part, such as tenor I, the entrance of the tenor II and bass parts would likely have felt more dramatic.

One may come across the term heterophony in relation to monophony (see example II). Heterophony describes a musical texture where a ‘melody’ is realized in more than one part simultaneously where each successive voice demonstrates a varied realization of the main melody. The degree of change between the varied and original melody can be either small or large as long as the melodic contour or ‘skeleton’ of the main melody is present.

Mini Essay II: Monophony

The Practice of Music Part III

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