Heterophony

What it means

Heterophony, Greek for “different sound,” denotes the simultaneous performance of one melody in slightly differing variants. All participants follow the same basic melody but each ornaments, stretches, or simplifies it in their own way. A dense, floating fabric of sound arises without true part-writing.

Musical use

Heterophony is a defining principle of shaping in many non-European musical cultures, for instance in the Indonesian gamelan, in Arabic and Turkish music, and in the folk music of the Balkans. In Western art music it occurs more as an effect, for instance in works of the 20th century. As a term it counts as a texture type of its own next to monody, homophony, and polyphony.

Heterophony should be distinguished from monody, in which only a single melody sounds, from homophony with melody and accompanying chords, and from polyphony, in which several independent melodies are combined. In heterophony the parts are variants of the same melody.

Performance practice

When you play heterophonically, follow the shared basic melody and ornament freely without losing coherence. Listen to the others: the beauty arises from the small deviations that complement one another.