Homophony

One voice leads, the others go along

The word is made up of Greek “homos” (same) and “phone” (sound, voice). What is meant is the voices running together. In practice two meanings are met. The wide one describes every texture with a main voice and chordal accompaniment, like a song with guitar or piano. The narrow one demands that all voices move in the same rhythm, as in a plain chorale texture. In the example below both hold.

Distinction from the neighbours

A single line is called monophony. Several lines that are independent and overlap are called polyphony. Homophony lies between: several notes at once, but only one of them carries the melody. The table sets the three textures side by side.

The difference is easy to grasp by ear. In a homophonic texture you can hear all the voices at once, because they move together, and follow the melody while doing so. In a polyphonic texture you follow now one, now another line. A texture that sets a new note against a note on every beat is a particularly clear form, more under Nota contra notam.

Where you meet it

Almost all pop songs, folk songs and chorales are built homophonically: a melody, chords beneath. The harmony teaching of diatonic chords and cadences also presupposes this texture, for it asks for the chords beneath a melody. How a homophonic texture is filled out is explained on the page filling parts; in the example they are the triad notes beneath the melody.

Common mistakes

• Confusing homophonic with “sounding the same”: what is meant is the common movement of the voices, not the sound.
• Equating homophony with a single voice: a single voice is monophony.
• Taking every many-voiced texture for polyphony: polyphony demands independent lines, not just several simultaneous notes.