Monophonic

DEFINITION

Music that is written for only one voice or part is said to be monophonic (the music itself is called "monophony"). This is in contrast to polyphonic music, which has more than one part or voice. Monophonic music or monophony may be a performed as a single voice singing alone, or a whole choir, all singing exactly the same thing at the same time. Many folk songs and traditional songs are monophonic. In the Early Middle Ages, the earliest Christian songs, called plainchant (a well-known example is Gregorian chant), were monophonic.<br><br>In electronic music, monophony is a more formal term for &acirc;&#128;&#156;mono&acirc;&#128;&#157;, meaning that there is only one sound source or the signal was derived from one sound source. In synthesizers, monophonic is a term that means only one pitch may be sounded at a time.<br>