Re: Chord-Leading

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 13:37:40 -0500, Joey Goldstein
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>
>
>Richard Ratner wrote:
>> 
>> On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 04:02:36 GMT, nightingale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> >Homophony
>> >
>> >Polyphonic music in which all melodic parts move together at more or
>> >less the same pace. A further distinction is sometimes made between
>> >homophonic textures that are homorhythmic (ex.1) and those in which
>> >there is a clear differentiation between melody and accompaniment
>> 
>> I have a real problem with this definition, because it is misleading.
>> The fact is, nearly 1000 years ago or thereabouts, nearly all music
>> became "polyphonic", in the sense that monophony went out of fashion,
>> and it has remianed so to this day.  For this reason, calling this or
>> that music polyphonic just because more than one pitch sounds at one
>> time became obsolete.  At some point, as shown in the three references
>> I provided, the word "polyphony" forked into polyphony and homophony,
>> to distinguish  music constructed with independent voices from that
>> constructed with melody and accompaniment. So when one hears that a
>> texture is polyphonic, it should mean to them more than that the music
>> has more than one voice -- it should mean that the music is not
>> homophonic or monophonic.
>
>And more recently it "forked" back again the other way when synthesizer
>companies began manufacturing and marketing "polyphonic" synthesizers,
>i.e. synths capable of playing more than one pitch at a time.
>
>Both meanings of polyphonic are still therefore in use and are still valid.

>From earlier in the thread, by me:

*****

"Now I see where you are coming from -- the realm of digital keyboards
and sound cards.. In this sense you are correct -- 128 note polyphony
means 128 different notes can sound at one time --  but for the rest
of music, trust the oxford dictionary or merriam webster or any other
respected reference for the definition of "polyphony".  "

This sense of "polyphony" is limited
to technology and has not appeared in general reference sources yet,
as I have shown. Technology has its own definition of "polyphony" that
is applicable ONLY to technology. The generally accepted definition of
polyphony as it applies to MUSIC  is readily available in any
respected dictionary or music dictionary. I have provided two such
definitions.

*****

It did not fork back again. The meaning of the word in conversations
about music is the same, however it has been extended by  a special
case added for technology which has not made it into general reference
works yet.  I hope you will still understand what someone means when
they speak of music with a polyphonic texture.