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A single melodic line with no accompaniment — the simplest musical texture.
Monophony is powerful in its nakedness. Use it for openings (establishing a theme unaccompanied), for moments of stark drama, or for recitative-like passages. A monophonic statement creates maximum focus on the melody.
Gregorian chant — the entire repertoire is monophonic, proving that a single unaccompanied melody can carry immense expressive power.
Monophony is one of 1760 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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