A musical texture in which the same melody is played simultaneously in different rhythmic and ornamental variations.
From Greek hetero- (different) + -phony (sound/voice). Coined in music theory to describe a textural principle found in many non-Western music traditions.
Heterophony is a musical superpower in many world music traditions—while Western classical music emphasizes either one melody (monophony) or multiple different melodies (polyphony), heterophony lets everyone play the same tune their own way!
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