Dictionary of Music - Birding America

popular music 319polymeter (pol′ē mē′′tər). Also, polyrhythm(pol′′ē rith⁄ ′əm). The device of using two differentmeters at the same time, for example, 2/4 meter inthe treble and 3/4 or 6/8 meter in the bass. Polymeterappears in ragtime piano music and jazz, as well asin the works of Paul Hindemith and other twentiethcenturycomposers. It was also common in music ofthe late Middle Ages.polyphonic (pol′′ē fon′ik). 1 Pertaining toPOLYPHONY. 2 Describing music with more than onevoice-part, whether or not the parts are of equalimportance.polyphony (pə lif′ə nē). Music with more thanone voice-part. There may be as few as two voicepartsor as many as forty or more. Each part mayhave its own melody, or a single melody may betaken up by the different parts in turn. It ispolyphony that gives Western music a harmonic, orvertical, dimension, thereby distinguishing it frommost kinds of Asian music and primitive folk music.Although strictly speaking polyphony meansany music with more than one voice-part, musicologistsgenerally reserve the term for music inwhich the different parts are more or less independent.They thus distinguish polyphony not onlyfrom monophony (music with one voice-part) butalso from homophony, in which one part carriesthe melody and is supported by other voice-partsthat make up a chordal accompaniment. Consequentlythe term “polyphony” has practically thesame meaning as COUNTERPOINT, and manyauthorities use the two interchangeably. Somescholars, however, prefer “polyphony” formedieval and early Renaissance music, and “counterpoint”for the music of the sixteenth, seventeenth,and eighteenth centuries. The twentiethcentury has seen a revival of interest in polyphoniccomposition (as opposed to the previous century’sconcentration on homophony).The earliest instance of adding a second voicepartto a melody dates from the ninth century (seeORGANUM), and truly polyphonic music, in whichthe parts were more independent, began to be writtenduring the eleventh century. The most importantforms of vocal polyphony from the Middle Ages andRenaissance are the motet, round, chanson, Mass,and madrigal. The most important forms of instrumentalpolyphony are the canzona (see CANZONA,def. 4), ricercar, canon, and fugue.polyrhythm 1 Another term for POLYMETER.2 Another term for CROSS RHYTHM.polytonality (pol′′ē tōnal′i tē). The use of threeor more keys at the same time, the use of two keysbeing described as BITONALITY. Although it occasionallyoccurs in earlier music, polytonality is primarilyassociated with twentieth-century composers,particularly Stravinsky, Bartók, andMilhaud. Milhaud, who wrote an article on the subject,sometimes constructed a counterpoint of polytonalchords (chords in contrasting keys).Pommer (pom′ər). The German name for thelarge sizes of the SHAWM.pomposo (pôm pô′zô) Italian. A direction to performin a stately, dignified manner.Ponchielli (pôn kye′lē), Amilcare (ä mēl cä′re),1834–1886. An Italian composer who is rememberedmainly for one of his many compositions, theopera La Gioconda (1876). The ballet “The Danceof the Hours,” from Act III, is often performedalone.ponticello (pôn′′tē che′lō) Italian. The bridge ofa violin or other stringed instrument. The directionsul ponticello tells the player to bow over the bridgeof the instrument, producing a nasal, brittle tone.popular music Also, pop. A large category ofmusic, consisting basically of works designed toplease the general public. Since public taste changesfrom period to period, not only in the course of historybut in the course of the average person’s lifetime,what is popular during one period (as, forexample, the madrigal during the sixteenth century)or for one age group (rock for young people) is notnecessarily popular today for all audiences. Themost important kinds of popular music from 1900