Talk:Descant

Common usage
Among other minor edits for clarity I've added the sentence "Nowadays the counterpoint meaning is the most common.". My justification for this is not that it's the only definition I'd ever heard before ;) but that this meaning is listed first in all the meanings listed on Dictionary.com. Hope that's sufficient; if not, please remove or reword. --Suitov (talk) 14:32, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * This meaning is also the one that I have most seen. I think it is fairly safe to leave this in Nat (talk) 08:57, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the most common use of the word today is:

The highest part in improvised counterpoint or in a written polyphonic composition, esp. for voices. Later also: a part added above an existing melody or harmonized tune. Historically, the accompanying part was sometimes improvised, but now (esp. in the singing of hymns, etc.) it is more usually a fixed countermelody. - To simply call descants counterpoint will I think be misleading to readers, who, if they know much about music at all, will associate counterpoint with fugues and Bach. In all likelihood, they're coming to this article for hymn descants. More clarity is needed in the initial exposition so that Hymn Descants isn't treated as a subcategory, but is mentioned at the outset and then explained in relationship to descant as counterpoint. KC 10:26, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Also, I wonder why Descants in Hymns is in a separate sub category, as it is a form of counterpoint. If you were to provide a clear definition of counterpoint above, hymn descants, which are the form of descant most people will know, can then be part of that larger discussion. If you want to keep Hymn Descants separate, you might organize the description chronologically rather than as an opposition between counterpoint and hymns. KC 10:26, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Discant v. Descant?
Why are there 2 Wikipedia articles on what are merely two versions of the same word? The OED lists 11 historical forms of "descant," and discant has no particular priority in the quotations provided to illustrate the word.

There is to be sure a historical development in the meaning of descant, and that should be an important part of an article that traces the term from its emergence in polyphony to descanting above hymn tunes, which is how it's best known today.

I also posted this comment on the Discant talk page. KC 10:47, 1 April 2016 (UTC) KC 10:47, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Let's discuss the 2021 proposal at Talk:Discant (where that was re-started in February). Klbrain (talk) 13:24, 3 September 2021 (UTC)