Talk:Polyphony and monophony in instruments

Rewrite
This page was previously poorly layed out, written in less-than-perfect English, and way too heavily focused on synthesizers. I have re-written most of it. I'm sure it needs lots of corrections and clarifications, as I'm not actually an expert on classical music instruments or techniques (however, I know a great deal about synthesizers). My writing is mostly about American and European instruments. I think too much of what I wrote is a list of instruments.

I took out all the multi-images. Tomorrow, if I remember (unlikely), I'll add some new ones that will be more varied than just a bunch of synthesizers (like maybe the inside of a grand piano and a clavichord).

As of writing this, I don't know how to add images or references.199.212.11.49 (talk) 01:56, 5 April 2010 (UTC)


 * FYI it was me that just posted (and rewrote the article). I got logged out just as I saved the page.Envergure (talk) 01:59, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Someone reverted my rewrite to the previous version. I have un-reverted it. Can we have some admin input before an edit war starts? Thanks. Envergure (talk) 21:49, 19 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi, Envergure
 * Please stop reverting article. It is required discussion and agreement before completely rewrite the article.
 * Especially, Roland Jupiter-8 is not notable here, because it was historically not important and slightly minor product (produced about 2000).
 * --124.102.67.62 (talk) 00:14, 21 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I did discuss it, in fact I started this discussion page. I used the Jupiter-8 as an example, I don't think it is particularly notable in and of itself.  If you want historical notability, the Prophet-5 is more appropriate.  I think, however, that the article would be more elegant if it gave a clear explanation of the concepts rather than relying on a long list of examples and hoping the reader gets it.Envergure (talk) 00:15, 22 April 2010 (UTC)


 * You shouldn't ignore the history of polyphonic electronic musical instruments. It started in 1930s by Harald Bode and Hammond Novachord.
 * And after the invention of Moog synthesizer, polyphonic synthesizers were re-invented by Allen Organ, Yamaha, and E-mu (including Oberheim & Sequential Circuits).
 * Roland is not the inventor of polyphonic synthesizer, thus Jupiter 8 is not appropriate in this article. --122.29.131.168 (talk) 04:15, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

A rewrite or at least a touch-up really is needed. Especially the section on polyphony in classic music is written in very strange English, I can't quite figure out how to fix it. --193.211.103.2 (talk) 09:36, 24 October 2017 (UTC)

Synopsis wrong
"Instruments which are not polyphonic are, with precious few exceptions, monophony."


 * I think this should read "monophonic" here.
 * "with precious few exceptions" ? Could you elaborate this? With the given definition this doesnt make sense. Either an instrument can or can't play multiple notes simultaneously.

Anonymous415 (talk) 18:17, 9 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I've changed both. I think the first issue was improper use of a pipe. The "with precious few exceptions" note was added by an anonymous editor, 199.212.11.128, who didn't provide any support for what exceptions may exist. Unless there's scope for adding reference to a duophonic synthesizer, if such a thing exists, I think we should leave reference to exceptions out of the article. —Zach425 talk / contribs 21:02, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Violin is monophonic - really?
The article states, "the violin has multiple strings, but usually only one is bowed at a time, so the violin family of instruments are considered to be monophonic." Okay, fine, but the violin repertoire of several composers (including J.S. Bach) is filled with solo music in which two strings or more are a distinctive and vital part. See, for example, this source, which states, "In his Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, Bach also pushed performers to their limits, requiring the frequent alternation between chords and single-line melody." The article should discuss this fact in more detail. Are there really no classical music lovers at WP? David Spector (talk) 00:43, 31 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Originally this article is about the polyphony and monophony of Synthesizer (seen on top section). Additional sections about acoustic instruments seems no source at all, and not reliable. --Clusternote (talk) 03:56, 31 August 2013 (UTC)