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Hoots : Are Canons heterophonic? What about Canonic ENTRIES (not strictly a Canon) Heterophonic texture is when the same melody is played and it overlaps in other voices. I'm pretty sure canons do this to, but the web did not say - freshhoot.com

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Are Canons heterophonic? What about Canonic ENTRIES (not strictly a Canon)
Heterophonic texture is when the same melody is played and it overlaps in other voices. I'm pretty sure canons do this to, but the web did not say anything about this.


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Heterophony is defined somewhat ambiguously, and it's use depends on the music/era concerned.
In general, however, the primary characteristic of heterophony is that the voices sound the melody simultaneously but in variation from each other. "Simultaneous" here means that the same melodic moments occur at the same time.
X: 1
T: Heterophony
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: none
[V:v1] C'2 D'2 E'2 F'2 |
[V:v2] C2 D/2B,/2C/2D/2 E(3C/2D/2E/2 F2 |

In a canon, however, the voices sound the melody at different times. They overlap, yes, but are not simultaneous in the sense required by heterophony. Canons are polyphonic, but not heterophonic (which is itself considered a special case of heterophony).
X: 1
T: Canon
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: none
[V:v1] C'2 D'2 E'2 F'2 | G'2 A'2 B'2 C''2 |
[V:v2] z4 C2 D2 | E2 F2 G2 A2 |

By "canonic entries", I take you to mean that the voices enter at different times, but don't necessarily continue in canon. In that case, it seems like a matter of interpretation, depending on whether, after entering, the voices continue to elaborate the same, simultaneous melody.
X: 1
T: Heterophony with canonic entries
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: none
[V:v1] C'2 D'2 E'2 F'2 | G'2 A'2 B'2 C''2 |
[V:v2] z C D2 E2 F2 | G2 A2 B2 C'2
[V:v3] z4 (3CDE F2 | G2 A2 B2 C2

Wikipedia has a reasonable explanation.


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