Prior to about 900, nearly all the music we have any record of is a simple, one line structure called a plainchant.
Plainchant: One melodic line sung in unison.
More complex music existed, but as it was secular and not sacred, we have very few, if any, written accounts of it.
Secular: Music which is NOT religious
Sacred: Music which is based upon or from the Bible.
Plainchant was based upon MODES, and we refer to this as MODAL MUSIC.
Modal Music: Music which used modes.
Modes: Medieval scales which do not use the black notes on the modern keyboard. For example the dorian mode.
Gradually, over the next 500 years, people began to expand on this simple structure by adding voices, and using harmony. By 1300, three and four voice compositions were being written. These works are referred to as polyphonic (many voices), to distinguish them from the monophony (single voice) of the simple plainchant.
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