[Listening extract audio not available in printed QP] QP Music skeleton score: see Insert. Read questions below. The sopranos sing a four-bar melody. The al...

(a) Canon / Round [1]

A canon (also called a round in its simplest form) is a compositional technique in which the same melody is performed by multiple voices, each entering at staggered intervals. In this example, the sopranos begin the four-bar melody, then the altos enter with the identical melody while the sopranos continue with new material, and then the tenors join in the same way. Each voice performs the same tune but offset in time, creating overlapping layers. A round (such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat") is a type of canon where each voice returns to the beginning after finishing the melody. More complex canons may involve the melody at different pitch levels (canon at the 5th, for example) or with the melody inverted or in retrograde.

(b) The texture becomes thicker and more polyphonic [1]

As each new voice enters with its own statement of the melody, the texture grows progressively thicker and more polyphonic. When only the sopranos sing, the texture is monophonic (a single melodic line). When the altos enter, two independent melodic lines overlap, creating two-part polyphony. When the tenors join, there are three simultaneous melodic strands. Each additional layer adds harmonic richness and complexity, as the staggered entries of the same melody produce increasingly intricate combinations of intervals and implied chords. The result sounds fuller, denser, and more harmonically complex with each successive entry.