Edson Tadeu Ortolan wrote:

>Mr. Kevin wrote:
>
>>Gregorian chant is monody.
>
>Gregorian chants is a monophonical texture.  The term monophony ("a single
>melody") is always modal.  Monody implies in tonalism.

I quite disagree.  Folk songs can certainly be monodic *and* tonal.
African American spirituals are monodies, invented in the fields without
the aid of instruments and they are most certainly tonal.  Modality and
tonality have nothing to do with the texture of a melody, rather, the issue
is one of harmony and whether or not it is cast as accompaniment or in
counterpoint.

Kevin Sutton