what is monophonic

Monophonic refers to a musical texture that consists of a single melody or tune without any accompanying harmony or chords. It can be performed by a single singer or instrument player, or by a group of singers or instruments playing the same melody together at the unison or with the same melody notes duplicated at the octave. Monophonic music is the simplest of musical textures and is often found in folk songs and traditional songs. In electronics or audio, monophonic indicates only one channel of audio, as opposed to two (stereo) or four (quad) .