Modus (medieval music) "tempus" (corresponding to the modern concept of a measure or bar and referring to the division of "breves" into two or three "semibreves") and "prolatio" (the division of "semibreves" into two or three "minims"). The "modus longarum" was applied primarily to pieces based on a cantus firmus tenor part in long note values. An even longer temporal unit was the "modus maximarum", but it is of little practical importance outside of the 13th century . Modus (medieval music) In medieval music theory, the Latin term modus (meaning "a measure", "standard of measurement", "quantity", "size", "length", or, rendered in English, mode)
Augmentation (music) be called augmentation. A melody or series of notes is "augmented" if the lengths of the notes are prolonged; augmentation is thus the opposite of diminution, where note values are shortened. A melody originally consisting of four quavers (eighth notes) for example, is augmented if it later appears with four crotchets (quarter notes) instead. This technique is often used in contrapuntal music, as in the "canon by augmentation" (""per augmentationem""), in which the notes in the following voice or voices are longer than those in the leading voice, usually twice the original length. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach provides