In music the term descant (or discant) normally refers to a melody or instrument in what range?
Descant the term came to mean the treble or soprano singer in any group of voices, or the higher pitched line in a song. Eventually, by the Renaissance, descant referred generally to counterpoint. Nowadays the counterpoint meaning is the most common. Descant can also refer to the highest pitched of a group of instruments, particularly the descant viol or recorder. Similarly, it can also be applied to the soprano clef. Descant can also refer to a high, florid melody sung by a few sopranos as a decoration for a hymn. Hymn tune descants are counter-melodies, generally at a higher pitch than
Descant Descant A descant, discant, or is any of several different things in music, depending on the period in question; etymologically, the word means a voice ("cantus") above or removed from others. A descant is a form of medieval music in which one singer sang a fixed melody, and others accompanied with improvisations. The word in this sense comes from the term ' (descant "above the book"), and is a form of Gregorian chant in which only the melody is notated but an improvised polyphony is understood. The ' had specific rules governing the improvisation of the additional voices. Later on,