, or even of a
well-established tradition--when everything had to be laboriously
written out or transmitted orally--whole compositions could be
rendered by the singers through the simple device of remembering the
introductory theme and joining in from memory whenever their turn
came. Compositions in fact were often so recorded.[16] The following
old English round (circa 1609) shows clearly how the voices entered in
rotation.

[Music:

1 Three blind mice, three blind mice

2 ran around thrice, ran around thrice; The

3 miller and his merry old wife ne'er laugh'd so much in all their
life.]

For a Round in strict canonic imitation by the famous English composer
William Byrd (1542-1623) see the Supplement, Example No. 2. In due
time singers of that period became likewise very proficient in
improvising free parts about a given melody or _cantus firmus_, a
practice indicated by the term "musica ficta" which was beneficial in
stimulating the imagination to a genuine musical activity.

[Footnote 10: In comparatively recent times the term has been widened
to include music in which there is one _chief_ melody to which other
portions of the musical texture are subordinate; _e.g._, the
homophonic style of Chopin in whose works the chief melody, often in
the upper voice, seems to float on underlying waves of sound.]

[Footnote 11: For a complete account of these early attempts which
finally led to part-writing see Chapter IV in the first volume of the
_Oxford History of Music_.]

[Footnote 12: An historical account of this development as far as it
is ascertainable may be found in the fifth chapter of Pratt's _History
of Music_.]

[Footnote 13: Consult the article on the Round in _Grove's
Dictionary_.]

[Footnote 14: A rather crude English adaptation of the Latin term
"Punctus contra punctum" which refers to the notes as punct[=u]s
(plural) or dots which were pricked with a stylus into the medieval
manuscripts. In this phrase the emphasis is on the _contra_,
signifying a combination of _different_ melodies and rhythms, and
calling attention to that higher importance which, everywhere in art,
is caused by contrasted elements.]

[Footnote 15: For an interesting account of this tripartite activity
see Naumann's _History of Music_.]

[Footnote 16: See the facsimile of the original manuscript of "_Sumer
is icumen in_" cited in the first volume of the _Oxford History of
Music_, pp. 326-332.]

We can now begin to realiz