The concepts of monody and homophony are describing two different things. Monody is a musical style; whereas, homophony is a musical texture.

Musical textures

There are

• Monophony: every voice is in unison or octaves.
• Polyphony: multiple voices are independent of each other but of equal value within the music.
• Homophony: a single melody with an essentially choral accompaniment, which is to say, the "voices" in the accompaniment need not operate independently of each other, and they play a subordinate role.
• Heterophony: multiple voices simultaneously perform variations of the same melody.

Musical style

In the case of monody, the term describes a specific style that arose in the early 17th century. It is essentially homophonic. There was a clearly dominant melodic part, as in homophony (and counter to polyphony), and the accompaniment was largely chordal (though it might contain polyphonic elements within itself).

The core innovation of monody was that the accompaniment played a clearly subordinate role to the melody and was often played on a single instrument.

The creation of harmony

The question of how many voices are required to create harmony is again a somewhat separate issue. Harmony can be created (rather, implied) by a single voice. Bach's cello suites are a canonical example of this.

Thus, if one voice can suggest harmony, then a melody with single-voice accompaniment can do so as well. Monody the style would have had a chordal accompaniment (i.e., multi-voiced, but not independent voices), but jazz, for example, might be performed with "just" bass and saxophone, say — an essentially two voice texture (leaving aside chords on the bass or multiphonics on the sax) yet able to express clear harmony.

The concepts of monody and homophony are describing two different things. Monody is a musical style; whereas, homophony is a musical texture.

Musical textures

There are

• Monophony: every voice is in unison or octaves.
• Polyphony: multiple voices are independent of each other but of equal value within the music.
• Homophony: a single melody with an essentially choral accompaniment, which is to say, the "voices" in the accompaniment need not operate independently of each other, and they play a subordinate role.
• Heterophony: multiple voices simultaneously perform variations of the same melody.

Musical style

Monody is a specific style that arose in the early 17th century. It is essentially homophonic. There was a clearly dominant melodic part, as in homophony (and counter to polyphony), and the accompaniment was largely chordal (though it might contain polyphonic elements within itself).

The core innovation of monody was that the accompaniment played a clearly subordinate role to the melody and was often played on a single instrument.

The creation of harmony

The question of how many voices are required to create harmony is again a somewhat separate issue. Harmony can be created (rather, implied) by a single voice. Bach's cello suites are a canonical example of this.

Thus, if one voice can suggest harmony, then a melody with single-voice accompaniment can do so as well. Monody the style would have had a chordal accompaniment (i.e., multi-voiced, but not independent voices), but jazz, for example, might be performed with "just" bass and saxophone, say — an essentially two voice texture (leaving aside chords on the bass or multiphonics on the sax) yet able to express clear harmony.