Imitation (music)

Imitation is a musical technique in which one voice repeats or develops a melody introduced by another, often after a delay. It can be exact or varied in pitch, rhythm, or other features.

Subject (music): A principal melodic idea that serves as the basis for a composition or section. The first voice presents the melody that later voices imitate.
Melody: A succession of musical pitches perceived as a coherent tune or musical line. Imitation transfers a recognizable melodic line between voices.
Round (music): A composition in which multiple voices sing the same melody, entering successively at fixed intervals. A round makes imitation audible through simple, staggered melodic entries.
Homophony: A musical texture in which a prominent melody is accompanied by supporting harmony. Unlike imitation, homophony prioritizes a shared harmonic support beneath one main line.
Answer (music): A recurring response to a fugue subject, usually introduced in another voice at a different pitch level. A fugue often begins imitation when a second voice answers the subject.
Musical phrase: A short musical unit that forms a coherent idea and often ends with a cadence or pause. An imitated entry may reproduce a phrase rather than an entire melody.
Canon (music): A composition in which voices repeat the same melody successively, following a fixed rule. Canonic writing is a sustained application of imitation.
Heterophony: A texture in which performers simultaneously vary different versions of the same melody. Heterophony varies a melody concurrently rather than passing it successively between voices.
Stretto: A passage in which successive entries of a fugue subject overlap before earlier entries have finished. It intensifies imitation by compressing the interval between entries.
Voice (music): An individual melodic line or part in a musical composition, whether sung or played. Imitation depends on distinct voices passing or reshaping melodic material.

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