A class note guide on the relationship of a few important music history terms. Mostly cut and pastes from e-mail groups that explain and cite examples.

3terms: Fauxbourdon Falsobordone Passus durisculus (rising and falling chromatic lines-Dido etc) Fauxbourdon: The 15th century technique of composition, employed in short pieces or sections within longer pieces. Two voices are enotated, the upper a cantus prius factus (usually sacred) an octave higher than ordinary plainchant, the lower forming sixths and octaves below. The words faux bourdon or some variant thereof appear at the beginning of the piece or section, usually near the lower part. (This …

…in style from short syllabic pieces to longer pieces with prominent melismas. Some are identical to responsories of the office. Their texts are most often drawn from either the Psalms or the Gospels. Earlier sources incorporate verses sung to the same psalm tones employed gor the verses of the introit. The communion was thus originally an example of antiphonal psalmody. The singing of Psalms during communion is mentioned in the 4th century... Surces: grove dictionary