Heterophony: from performance to actualization Nicolas Royer-Artuso, Laval 1 Introduction The aims of this paper are 1) to present different works on heterophonic texture(s) I started sharing in 2012; 2) to show how these works are articulated together; and 3) to develop this material according to the themes proposed for the present symposium as presented in the call for papers, e.g. Polyphony and Monophony: Is There Border Between Them?; Historical Sources of Polyphony, etc. The discussion will run as follows: Section 1 will be devoted to Royer-Artuso 2012a, where I proposed a cognitively 'Realistic Approach to Heterophony' which consisted in showing that heterophony is not only/mainly the simple superposition of different interpretations of the same melody by different musicians, but the superposition of (slightly) different memorized versions of the same melody, something that shouldn't be surprising if we take into account the fact that this specific texture is mainly found in orally transmitted musical traditions. Section 2 will be devoted to Royer-Artuso 2015 where I discussed the links between heterophony and musical creativity. There, I showed how musicians use their heterophonic knowledge when they have to create new material following the canons of tradition. Section 3 will be devoted to Royer-Artuso 2012b where I showed, through the analysis of the 'music planning and engineering' that took place in the first years of the Turkish Republic, how this process of variation is often stopped when institutions create the tools to do so. The remaining part of the paper will be devoted to articulate what was presented with the symposium's specific themes. 1) A 'Realist Approach to Heterophony' Bruno Nettl characterizes heterophony in these terms: "Most polyphonic music employs identical or similar material in each part. The statement applies, of course, to the three most common forms of polyphony: heterophony, parallel intervals, and imitation. Heterophony, the use of slightly modified versions of the same melody by two or more performers, is the simplest in some ways, because it can come about accidentally, e.g. a solo performer may vary his part slightly while singing essentially unison material with a group. [...] Probably most of the primitive examples of it we have were accidental phenomena. Rhythmic variation is very likely the commonest form. [...] Thus heterophony is not necessarily simple and accidental: it may be elaborate and detailed [...]" (Nettl 1956: 80-81). 1 I want to thank Nidaa Abou Mrad, Fikret Karakaya, Luc Baronian, Ülfet Sevdi, Alex Nitsiou, Zayid Al-Baghdadi and anonymous reviewers for discussions and comments at different stages of this work. I also have to thank the CRSH for a grant.