independent. As in modern popular music, the top or melodic voice was predominant, and the other voices were subordinated to the need to provide a sequence of concordant harmonies.
The motets and other forms of the Ars Nova were quite different. In them, the voices were equal, and each pursued the logic of its melodic line independently of the others. As a result, discords of minor thirds (then heard as discordant), major seconds, and even minor seconds were common, and this discordance was part of what inspired the condemnation by the church authorities. It also causes these motets to sound very modern.
In the motets of this era occurred many breakthroughs that would lead to modern European music. In the Ars Antiqua, rhythm and melody were firmly locked together still. In the Ars Nova arose the concept of playing a melody in different rhythms. This technique is perfectly familiar in the modern world, of course.
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