In music they started to write `` monody '' , which meant a solo song with a continuo bass accompaniment . They soon started to realize that just monody on its own could become boring , so they developed it into recitative ( where the story could be told ) and aria ( where the singers could express their feelings in song ) . Their work added to that of the Florentine Camerata of the previous decade , which produced the first experiments in monody , the solo song style over continuo bass which eventually developed into recitative and aria .