A frottola thus ennobled would become a madrigal, while a madrigal, all too scantily treated, would sink to a frottola." A typical frottola by Scotus shows observance of Cerone's requirements.
[Musical Notation] These compositions are what we would call part songs and they are usually constructed in simple four-part harmony, without fugato passages or imitations.

When imitations do appear, they are secondary and do not deal with the fundamental melodic ideas of the song.

Nothing corresponding to subject and answer is found in these works.

If we turn from a frottola to a motet by the same composer, we meet at once the device of canonic imitation and with it a clearly different artistic purpose.

These composers evidently did not expect the people to be such accomplished musicians as the singers of the trained choirs.
"Indeed, the frottola descended by an extremely easy transition to the villanelle, a still more popular form of composition and one marked by even less relationship to the counterpoint of the low countries.