Talea is a regular rhythmic pattern held by the tenor, that is repeated over and over throughout the motet. This process of changing meter was known as coloring . The term coloring originated from de Vitry's use of a different colored ink to write the shift in meters. This shifting of meters creates an important aspect of the motet's structure. Color is another involved part of the ars nova .
Color is the repitition of a sequence of pitches.
The combination of color and talea is known as isorhythm . Now that the ars nova is understood, we can look at a couple of ars nova motets that are found in the Roman de Fauvel from the list of many. To the first three phrases of the motetus voice, there are five phrases of the triplum squeezed in, to make up for the triplum's extra lines. But after these first few phrases, the two voices join together. Afterwards, the motet is ended with a more regular phrase structure.