Embellishing Tones: Writing Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones

Embellishing Tones: Writing Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones

Introduction

Hello, aspiring Beethoven! 🎶 Ready to dive into the magical world of passing tones and neighbor tones? These little melodic marvels might just be the secret sauce you need to take your voice leading from "meh" to "magnificent". Let’s jazz up those 18th-century voice leading conventions with some fun and, of course, harmonic wizardry.

Review of Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones

Passing tones are like the dance moves that bridge the awesome beats of your melody and harmony. They’re the smooth transition between two chord tones, adding rhythmic motion, tension, and release.

Imagine you're strutting from a I chord to a iii chord in your melody. You start with a tonic and glide to a mediant. But wait! To keep things interesting, you sneak in a supertonic passing tone, stepping from tonic to supertonic to mediant. So in Ab Major, your bass line could groove through Ab-Bb-C. 🎹

Now, let’s focus on the soprano line. Most of our melodic embellishments like passing tones chill up there, because the soprano always steals the show, right? When voices make a giant leap, it's cool to sprinkle in a few passing tones for a smoother stepwise transition.

Say your soprano line jumps from a C to an F. Toss in a D and an E between—voilà, you’ve got a smoother ride! Just keep an eye on your harmonic rhythm. If you’re dealing with half notes, don’t cram in three quarter notes. Instead, make the chord tone a quarter note followed by eighth-note passing tones. Unless you’re crafting a suspension (stay tuned for that later!), remember: chord tones should hit the beat like a mic drop! 🎤

By and large, passing tones and other embellishments prefer to hit the weak beats. We’ve got two flavors here: accented and unaccented. An unaccented passing tone sneaks in on a weaker beat. An accented passing tone boldly enters on a stronger beat than the surrounding chord tones, disrupting the harmonic rhythm for some spicy tension— used sparingly by those 18th-century composers. 🎻

Passing tones can also be chromatic. They throw in half steps, like adding a C# between C and D to spice up the mix. This is especially cool if a leap needs finessing, like bridging A to F with G#, G, F#. Check out how Chopin rocks this in his Waltz Op 69 No 2 for some chromatic magic.

Neighbor tones are like musical neighbors who swing by to say "hi" and bounce back to their cozy chord tones. They create delightful ornamentation and suspense in your melodies.

Visualize a sustained C in the soprano over two chords. A neighbor tone dances down and back up, like a friendly C-B-C.

Neighbor tones buzz in a smaller range compared to passing tones, returning to their original chord tone. We've got upper and lower neighbors, mirroring a game of musical leapfrog: hop up, hop down, return to base.

Example? Let's say we’ve got C- upper neighbor D- back to C in a melody. 🎶 Like passing tones, neighbor tones can be diatonic or chromatic. But they must move stepwise. So, a C-E-C doesn’t qualify— that's an escape tone.

Writing Passing and Neighbor Tones

In the andante world of 18th-century Western music, passing and neighbor tones often shine in the outer voices, particularly the soprano (because high notes rock). Accented or unaccented, these tones usually glide in unaccented, adding non-chord happiness without stealing thunder from the steady bass.

Why so much soprano love? Easy—for listeners, the soprano is the Beyoncé of the melody. 💗 Composers sprinkle embellishments there to pour more expression and melodic glitter into the piece.

If you’re adding non-chord tones to the bass, keep the soprano steady. Sync those eighth-note passing tones with the bass when the chords are quarter notes. If you’re cruising with half notes, string in some quarter-note or eighth-note passing tones for seamless motion.

Another cool trick is voice exchange, where the bass and soprano dance a melodic switcheroo. Imagine your bass steps G-A-B, with A as a passing tone, while the soprano jives down B to G. This harmonic swap is music to the ears!

Here’s a cool visual from the musical cosmos to illustrate this:

If your bass and soprano skip along in parallel thirds or sixths, adding non-chord tones can flavor those vanilla intervals. Throw in a few to crank up the harmonic tension!

Key Terms to Review

1. 18th-Century Voice Leading Conventions: These are the harmonious rules of the age, guiding melodic lines into sweet smoothness.
2. Ab Major: A major scale made of the pitches Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, and G, wrapped in four flats.
3. Accented Passing Tone: A passing tone that struts in with emphasis.
4. Chromatic Passing Tone: A half-step passing tone, adding colorful tension.
5. Common Practice Era: The greatest hits of 1600-1900, where Western classical music thrived.
6. Diatonic Scale: A seven-note scale with five whole steps and two half steps.
7. Escape Tone: A rebellious non-chord tone stepping in and leaping out.
8. Harmonic Rhythm: The chord-changing clockwork of a piece.
9. Lower Neighbor Tone: A neighbor visiting from one step below.
10. Mediant: The third wheel note in a scale.
11. Neighbor Tones: Musical drop-ins adding harmonic zest.
12. Soprano Line: The headlining high notes of your piece.
13. Supertonic Passing Tone: Bridging the tonic to supertonic.
14. Tonic: The home base note.
15. Unaccented Passing Tone: A passing tone on a subtle beat.
16. Upper Neighbor Tone: A neighbor popping up from one step above.
17. Voice Exchange: A melodious trade between voices.

Conclusion

So there you have it! Whether you’re stepping through a passing tone or returning home with a neighbor tone, these embellishments bring your music to life, adding expressive flair and complexity. Master these, and you might find yourself composing the next symphonic sensation! 🎼 So go on, boldly write those passing tones and neighbor tones, and let your melodies shimmer! 🌟