Embellishing Tones

Melodic Figurationand Dissonance – Part 1

Important Notes vs. Pretty Notes

Embellishing tones may or may not be chord tones

Embellishing tones contribute to the forward motion of the musicChord tones tend to skip or leapNon-Chord tones (dissonant harmonies) tend to

move by stepDissonances – 2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th, & tritone

Essential and Embellishing Notes

Chordal Figuration (Fig. 7.1a) -tones related to the supporting harmony

Non-harmonic Figuration (Fig. 7.2) -tones dissonant to the supporting harmony

Essential and Embellishing Notes

Melodic profile – managing dissonances Rhythmic accentuation – metric implications Unaccented/Stepwise (US)

Offbeat or weak metric position – approached/left by step or common tone

Unaccented/Leaping (UL) Offbeat or weak metric position – approached/left by leap –

in rare cases, both Accented/Stepwise (AS)

Strong metric position – approached and left by step or common tone

Accented/Leaping (AL) Strong metric positions – approached/left by leap – in rare

cases, both

Categories of Dissonant Embellishing Tones

Unaccented Passing Tone (P) Bridges a melodic interval of a 3rd (rarely a 4th) Stepwise motion; either up or down Pairs of passing tones that occur simultaneously may move in

similar or contrary motion Unaccented Neighboring Tone (N)

Decorates same chord tone by stepwise motion; upper or lower neighbor

Move back to their original note rather than moving Anticipation (A)

Anticipated the next chord tone by arriving early Approached by step from above or below; lands on the

unaccented beat Occurs frequently at cadences – precedes the final soprano

note

Unaccented/Stepwise Embellishing Tones

Incomplete Neighbors (IN) Include a leap to a dissonant in their melodic contour

Escape Tone (eschappé) (E) Approached by step and resolved by leap Found at cadences usually in conjunction with an anticipation

Leaping Tone (LT) Sometimes called an appoggiatura (this is a bit of a misnomer)

We’ll discuss that a little later Dissonant note of the IN approached by leap and resolved by

step The wacky Double Neighbor (DN) or Changing Tones (CT)

Unaccented/Leaping Embellishing Tones