So far, our study of theory has evolved from the basis of note-against-note 4 part chorale style harmony. We have learned to analyze and understand the basic harmonic substructure of traditional western music. However, as you may have come to realize in your writing assignments and your appreciation for species counterpoint, this note against note approach needs to be expanded.

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Melodic Figuration 

The term "Figuration" refers to a melodic progression that animates a harmonic substructure by means of quicker motion or rhythmic displacement. It can occur in any voice and can occur in multiple voices simultaneously. Figurations in music may be classified into five fundamental types.

Uses of Chordal Skips
a. The terms Chordal skip and Arpeggio are interchangeable. Both terms refer to a figuration that results from the movement of one chordal tone to the next. Arpeggios tend to connect contrasting registers and contain multiple notes. Chordal skips may contain only one or two notes and may or may not connect contrasting registers.

b. Chordal skips serve to: Intensify Rhythmic Activity, Break ¶5ths and ¶8vas, Vary Stepwise Motion, Subdivide large leaps, and Introduce Stepwise Motion (especially in the bass)

insert 20-1,3,4

  Polyphonic Melody
a. Arpeggiation makes possible the ability to suggest two or more lines moving simultaneously.
b. Note: In the Schubert example in H&VL the two independent lines to which the text refers are the melody and 1st & 3rd beats of each bar in the left hand. As you can see and hear, the LH becomes two independent voices.

Chordal Skips and Parallels
a. With the exception of chordal skips of extremely brief duration, chordal skips are an effective way to break forbidden parallels.

b. However, similar to 2nd and 3rd species counterpoint, Chordal skips should not result in parallelisms.

c. In general, one should only worry about ¶s in voices that contains arpeggiations if the independence of the voice is lost or obscured. Individual notes within faster arpeggiations with smaller rhythmic values as well as notes falling on weaker metrical positions tend to function more in the aggregate than as independent voices and thus, are of less concern when identifying ¶s. Once again the general rules for 3rd species counterpoint help to claify when a chordal skip can be deemed an independent voice.

Uses of the passing tone.
A passing tone is a non-chord tone (dissonance) that occurs between two chord tones, creating stepwise motion. The typical figure is chord tone – passing tone – chord tone, filling in a third (see example to the right), but two adjacent passing tones can also be used to fill in the space between two chord tones a fourth apart. A passing tone can be either accented (occurring on a strong beat or strong part of the beat) or unaccented (weak beat or weak part of the beat).

Neighbor Tones

Uses of the neighboring tone.

Like the passing tone, a complete neighbor tone is a non-chord tone (dissonance) that occurs between two chord tones

a.  however, a complete neighbor tone will occur between two instances of the same chord tone.
b.  Also like the passing tone, movement from the chord tone to the neighbor tone and back will always be by step.

A complete neighbor can be either accented or unaccented, but unaccented is more common.

The Double Neighbor

a.  four note figure: step up, 3rd down, step up  OR step down, 3rd up,  step down.
b.  It usually begins on beat 1"  
c.  Like the complete neighbor figure, the double neighbor figure begins and ends on the same chord tone. Between those two instances of the chord tone are tow non-chord tones—one a step above and the other a step below the chord tone. Though individually we may consider each of the two non-chord tones to be incomplete neighbors (below), working together in the double-neighbor figure they balance each other out and create a contiguous whole with the overall stability of a complete neighbor. A double neighbor figure is typically unaccented.

The Incomplete Neighbor

a. an unaccented non-chord tone that is approached by leap and proceeds by step to an accented chord tone.

The Escape Tone "Echappee"

a.  An escape tone, or echappée, is a kind of incomplete neighbor tone that is unaccented, preceded by step (usually up) from a chord tone, and followed by leap (usually down, but always in the opposite direction of the preceding step).
b. When the incomplete Neighbor is a decoration of a tone that then drops a 2nd, it is called an "Echappee" or escape tone.

The Incomplete Double Neighbor

c. When the main note is preceded by both the upper and lower neighbor in succession but is different from the origin note, it is called an incomplet double neighbor or "I-DN"

Accented Passing and Neighboring tones

a. When a neighbor or passing tone occurs on the strong part of a beat, it is considered an "Accented" P or N. The can be regarded as temporarily displacing the chordal tone.

Complementary Rhythms
a. When one uses tones of figuration in different voices to perpetuate a continuous rhythmic movement, this movment is called complementary.

Accented tones and harmonization
a. Accented passing and neighboring tones work to displace the chordal tone. As such, it can be very difficult to harmonize a melody particularly if that melody is diatonic and linear in nature. It may very well be that there is more than one possible solution to a satisfactory harminization of a melody. In the end, use your ear and your best judgement to create a harmonization that works in the context of the compositional nature of the melody.

Accented tones and figured basses
a. We have said that Accented passing and neighboring tones work to displace the chordal tone. When an accented P or N is found in the bass we must look to the note prior or following the accented P or N for the correct figuration. H&VL states that the figuration of an accented P or N in the bass can be derived by a method of adding or subtracting 1 from the normal figuration. I find it much easier to simply create the figuration as we always have..... count the intervals above the bass and order them highest to lowest. For purposes of harmonic analysis it is often sufficient to simply figure the unaccented chordal tone.

Accented incomplete neighbors: "Appoggiaturas"

a. When an accented incomplete neighbor is approached by leap and resolved by step, it is called an "Appoggiatura"
b.  approached by leap (usually up), and followed by step (usually down, but always in the opposite direction of the preceding leap) to a chord tone.

The Turn

a. The turn combines an accented and unaccented neighbor such that the main tone is preceded by its upper neighbor and followed by its lower neighbor then returns to the main tone. In music we use a sideways S to indicate the note is to be executed as a turn.

Chromatic passing and neighboring tones

a. Chromatic passing tones divide a diatonic whole step into two half steps.
b. Chromatic neighbor tones (usually notated as minor 2nds) rise or fall by a chromatic half step before returning to the main tone.

A terrific summary of Melodic Figuration with real examples and a primer to our next chapter on Rhythmic Figuration.