13.3: Neighbor Tone
- Page ID
- 258552
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The neighbor tone is abbreviated with a lowercase "n" in parenthesis and looks like: (n).
Key Features
- A neighbor tone goes up or down by a step, and then comes back a step in the opposite direction.
- A neighbor tone accents or embellishes a single note.
- If it goes up, we call it an upper neighbor. If it goes down, we call it a lower neighbor.
Examples
In this example, there are a number of different upper and lower neighbor tones. In the first measure, beats one and two are predominantly a tonic chord in the key of E-flat that is made up of: E-flat, G, and B-flat. On the second half of the first beat, we find an eighth note A-flat. The G on the first beat moves up a step to the A-flat, and then back down a step to return to the G. This is a submetrical, diatonic, upper neighbor tone.
On beats three and four of the same measure, the chord is the first inversion of the dominant triad and is made up of: B-flat, D, and F. On the second half of the third beat, we find an eighth note C. The B-flat on the third beat moves up a step to the C, and then back down to return to the B-flat. This is also a submetrical, diatonic, upper neighbor tone.
In the second measure, our neighbor tones change to the inner voices. On beats one and two, our chord is a first inversion subdominant chord and made up of: A-flat, C, and E-flat. The neighbor tone is found on the second beat in the alto voice as the E-flat moves down a step to D, and then back up a step to E-flat. This is a submetrical, diatonic, lower neighbor.
The second half of beat three of this measure is another submetrical, diatonic, upper neighbor.
The final measure of this example is a tonic chord made up of: E-flat, G, and B-flat. The E-flat in the alto voice steps down to the D on the second beat and then back up to the E. This is a metrical, diatonic, lower neighbor.