In
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, changing tones (also called double neighboring tones and neighbor group) consists of two consecutive
non-chord tone
A nonchord tone (NCT), nonharmonic tone, or embellishing tone is a note in a piece of music or song that is not part of the implied or expressed chord set out by the harmonic framework. In contrast, a chord tone is a note that is a part of the ...
s. The first moves in one direction by a
step
Step(s) or STEP may refer to:
Common meanings
* Stairs#Step, Steps, making a staircase
* Walking
* Dance move
* Military step, or march
** Marching
Arts Films and television
* Steps (TV series), ''Steps'' (TV series), Hong Kong
* Step (film), ' ...
from a
chord tone, then skips by a third in the opposite direction to another non-chord tone, and then finally resolves back to the original chord tone. Changing tones appear to resemble two consecutive
neighbor tones; an upper neighbor and a lower neighbor with the chord tone missing from the middle. The changing tone functions as a way to
decorate
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
, or
embellish, a chord tone and are also used to provide rhythmic interest between common tones. In rare instances, changing tones can be heard as musical cryptograms, such as the
cruciform melody.
Nonchord tones
Ornamentation
{{music-theory-stub