Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov · section 70 of 96

The Neighbour Note

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§ 68. — 1) By a neighbour note is meant the note placed on the weak beats of the bar or on the weak part of a beat, between two real notes of the same name, one degree above (upper neighbour note) or one degree below (lower neighbour note) the real notes.

Example: neighbour notes (+) in one part at a time, six fragments: soprano G-A-G; tenor C-B-C; soprano D-C#-D and E-F-E; alto E-D#-E and F-G-F; bass A-G#-A; sop — Fig. 274 · See it in the reader

2) Neighbour notes, following the diatonic scale, lie a major or minor second from their real notes, but they may be brought to within a semitone of their real notes by an accidental; this chromatic drawing-closer is often obligatory for certain neighbour notes:

a) In the major triad:

The root requires: upper neighbour note: a major or minor second; lower neighbour note: a minor second.
The third requires: upper neighbour note: a minor second; lower neighbour note: a major or minor second.
The fifth requires: upper neighbour note: a major or minor second; lower neighbour note: a minor second.

Example: neighbour notes about the root, third and fifth of the C major triad: C-D(b)-C-B-C; E-F-E-D(#)-E; G-A(b)-G-F#-G. — Fig. 275 · See it in the reader

b) In the minor triad:

The root requires: upper neighbour note: a major second; lower neighbour note: a minor second.
The third requires: upper neighbour note: a major second; lower neighbour note: a minor second.
The fifth requires: upper neighbour note: a minor second; lower neighbour note: a major or minor second.

Example: neighbour notes about the root, third and fifth of the A minor triad: A-B-A-G#-A; C-D-C-B-C; E-F-E-D(#)-E. — Fig. 276 · See it in the reader

The upper neighbour note of the seventh does not allow downward alterations:

Example, "IMPOSSIBLE": the seventh F of the G7 chord with a lowered upper neighbour Gb (F-Gb-F). — Fig. 277 · See it in the reader

4) Chromatically altered neighbour notes do not always express a modulation; we see an example of this in seventh chords:

GOOD: over a G seventh chord (bass G with figure 7), an altered lower neighbour F♯ in an inner part sounds together with F natural in the upper part; the preced — Fig. 278 · See it in the reader

where the altered neighbour note may be used simultaneously with the same note unaltered.

5) Upper and lower neighbour notes allow their principal notes to be doubled when these notes are at least an octave apart; an exception is made for notes that are the third of the chord, which may be doubled only in chords of the sixth:

BAD: in a root-position C major chord the third E is doubled (soprano E5, tenor E4) while one of the two E's is ornamented by a neighbour note: upper neighbour — Fig. 279 · See it in the reader

ADMISSIBLE: the same neighbour notes (soprano F above E, then bass D♯ below E) with the doubled third E in a chord of the sixth (bass E, figure 6). — Fig. 280 · See it in the reader

6) False relations and parallel fifths are always to be avoided:

BAD: (1) the soprano's neighbour B♭ against the tenor's B natural: a false relation, marked with a line; (2) the soprano's upper neighbour E over the alto's A f — Fig. 281 · See it in the reader

7) Neighbour notes in two parts at once must form parallel thirds or sixths, or move in contrary motion; neighbour notes in three parts at once are subject to the same rule, but they may also form chords of the sixth in parallel motion.

Example in 6/8, C major: neighbour notes in two and three parts at once, in parallel thirds and sixths, in contrary motion, and as parallel chords of the sixth. — Fig. 282 · See it in the reader

Double, triple neighbour notes, etc. often form incidental chords.