Anticipation

What it means

An anticipation is a note that arrives ahead of the chord it belongs to. It sounds while the previous chord is still ringing or just changing, usually on a weak beat shortly before the harmony actually shifts.

Unlike an ordinary melodic pre-echo, an anticipation is always tied to the coming chord: for a moment the anticipated note clashes with the still-sounding old harmony before both merge in the new chord.

In the notation

An anticipation usually appears as a short note value, often an eighth note, right before the barline or the chord change. It is frequently tied to the following, longer note of the same pitch, so that this one voice moves a step ahead of the others.

Musical use

Anticipations are especially common in cadences, for example when the tonic's root sounds already on the last eighth note of the dominant chord, preparing the close. In multi-voice writing this briefly creates a blended sonority made of tones from both harmonies.

In popular music, particularly in Latin American styles such as salsa or bossa nova, the so-called anticipated bass is a standard part of the rhythmic pattern: the bass changes note before the beat on which the chord change actually falls.

An anticipation should be distinguished from a suspension: a suspension holds over a note from the old chord and resolves it late into the new one, while an anticipation does the reverse, sounding a note of the new chord early. The two devices mirror each other and both soften the direct change between two chords.

In choral and homophonic keyboard writing, anticipation often appears as a small rhythmic loosening when not all voices change chord at once. The anticipating voice gives the transition a slight forward motion instead of all voices shifting together as a block.

Performance practice

Listen for the brief clash the anticipation creates and treat it as an intended effect, not a mistake. Play the anticipated note lightly and without emphasis, so it reads as preparation rather than an early entrance. In music with an anticipated bass, it helps to keep counting the actual beat internally so the shift stays controlled.