Échappé

Escaped

The neighbour note decorates a chord tone and returns to it. The échappé starts by doing the same but does not take the way back. The auxiliary note is followed by a leap in the opposite direction to another note of the chord. In the example both bars start the same way, and only the ending sets them apart.

Why it is distinguished

To the ear the échappé is a small surprise: the melody turns, and the resolution does not come step by step. That is why strict teaching regards it as a freer form of the auxiliary note. Anyone analysing melodies finds it not as a mistake but as a stylistic device that makes a line livelier without changing chord or rhythm. The pair of terms conjunct and disjunct describes the same thing from the melody's point of view: the échappé joins a step to a leap.

The terms are not used uniformly in the literature: some textbooks also call auxiliary notes that are reached by leap and return by step an échappé. Anyone reading a text should therefore check the definition.

Common mistakes

• Equating échappé and neighbour note: The neighbour note returns, the échappé does not.
• Treating every leap after an auxiliary note as an échappé: The target note has to belong to the chord.
• Stressing the auxiliary note: It stands on the weak beat.