Neighbour note
A non-chord auxiliary note.
What it means
A neighbour note is a non-chord tone that leaves a chord tone stepwise and returns to it stepwise. It thus plays around the note without carrying the line further — herein lies its difference from the passing note, which continues in the same direction, and from the échappée, which leaves the note stepwise and then leaps in the opposite direction.
In the notation
It is recognizable by three notes, of which the first and third are the same and the middle one lies a step above or below. The upper neighbour note lies above the main note, the lower one below it; the latter is often chromatically raised so that a semitone step results, which entails an accidental. Usually the neighbour note stands on a light beat. If the main note is played around on both sides, one speaks of a turn, which can also be written as an ornament figure with its own sign.
Musical use
Neighbour notes enliven a line without carrying it forward: they keep a note in motion and delay its return. In accompaniment figures, embellishments, and ornaments they belong to the basic stock. In figured bass they are not given a numeral, because they do not change the harmony — the chord stays the same.
The neighbour note is to be distinguished from the suspension, with which it is occasionally confused: the suspension stands on an accented beat, is held over or leapt to, and resolves stepwise; the neighbour note stands unaccented and returns to its starting point. The difference is audible — the suspension produces tension, the neighbour note movement.
In English it is called the neighbor tone. It mostly stands on an unaccented beat. In strict counterpoint it stands on an unaccented beat and moves stepwise.
Performance practice
Play neighbour notes lightly and without accent; the weight stays with the main note to which they lead back. With lower neighbour notes, watch the intonation when they are chromatically raised — they want to be taken close to the main note. And treat embellishments as one movement, not as a sequence of individual notes.