Passing note
Melodic connecting note between chord tones.
What it means
A passing note is a non-chord tone that connects two chord tones by steps of a second. It is approached by step and left by step in the same direction — that is its mark. It thus belongs to the notes that temporarily cloud the sonority without changing the harmony: the chord remains what it is, and the passing note is only on its way.
In the notation
It is recognizable by three successive notes in the same direction, of which the middle one does not belong to the chord. Usually it stands on a weak part of the bar; if such a note stands on a stressed part, one speaks of an accented passing note, which acts more sharply and comes close to the suspension. Chromatic passing notes fill a whole-tone step with a semitone and carry corresponding accidentals.
Musical use
Passing notes are the simplest means of making a melody out of a chord framework. Without them a voice would consist only of leaps between chord tones; with them a singable line arises. In the study of composition they are among the first figures that lead beyond note-against-note writing, and in figured bass they are not figured, because they do not concern the harmony.
They are to be distinguished from two related formations. The neighbour note is likewise approached by step but returns to the starting note instead of going on. The suspension is not approached by step but held over or leapt to, stands on a stressed part of the bar, and resolves by step; it is part of the harmony, whereas the passing note remains outside. The échappé too is to be distinguished: it leaves the main note by step and then leaps on, thus does not return.
Other names
Transitus is the Latin designation from the doctrine of counterpoint and figures of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There the transitus regularis on an unstressed beat was distinguished from the transitus irregularis, in which the dissonant passing note falls on a stressed beat.
Performance practice
Play passing notes lightly and without emphasis — they are connection, not goal. When working up a piece, first determine the chord tones of a line and treat everything else as movement in between; this clarifies the phrasing. With accented passing notes the opposite holds: they may show their friction and resolve audibly.