- Hi, in this quick tip video,
we're going to have a little think
about something called anticipatory notes.
And really, the clue is in the title
because it's all about a note in a melody
that anticipates the note that follows.
Now, when might we want to
use an anticipatory note?
Well, say we come to the end of a phrase
that sounds something like this,
which is a very common kind of formula
for finishing a phrase.
And in the melody, the notes are E, D, C.
And I've got three chords
under there, Ic, V7
and chord I to finish,
don't worry too much about the chords
but basically, the melody
is going E, with a C chord,
D, with a G chord and
then C, with a C chord.
If I just want to elaborate that melody,
instead of doing this.
I can anticipate the final note.
So, when I put it with the chords.
So, you can hear how that works.
That anticipatory note
doesn't actually belong
to the chord that's sounding at the time.
Here's the E, that belongs to the chord,
here's the D, that belongs to the chord
and then I've got a C anticipatory note
that doesn't belong to this
chord but then, as I repeat it,
it does belong to the
chord so it just adds
a little bit of rhythmic
interest to a melody
and the fact that the
anticipatory note is going to be
a little bit dissonant with the chord
just gives us a tiny bit
of colour at the end.
So, just to show you what it looks like,
here's D, C, where D
would belong to a chord
and C would belong to a
chord and here's that final C
being anticipated, so
an anticipatory note.
So there we are,
it looks and sounds like this.
So, if you're a composer,
it's another way of decorating
a melodic line and if you're a performer
and you're looking at something
like that in the music
wondering what it is, well, now you know.
So, welcome to the world
of anticipatory notes.
