If we boil down that melody to only the most important pitches on the most
important beats, we come up with something like Figure 8-2.The structural tones shown in Figure 8-2 are the heaviest, most significant
notes of the melody line, and the ones that carry the beat. All the other notes
hinge on these.Step-wise and Skip-wise Motion ...................................................................
When notes are placed on the staff in alphabetical sequence, in intervals of
one whole or half step, the succession of pitches is said to be step-wise, or
conjunct. Step-wise motion happens when moving from one pitch to the next
in either an ascending (upward in pitch) or descending (downward) direction.If you were to take the structural notes of our melody and apply step-wise
motion to it, it would look like Figure 8-3.& 4
(^4) Ó ̇ ̇
̇
Ó ̇ ̇ ̇ ww
Figure 8-2:
The
structural
tones are
the most
important
pitches of
our simple
melody.
&4
(^4) Ó
3
œœœ ̇
œ œ ̇
3
œœœ ̇ œ œ œ# œ ̇w.
Figure 8-1:
We’ll use
this simple
melody to
reveal
structural
tones.
80 Part II: Melody and Development