Music Composition DUMmIES

If you step away from the tone before stepping back to it, it is called a neigh-

boring tone (Figure 10-27).

Using chord changes..........................................................................

A chord change is a powerful thing. It is hard to take a chord change lightly.

That is why you need to be picky about the choices you make regarding

where in the rhythm of your music the chords change.

If your chords change every measure on beat one,that beat will be strength-

ened. If instead you place the chord changes on beats four and one, both of

those beats will gain some gravity. A chord change brings some attention to

any rhythmic subdivision. It is a good idea to place chord changes strategi-

cally to emphasize the rhythmic feel, or groove, of your piece.

Often your music will benefit from adding more chords in between the struc-

tural chords you started off with. For this you can go back to your non-chord

tones, as shown earlier in this chapter. Some of the non-chord tones you

added while stringing together your chord tones may provide rhythmic

accents. Or maybe you just like these notes and want the listener’s attention

drawn to them. So why not add chord changes at those same moments? Let’s

call these passing chords.

&b 4

4

œ œœœ œ

FBb

̇ œ œ

C Dm

̇ ̇

Bb C

̇ Ó

Dm

̇ ̇

Bb C

̇.

Œ

F

Figure 10-27:
Having a
little visit
with
neighboring
tones.

&b 4

(^4) ̇ œ œ
FBb
̇ œ œ
C Dm
̇ ̇
Bb C
̇ Ó
Dm
̇ ̇
Bb C
̇. Œ
F
Figure 10-26:
Adding
passing
tones to fill
in the
structural
tones.
Chapter 10: Composing with Chords 119