Anticipation
A chord tone arriving early as a non-chord tone
Related
An anticipation is a chord tone arriving early: it sounds first as a non-chord tone, and when the harmony actually changes it becomes a chord tone. It often appears on weak beats or at phrase endings.
It is the opposite of a suspension: a suspension keeps an old chord tone, an anticipation brings a new one early. The usual mistake is to hear it as a wrong note — it is a directed arrival ahead of time; without preparation and resolution, it becomes an error.
Read deeper → non-chord tone
Sources
- 先现音与非和弦音分类，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Non-chord tone"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.