Chordal Skip
A leap between two chord tones, without a non-chord tone
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A chordal skip leaps directly between two chord tones, without a non-chord tone in between: it picks out the chord's notes one by one, essentially a horizontal arpeggio.
It is the counterpart of a passing tone: a passing tone connects two chord tones, a chordal skip points at them. The usual mistake is to think leaps are always stiff — a chordal skip that lands on chord tones with a logical direction is stronger than stepwise motion; stiffness comes from an unprepared direction, not from the leap itself.
Read deeper → arpeggio
Sources
- 和弦跳进与琶音的关系，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Melody"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.