In traditional voice leading, which term describes a tone that is approached by step and left by step in the opposite direction?

• A. Neighbor tone
• B. Passing tone
• C. Escape tone
• D. Suspension

Answer: (A)

In traditional voice leading, a neighbor tone is a nonharmonic pitch that sits right next to a chord tone. It’s approached by stepping from the chord tone to the neighbor, then left by stepping in the opposite direction back to the chord tone. This creates a small, decorative dip away from and back to the harmony, such as C–D–C (upper neighbor) or C–B–C (lower neighbor) in a C major context. The other types behave differently: a passing tone moves by steps in the same direction between two chord tones, an escape tone is stepped into and then leaps away in the opposite direction, and a suspension is a tone tied from the previous chord tone that resolves by step.