PROLONGATION- Most simply put, extending the influence of a note by adding more notes that depart from and return to it over time.

HORIZONTALIZATION- Extending a chord over time by converting it into a melody. One simple example would be when we arpeggiate a chord but we can also add passing tones and neighbor notes between members of the chord.

LINEAR INTERVALIC PROGRESSION- A melody that progresses over a given interval in a given direction.

NEIGHBOR NOTE- A note that moves a step away from a chord tone, to a non chord tone, and then returns to the same note.

COMPOUND MELODY- A single melodic line that creates the illusion of two or more lines via register leaps and the alternation of notes.

PROG- Progression, usally based on an interval and the ascending or descending motion torwards said interval.

-Let's revisit the first 8 bars of "Ode To Joy". In the first measure, scale degree 3 moves up to 5 via the passing tone that is 4.


-LIPS are horizontilizations of the chord being prolonged. These horizontalizations are often accomplished with neighbor tones and passing tones. In the example above, it is the I chord (D major) that is being prolonged via the passing tone 4.

-We recognize LIPS by their direction (ascending/descending) and the interval they span (3, 5, 8, etc.). These are progressions, so we will call them "progs". So the Schenkerian terminology for this LIP would be an "ascending 3 prog".

-The most common LIP is the 3 prog (usually descending). There are also otfen found 5 progs, 8 progs and 6 progs. The 4 prog is far less common because the interval of a 4th was considered a dissonance.

-LIPs can be purely a forground element. It can also be found in the middle ground (where the notes of the LIPs, themselves, are being prolonged).

-Schenker traced the origins of these progs all the way back to second species counterpoint.

-Neighbor notes are not just forground elements. They also occur within' the deepest middle level, approaching the surface level.

-Incomplete neighbors are also found in all levels of foreground and middle ground.

-In the lower middle ground level the incomplete neighbor is usually scale degree 4, being the incomplete neighbor of scale degree 5.

-Below, we have the first 9 bars of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Notice that in measure 7, the G# (5) moves up to A (♭6) then back down to G#. The A is a neighbor note on the middle ground level because it is harmonized with the chord change that occurs on that beat (F#m). It might have been considered a "foreground" element if the harmony beneath continued from where it was on the first half of the measure (C#m).

-The compound melody is actually a combination of two voices. In Shenkerian analysis, we will separate the two voices and recognize the melodic movement of each one individually. In Shenkerian notation, not represented in the coming example, the lower voices will have downward facing stems. Likewise, the upper voices will have upward facing stems.

-There can be, and usually are, neighbor notes and linear intervalic progressions in either voice.

-Below, we have the opening passage of Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in C Major” BWV 547. In measure 2, in the treble clef, we see the melody walking up from scale degree 1 to 2 (C to D), moving to 3 ultimately, while it bounces back and fourth with the droning scale degree 5 (G). In this case, one voice is giving the illusion of 2 voices. The walking melody remains the upper voice and the droning 5th is now considered an inner voice.

-Arpeggios will often move downward from an upper voice to an inner voice. Check out the final measure of this passage from "Ode to Joy". That final A note is officially in an inner voice, where it was previously in an upper voice.


-Similarly, arpeggios can move from a lower voice to an upper voice.

-When either of these things happen, the voice that “crosses over” is thought to continue on in its original voice and any prolongations or resolutions will be resolved later.