I’m always on the lookout for musical literacy concepts that can be taught in isolation.
Encircling, also sometimes referred to as a neighbor group or double neighbor, was one of it seems like many “Non Chord Tones” I studied as a list of terms to memorize in music theory classes. Like many concepts, I felt like there wasn’t a lot of practical application to having the names memorized. But encircling is different.
The way I’m thinking about encircling is preceding a chord note – or even just a target note – with notes above and below it. I’m not going to be particular about diatonic or chromatic, just the shape.
It’s useful for two big reasons.
First, the concept of target note comes into focus when we see it in the context of encircling. Students see the way the first two notes are leading towards the third.
Second, this is a concept that students can understand pretty quickly, and then begin to spot in new contexts. The quick understanding and subsequent application both give students the chance to feel confident in their growing music literacy, and also provides an opportunity for them to see real application of gaining that knowledge – spurring them on to learn more!
Next time you spot an example of encircling in your repertoire, take a three minute diversion and point it out!