I wonder if anyone educated in music theory and composition knows if there's a term to describe the following:

Take a given melodic phrase, say a run of the notes c-d-e-d-c-d-e-d-c-c-d-e-d-c-d-e-d-c-c-d-e-d-c-d-e-d-c-c-d-e-d-c-d-e-d-c just running up and down like that, say with eighth notes. Now imagine that the chords change every measure and the chord progression goes C maj, D min, A min, D min, C maj, and so on, up and down.

During the first measure, when the C chord is played, the c and e notes in the melody will be consonant to the chord but the d will be dissonant. In the next measure the d note will be consonant to the D minor chord but the c and e will be dissonant. And in the third measure when Am is the chord, the c and e will be consonant again and the d will be dissonant.

So is there a term for shifting the chords and melody in this way so that a repetitive melody has varying moments of dissonance and consonance relative to the chords?

Last edited by Alex Williams; 08/04/2006 1:19 PM.