ABSTRACT
Accidentals can and will appear in both major and minor keys and on virtually any scale degree. The notes that are altered by accidentals will be referred to as chromatic, as opposed to those that are diatonic. The other possibility for stepwise chromaticism is the chromatic passing tone, which comes in two varieties. In the first type of chromatic passing tone, the chromatic pitch lies between two adjacent diatonic pitches; B passes between B and C, which are adjacent scale degrees in the key of F major. In the second type, a diatonic pitch is replaced by its own chromatic variant; E replaces the diatonic E in passing motion between F and D. The defining feature of the chromatic neighbor tone is that it embellishes a diatonic note by stepping away from it and then right back.
