6.1 Embellishing Tones: Identifying Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones

Embellishing tones, also called nonharmonic or nonchord tones, are notes that sit outside the current chord to add motion and expression. Your main job here is to identify passing tones and neighbor tones in both performed and notated music, then tell whether they are accented or unaccented based on where they land in the beat.

Why This Matters for the AP Music Theory Exam

Passing tones and neighbor tones show up when you analyze melodies in context and figure out which notes belong to the chord and which ones decorate it. On the multiple-choice section, you may hear or see these tones and need to label them correctly. This skill also supports the rest of Unit 6, since the same approach-and-resolve logic helps you classify the other embellishing tones in later topics. Getting comfortable naming nonharmonic tones now makes harmonic analysis, dictation, and error detection much easier.

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Key Takeaways

• A nonharmonic tone is a note outside the prevailing chord; most are classified by how they are approached and resolved.
• A passing tone connects two different chord tones by step, filling in a gap with stepwise motion.
• A neighbor tone steps away from a chord tone and returns to the same note (upper neighbor steps up, lower neighbor steps down).
• Rhythmic placement matters: a tone on a beat is accented, and a tone on a beat division is unaccented.
• Passing and neighbor tones can be diatonic (in the key) or chromatic (outside the key), but both must move by step.
• Watch for related vocabulary like preparation, resolution, embellishment, ornament, and trill.

Embellishing Tones and Nonharmonic Tones

If music were only chord progressions with no decoration, melodies would feel flat and repetitive. To expand individual lines and intensify expression, composers add decorative notes called embellishing tones. When those notes lie outside the pitch content of the current chord, they are nonharmonic tones (also called nonchord tones).

Most nonharmonic tones get a specific label based on two things:

• how they are melodically approached and resolved
• where they fall rhythmically (directly on a beat versus on a division between beats)

That second point is how you decide whether a tone is accented (on the beat) or unaccented (off the beat). A few related terms come up often: embellishment, ornament, trill, preparation, and resolution.

Passing Tones

A passing tone is a nonchord tone that fills the space between two different chord tones using stepwise motion. It creates a sense of forward motion and smooths out leaps so voices move more by step.

Here is the idea with a bass-line example. Suppose you move from I to iii. In the bass, that is tonic to mediant. You can insert a supertonic passing tone so the line walks stepwise from tonic to supertonic to mediant. In Ab major, that gives Ab to Bb to C in the bass.

Most of the time, embellishments get added to the upper voices, especially the soprano, because your ear tends to hear the highest notes as the melody and the lower notes as accompaniment. So when you add passing tones, the soprano is usually where they fit best.

You can use more than one passing tone between two chord tones. If the soprano leaps from C up to F, you can fill in D and E so the line moves C-D-E-F. Just keep your counting correct. If the harmonic rhythm is in half notes, you cannot replace that with three quarter notes. Instead, the chord tone might be a quarter note and the two passing tones eighth notes. Unless you are writing a suspension (covered later in Unit 6), the chord tone should land on the harmonic beat.

Accented vs Unaccented Passing Tones

Passing tones usually fall on weaker beats, but they come in two types:

• Unaccented passing tone: falls on a weaker beat than the chord tones around it.
• Accented passing tone: falls on a stronger beat than the chord tones around it.

An accented passing tone disrupts the harmonic rhythm a bit, which adds tension and rhythmic interest. Composers in the Common Practice Era used this more sparingly.

Chromatic Passing Tones

Passing tones can be chromatic, meaning they fall outside the diatonic scale of the key. This often happens when a composer wants extra color in a stepwise line. If a voice moves from C to D, a chromatic passing tone makes it C to C# to D. To connect a larger leap, you can string several chromatic notes together. Leaping down from A to F, you might add G#-G-F# for the line A-G#-G-F#-F. Chopin's Waltz Op. 69 No. 2 is a good listening example of these chromatic passing tones.

Neighbor Tones

A neighbor tone is a nonchord tone that steps away from a chord tone and then returns to that same note. It usually appears when a chord tone is held across two chords (the pitch stays the same), and the neighbor decorates it by stepping above or below. If the soprano holds a C across two chords, you can step down to make C-B-C.

Like a passing tone, a neighbor tone adds motion and a small sense of tension and release, but it stays close and comes back home to where it started. There are two kinds:

• Upper neighbor tone: steps up to a higher pitch and returns to the original note.
• Lower neighbor tone: steps down to a lower pitch and returns to the original note.

Neighbor tones can be diatonic (inside the key) or chromatic (outside the key). Either way, the voice must move by step. In a C-E-C figure, the E is not a neighbor tone because it does not move stepwise. That is actually an escape tone, which you will see in topic 6.3.

Preparation, Resolution, and Ornaments

Two terms come up a lot with nonharmonic tones: preparation and resolution.

The preparation is the chord tone right before the embellishment. The resolution is the chord tone that the embellishment moves into, bringing you back to the harmony. Using the chromatic example with chord tones A and F and the passing notes G#-G-F#, the A is the preparation and the F is the resolution.

These terms matter because passing and neighbor tones are usually dissonant, whether diatonic or chromatic. A D added over a tonic chord between C and E creates a dissonant interval, which adds tension. That tension is why the tone needs to resolve into a consonant chord tone.

Another category is ornamentation, which adds decoration to a melody or harmony. Ornaments include grace notes, trills, mordents, and turns. In some styles, ornaments can be improvised, and later classical music often leaves some interpretive freedom. In Common Practice Era music, ornaments were usually written directly into the score.

One ornament likely to show up on the AP Music Theory exam is the trill, a rapid alternation between a main note and the note just above or below it. The main note is usually a diatonic or chord tone, and the alternating note can be diatonic or chromatic. Trills are marked with "tr" or a trill symbol and add a sense of energy or drama.

To hear a trill in context, Mendelssohn's Venetian Boat Song is a good listening example.

How to Use This on the AP Music Theory Exam

MCQ

When you see or hear a decorative note, ask two questions: how is it approached and how does it resolve, and where does it land rhythmically?

• Stepwise in, stepwise out, to a different note? Passing tone.
• Stepwise away and back to the same note? Neighbor tone (up = upper, down = lower).
• On the beat = accented; off the beat = unaccented.

Aural Recognition

For performed examples, listen for the dissonance and follow the line. A passing tone keeps moving in the same direction between two chord tones, while a neighbor tone returns to where it left. Train your ear to catch the preparation and resolution around the nonchord tone.

Common Trap

A figure like C-E-C looks like a neighbor because it returns, but it is not, since the move is by leap, not by step. Confirm stepwise motion before you call something a passing or neighbor tone.

Common Misconceptions

• Passing tones and neighbor tones are not the same. A passing tone moves between two different chord tones; a neighbor tone leaves and returns to the same chord tone.
• Returning to the starting note does not make something a neighbor tone. The motion must be by step. A leap away and back (like C-E-C) is an escape tone, not a neighbor tone.
• Accented does not mean wrong. An accented passing tone simply falls on a stronger beat than its surrounding chord tones; both accented and unaccented passing tones are valid classifications.
• Chromatic does not change the category. A chromatic passing or neighbor tone is still a passing or neighbor tone as long as it moves by step.
• Nonharmonic tones are usually dissonant on purpose. The tension is the point, which is why they need to resolve to a chord tone.
• Embellishments are not free of rhythm rules. Keep the chord tone on the harmonic beat (unless you are writing a suspension) and count your note values correctly.

Related AP Music Theory Guides

• 6.6 Melodic Sequences
• 6.7 Harmonic Sequences
• 6.2 Embellishing Tones: Writing Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones
• Unit 6 Overview: Harmony and Voice Leading III (Embellishments, Motives, and Melodic Devices)
• 6.4 Embellishing Tones: Identifying and Writing Suspensions; Identifying Retardations
• 6.3 Embellishing Tones: Identifying Anticipations, Escape Tones, Appoggiaturas, and Pedal Points