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Music theory - Non chord tones
Table of Contents Previous NextComposing a melody you can use not only notes of the current chord but notes not belonging to the tertian texture of a chord. Non-chord tones sound unstable relatively to the current chord and have a tendency to resolve to the chord note.
There are non-chord notes of the following types:
- Neighboring
- Passing
- Appoggiatura
- Escape
- Neighbor Group Tones
- Anticipation
- Retardation
Let’s take a detailed look at these types.
Neighboring non-chord tone. Neighboring non-chord tone (see number
on Figure 1) is the note one
scale degree above or below the primary tone (see number
on Figure 1). It links
a chord tone with its repetition (see number
on Figure 1).
| Figure 1. | |
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Passing non-chord tone (see number
on Figure 2) links chord tone
(see number on Figure 2)
with another chord tone (see number
on Figure 2).
| Figure 2. | |
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Appoggiatura non-chord tone. Appoggiatura non-chord tone (see number
on Figure 3) is approached
after a chord tone (see number
on Figure 3) by a leap, then
fluently resolves to the nearest chord tone (see number
on Figure 3).
| Figure 3. | |
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Escape non-chord tone. Escape non-chord tone (see number
on Figure 4) adjoins to
a chord tone (see number
on Figure 4) one second above or down. Then a non-chord tone doesn’t resolve fluently
but it is ‘escaped‘ and resolves to a chord tone by a leap (see number
on Figure 4).
| Figure 4. | |
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Neighbor Group Tones. Neighbor Group Tones are two non-chord tones (see
numbers 
and
on Figure 5) that adjoin to
chord tone (see number
on Figure 5) above
and below. Then the last non-chord tone resolves to the same chord tone (see number
on Figure 5).
| Figure 5. | |
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Anticipation. Anticipation is the non-chord tone (see number
on Figure 6) which
becomes a chord tone in the next measure on the up-beat (see number
on Figure 6).
| Figure 6. | |
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Retardation. Retardation is the non-chord tone on the up-beat (see number
on Figure 7) which
resolves on the down-beat (see number
on Figure 7). There may be
a prepared retardation, when the delayed tone comes from the previous chord (see
Figure 7). The chord tone from the predecessor chord (see number
on Figure 7) is delayed
in the new chord (see number
on Figure 7) and then
resolves to the nearest chord tone on the down-beat (see number
on Figure 7).
| Figure 7. | |
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