Non-harmonic tones

This'll just be a quick post, on music theory this time rather than the historical stuff.

Non-harmonic tones are basically the notes that aren't part of a chord per se, but are there to make the music more pretty and melodious. After all, most music isn't exactly comprised of entirely block chords, unless the composer's using them for a certain effect.

For example, in the example below, the A in the soprano note is a non-harmonic tone because it isn't a part of chord IVb.

The different kinds of non-harmonic tones also have different names. In the above example, the A is a passing note because the soprano line "passes" through there to get from the G to the B. This particular passing note is an unaccented passing note because it doesn't fall on the same beat as the rest of the chord. If it did- for example, if the G and the A were switched around- then it would be an accented passing note.

Now, let's look at the other kinds of non-harmonic tones!

In the above example, the A and the F# are neighbouring tones, so called because they are the "neighbour" of the notes on either side. Bear in mind that the two notes on either side must be the SAME note. If the note before is a step higher than the note in the middle, and the note after is a step lower than the note in the middle, or vice versa, then the middle note is a passing tone, not a neighbouring tone.

In the above example, the A is an anticipation tone. That is because it comes in earlier than it really needs to. The first chord is a IV chord... but wait! There's an A in the soprano! There's no A in C major chords... but there is one in D Major chords, and that's precisely what the second chord is! The A has simply come in too early, "anticipating" the next chord. That's why it's an anticipation tone.

(By the way, I've noticed that my cadences are pretty dodgy in some places. Apologies for that.)

The note after an anticipation tone can be either higher or lower than the anticipation tone. In the above example, we move from an A (anticipation tone in this case) to B.

Retardations and suspensions kind of work in the opposite way. Instead of being the same as the note in the next chord, retardations and suspensions carry over a note from a previous chord:

In the above examples, G is a note in the IV chord, but not in the ii chord. In the first example, G is a retardation tone because the note afterwards is higher. At the risk of being somewhat politically incorrect, you could say that the note is "retarded" because it has to wait longer until it can finally move up in pitch. In the second example, G is a suspension tone because the next note is lower. You could say that the G is "suspended in mid-air" until it finally falls on the F#.

An appogiatura is where you have a larger gap leading to the non-harmonic tone (normally an interval of a 3rd) and then a step downwards. Like this:

Except C is in an A minor chord, so I'm not entirely sure if it qualifies as a non-harmonic tone.

Escape tones are the opposite- a step and then a larger gap. Like it's trying to "escape" by stepping away but then realises that it can't.

(I just reversed the order of the chords from the last example. Original, aren't I?)

Those are pretty much all of the non-harmonic tones that you need to know for now. Isn't music theory just so incredibly fun? w00t.