Lesson 9
Harmony I

Practice Drills
rhythm
PDFdrills_L9

Assignments

Creative
Project
Project C

 

 

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4

Nonharmonic tones (or nonchord tones)

A nonharmonic tone is a melodic note that is not a member of the accompanimental chord. There are many kinds of nonharmonic tones. Following are two of the most widely used.

passing tone

Passing tones occur stepwise between two different chord tones. In the examples below, the passing tones are circled. In each case, they "pass" from one tone of an F major triad to another tone of that triad. All the passing tones in the following example are unaccented passing tones, since they occur on the weak part of the beat.

Accented passing tones occur on the strong part of the beat, as in the following examples.

neighboring tone

Neighboring tones occur stepwise above or below a repeated chord tone. A neighboring tone may be unaccented or accented. Following are examples of unaccented neighboring tones.

Here are examples of neighboring tones ocurring on the strong part of the beat.

Look at the following song, "Shalom Chaverim." The only chord used to harmonize the melody is the minor tonic triad (i) or e minor triad (E-G-B). Now look at all the notes in the melody and name each one. Most of the notes in the melody are part of the tonic triad. Locate the notes that are NOT part of the triad. These are the nonharmonic tones. Next, determine the type of each nonharmonic tone.

       
 

Analyze for nonharmonic tones

     
     

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