Non-chord notes (tones)

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Example of nonchord tones (in red)

A nonchord tone or nonharmonic tone is a note in a piece of music which is not a part
of the implied harmony that is described by the other notes sounding at the time.
Similarly a chord tone is a note which is a part of the current chord (see: factor (chord)).
Nonchord tones are most often discussed in the context of music of the common
practice period, but can be used in analysis of other types of tonal music as well.
Chord and nonchord tones are defined by their membership in a chord: "The pitches
which make up a chord are called chord-tones: any other pitches are called non-chordtones."[1] They are also defined by the time at which they sound: "Nonharmonic tones
are pitches that sound along with a chord but are not chord pitches."[2]
For example, if a piece of music is currently on a C Major chord, the notes CEG are
members of that chord, while any other note played at that time is a nonchord tone. Such
tones are most obvious in homophonic music but also often occur in contrapuntal music.
"Most nonharmonic tones are dissonant and create intervals of a second, fourth or
seventh",[2] which are required to resolve to a chord tone in conventional ways. If the
note fails to resolve until the next change of harmony, it may instead create a seventh
chord or extended chord. While it is theoretically possible that for a three-note chord
there are (in equal temperament) nine possible nonchord tones, nonchord tones are
usually in the prevailing key. Augmented and diminished intervals are also considered
dissonant, and all nonharmonic tones are measured from the bass, or lowest note
sounding in the chord except in the case of nonharmonic bass tones.[2]
Nonharmonic tones generally occur in a pattern of three pitches, of which the
nonharmonic tone is the center:[2] 1 - 2 - 3 Preceding tone - Nonharmonic tone Following tone (chord tone) - - (chord tone) Preparation - Dissonance - Resolution
Nonchord tones are distinguished through how they are used. The most important
distinction is whether they occur on a strong or weak beat and are thus accented or
unaccented.[2] They are also distinguished by their direction of approach and departure
and the voice or voices in which they occur, and the number of notes they contain.
Over time some nonchord tones supposedly became chord tones, such as the seventh
in a seventh chord. In European classical music "The greater use of dissonance from
period to period as a result of the dialectic of linear/vertical forces led to gradual
normalization of ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords[in analysis and theory]; each
additional non-chord tone above the foundational triad became frozen into the chordal
mass."

Anticipation
An anticipation (ANT) occurs when a note is played before the chord to which the
note belongs and then resolves when the "anticipated" chord is reached:

Neighbor tone

Neighboring tone.[4]
A neighbor tone (NT) or auxiliary note (AUX) is a nonchord tone that passes
stepwise from a chord tone directly above or below it (which frequently causes
the NT to create dissonance with the chord) and resolves to the same chord
tone:

Upper neighbor tone

In practice and analysis, neighboring tones are sometimes differentiated depending upon
whether or not they are lower or higher than the chord tones surrounding them. A
neighboring tone that is a step higher than the surrounding chord tones is called an
upper neighboring tone or an upper auxiliary note while a neighboring tone that is a step
lower than the surrounding chord tones is a lower neighboring tone or lower auxiliary
note.
Incomplete Neighbor tone
An incomplete neighbor tone (IN) is a neighbor tone that has only one stepwise
connection with a consonant chord tone (instead of the normal two), the other
connection being a skip. Thus, instead of leaving a chord tone with a step up or
down and returning to the same chord tone in like manner, one of the chord
tones is left out (or skipped over) so the neighbor tone is only connected to one
of the chord tones making it incomplete.
IN's are generally written either:

With a skip away from a harmony tone to a non-chord tone, and resolved with a step
back to a harmony tone (usually in the opposite direction from the approach).
or
With a step away from a harmony tone to a non-chord tone, and resolved with a skip
back to a harmony tone (also usually in the opposite direction from the approach).
Escape tone

Escape tone.
An escape tone (ET) or echappe is a particular type of unaccented incomplete
neighbor tone which is approached stepwise from a chord tone and resolved by a
skip in the opposite direction back to the harmony.
Passing tone

Passing tone.[5
A passing tone (PT) or passing note is a nonchord tone prepared by a chord tone a
step above or below it and resolved by continuing in the same direction stepwise
to the next chord tone (which is either part of the same chord or of the next chord
in the harmonic progression). Where there are two non-chord notes before the
resolution we have double passing tones or double passing notes.

Passing tone

Accented Passing tone

As with above but on an accented beat.

Accented passing tone.[5]

Accented Neighbor tone
As with above but on an accented beat.
Suspension

Suspension.[6]

Suspension as an elided passing tone.[6]

A suspension (SUS) (sometimes referred to as a syncope[6]) occurs when the
harmony shifts from one chord to another, but one or more notes of the first
chord (the "Preparation") are either temporarily held over into or are played again
against the second chord (against which they are nonchord tones called the
"Suspension") before resolving to a chord tone stepwise (the "Resolution"). Note
that the whole process is called a suspension as well as the specific non-chord
tone(s):

Suspension
Suspensions may be further described using the number of the interval forming the
suspension and its resolution; e.g. 4-3 suspension, 7-6 suspension, or 9-8
suspension. Suspensions resolve downwards; otherwise it is a retardation. A
suspension must be prepared with the same note (in the same voice) using a chord tone
in the preceding chord; otherwise it is an appoggiatura.

2-3 suspension in Lassus's Beatus vir in sapientia, mm.23-24 Note that the suspended
tone is in the lower voice.
Decorated suspensions are common and consist of portamentos or double eighth notes,
the second being a lower neighbor tone.
A suspended chord is an added tone chord with a "suspended" fourth or second as an
added tone which doesn't resolve.
A chain of suspensions constitutes the fourth species of counterpoint; an example may
be found in the second movement of Arcangelo Corelli's "Christmas Concerto".
Retardation (delay)

7-8 retardation.
A retardation (RE) is similar to a suspension except that it resolves upward instead of
downward.
Appoggiatura
An appoggiatura (APP) is a type of accented incomplete neighbor tone approached
skip-wise from one chord tone and resolved stepwise to another chord tone.

Appoggiatura

Nonharmonic bass
Nonharmonic bass notes are bass notes which are not a member of the chord below
which they are written.

Nonharmonic bass: F, below a C major chord.

Examples include the Elektra chord.[8]
Involving more than three notes
Nota cambiata
A nota cambiata is a four note melodic figure and the forerunner of the 18th-century's
changing tones. The first and fourth notes are always consonant, while the
second and third may or may not be, and the second note is the nota cambiata
("changed note") itself.[9]

Nota cambiata.
Changing tones
Changing tones (CT) are two successive nonharmonic tones. A chord tone steps to a
nonchord tone which skips to another nonchord tone which leads by step to a
chord tone, often the same chord tone. They may imply neighboring tones with a
missing or implied note in the middle. Also called double neighboring tones or
neighbor group.[2]

Changing tones.
Pedal point
Another form of nonchord tone is a pedal point or pedal tone (PD) or note, almost
always the tonic or dominant, which is held through a series of chord changes. The
pedal point is almost always in the lowest voice (the term originates from organ playing),
but it may be in an upper voice; then it may be called an inverted pedal. It may also be
between the upper and lower voices, in which case it is called an internal pedal.

Pedal point.
Chromatic nonharmonic tone

Chromatic nonharmonic tones (in red) in Frdric Chopin's op. 28, no. 21, mm. 1-4[10]
A chromatic nonharmonic tone is a nonharmonic tone that is chromatic, or outside of
the key and creates half-step motion. The use of which, especially chromatic
appoggiaturas and chromatic passing tones, increased in the Romantic Period.[10]
Sources
1. ^ Kroepel, Bob (1993). Mel Bay Creative Keyboard's Deluxe Encyclopedia of Piano
Chords: A Complete Study of Chords and How to Use Them, p.8. ISBN 978-087166-579-9. Emphasis original.
2. ^ a b c d e f Benward & Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I, p.92.
Seventh Edition. ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
3. ^ "Debussy and the Crisis of Tonality", p.72. Author(s): Roland Nadeau. Source: Music

Educators Journal, Vol. 66, No. 1, (Sep., 1979), pp. 69-73. Published by: MENC:
The National Association for Music Education.
4. ^ Jonas, Oswald (1982) Introduction to the Theory of Heinrich Schenker (1934: Das
Wesen des musikalischen Kunstwerks: Eine Einfhrung in Die Lehre Heinrich
Schenkers), p.89. Trans. John Rothgeb. ISBN 0-582-28227-6.
5. ^ a b Jonas (1982), p.94.
6. ^ a b c Jonas (1982), p.96.
7. ^ Benward & Saker (2009). Music in Theory and Practice, Vol. II, p.8. ISBN 978-0-07310188-0.
8. ^ Lawrence Kramer. "Fin-de-sicle Fantasies: Elektra, Degeneration and Sexual
Science", Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2. (Jul., 1993), pp. 141-165.
9. ^ Benward & Saker (2009), p.8.
10.
^ a b Benward & Saker (2009), p.217-18.