Overview

One of the tools that composers use to make music more interesting is the nonharmonic tone. Nonharmonic tones are pitches that are added to a composition that are not part of the surrounding chord. The nonharmonic tone creates dissonance which in turn creates momentary musical tension – a really cool effect. In this chapter you will learn about the various different kinds of nonharmonic tones and how they work, and learn how to identify them within a musical context.

How to Spot a Nonharmonic Tone

One of the most important skills to develop when working with nonharmonic tones is learning how to identify them. Once you have located a nonharmonic tone, it becomes much easier to determine its type, as the possibilities are fairly limited. The tutorial embedded below, “Desperately Seeking Nonharmonic Tones,” gives you an opportunity to practice finding nonharmonic tones in a musical selection with simple harmony.

Types of Nonharmonic Tones

In this next section we will explore the various types of nonharmonic tones, sometimes called “embellishing tones” or “non-chord tones”. These terms all mean the same thing.

Passing tones, neighbor tones: Nonharmonic tones that move by step

Example 1 showed the two kinds of embellishing tones that move by step: passing tones (PTs) and neighbor tones (NTs). Passing tones are approached by step and left by step in the same direction, either ascending or descending (Example 1). Neighbor tones are approached by step and left by step in the opposite direction, producing either an upper neighbor or a lower neighbor (Example 2).

Passing tones by openmusictheory

Example 1. Passing tones in a two-voice texture, (a) ascending and (b) descending.

Neighbor Tones by openmusictheory

Example 2. (a) Upper neighbor and (b) lower neighbor tones in a two-voice texture.

Double Neighbor Tones or Changing Tones

Double neighbor tones (DNT) (sometimes called “neighbor group” or changing tones (CT)) are made of two nonharmonic tones in a row. The first moves by step away from a chord tone, then skips to another nonharmonic tone, then moves by step to another chord tone, frequently the same chord tone.

Changing Tones by empauly

Appoggiaturas and escape tones: Nonharmonic tones that involve a skip or leap

Appoggiaturas (APPs) and escape tones (ETs) involve either a skip or a leap. Appoggiaturas are approached by skip or leap and left by step in the opposite direction (Example 3). The appoggiatura typically occurs on a stronger part of the beat than its surrounding notes. Escape tones are approached by step and left by skip or leap in the opposite direction (Example 4). The escape tone typically occurs on a weaker part of the beat than its surrounding notes. It is more common for appoggiaturas and escape tones to be left by motion downward (Examples 3a and 4a) than upward (3b and 4b).

Appoggiatura by openmusictheory

Example 3. Appoggiaturas in a two-voice texture.

Escape Tones by openmusictheory

Example 4. Escape tones in a two-voice texture.

Examples 5 and 6 show the two kinds of embellishing tones that involve a leap: appoggiaturas and escape tones.

Joseph Boulogne, String Quartet No. 4, I, mm. 5-9 by openmusictheory

Example 5. An appoggiatura in Joseph Boulogne, String Quartet no. 4, I, mm. 5–9 (0:09-0:19).

ETs in Casson The Cuckoo by openmusictheory

Example 6. An escape tone in Margaret Casson, “The Cuckoo.”

Suspensions, retardations, anticipations, and pedal tones: Nonharmonic tones involving static notes

There are four kinds of embellishing tones that involve static notes (i.e., notes that don’t move): suspensions (SUS), retardations (RET), pedal tones (PED) and anticipations (ANT)

Suspensions and Retardations

Suspensions are approached by a static note and left by step down, while retardations are approached by a static note and left by step up. They follow a similar pattern:

Preparation–>Suspension (or retardation)–>Resolution

Suspensions are indicated in Roman numeral analysis not only by their abbreviations, but by the simplified intervals of the suspension and the resolution above the bass note. Retardations do not need to be labeled with the intervals above the bass note.​

• 9-8. 7-6 and 4-3 suspensions are above the bass voice.
• 2-3 suspensions are in the bass voice.
• Both suspensions and retardations are always on a stronger part of the beat than the surrounding notes.

Example 7 below illustrates how the melodic pattern of Preparation–>Suspension–>Resolution works, and the intervallic relationships of the various suspensions and resolutions to the bass voice.

Suspensions by empauly

Example 7. 9-8, 7-6, 4-3 and 2-3 suspensions.

Example 8 provides a few examples of retardations.

Example 8. Retardations by empauly

Pedal Tones

Pedal tones are often found in the bass. They consist of a series of static notes below chord changes that do not include the bass. We typically label them using the scale degree number of the pedal note, as in Example 9.

Example 9: Josephine Lang, Dem Konigs-Sohn, mm. 16-18 by openmusictheory

Anticipations

Like the suspension, retardation, and pedal tone, anticipations also involve static notes. But anticipations are a two-note (rather than three-note) gesture, in which a chord tone is heard early as a non-chord tone (Example 10). In other words, it “anticipates” its upcoming membership in a chord.

Embellishing_Tones_ by openmusictheory

Example 10. An anticipation in Josephine Lang’s “Erinnerung,” mm. 29–30 (1:54–1:59).

Quick Review

This tutorial by MusicTheory.Net provides a quick review/overview of nonharmonic tones. You may wish to review it now, or reference it later. If the audio does not play, please switch to a different browser.

Summary

The table in Example 11 provides a summary of the embellishing tones covered in this chapter.

Embellishing Tone	Approached by	Left by	Direction	Additional Detail	Example
Passing Tone (PT)	Step	Step	Same	May ascend or descend
Neighbor Tone (NT)	Step	Step	Opposite	Both upper and lower exist
Double Neighbor or Changing Tone (CT)	Step then Skip	Step	Varies	Chord tone to nonchord tone, to nonchord tone to chord tone
Appoggiatura (APP)	Leap	Step	Opposite	Appoggiatura is usually on a strong part of the beat
Escape Tone (ET)	Step	Leap	Opposite	Escape tone is usually on a weaker part of the beat
Suspension (SUS)	Static note	Step	Down	Suspension is always on a stronger part of the beat
Retardation (RET)	Static note	Step	Up	Retardation is always on a stronger part of the beat
Pedal Tone (PED)	Static note	Static note	N/A	Stays on the same pitch
Anticipation (ANT)	N/A	Static note	N/A	The anticipation is usually on a weaker part of the beat

Example 11. Summary of embellishing tones.

1. Embellishing tones (.pdf, .mscz). Asks students to write embellishing tones in a two-voice texture and label embellishing tones in an excerpt. Worksheet recording

References

This chapter is an adaptation of “Embellishing Tones” by John Peterson in Open Music Theory, vs. 2. Adaptations include:

• Adding a section on double neighbor tones.
• Adding the H5P activity “Desperately Seeking Nonharmonic Tones”
• Adding additional information on suspensions and retardations, including the section “Why are all the suspensions in the bass voice called 2-3 suspensions?”
• Amending the table summary of nonharmonic tones at the end of this chapter to include images of nonharmonic tones, which come from Victoria Malawey’s chapter “Non-Chord Tones” from Multimodal Musicianship. 
• Embedding the Nonharmonic Tones lesson from MusicTheory.net.

All materials used in this chapter are licensed with the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license.

Resources

In addition to the sources cited above, the following resources were consulted in the adaptation of this chapter:

Benward, Bruce and Saker, Marilyn. (2021). Cadences and Nonharmonic Tones. Music in Theory and Practice, vol. 1.

Hutchinson, Robert. (2025). Non-Chord Tones. Music for the 21st Century Classroom.

Mount, A. (n.d.) Nonharmonic Tones. Fundamentals, Function and Form. University of Nebraska. Pressbooks.