How do we recognize passing tones and neighbor tones as decorations of the harmony?
Topic 6.1 Identifying Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones: locate passing and neighbor tones in a melody and distinguish them from chord tones.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 6.1, covering non-chord tones, the passing tone (stepwise between two different chord tones) and the neighbor tone (stepwise away from and back to one chord tone), accented versus unaccented placement, and telling them from chord tones, with a worked identification.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
Have a quick question? Jump to the Q&A page
Jump to a section
What this topic is asking
The College Board (Topic 6.1) wants you to locate passing tones and neighbor tones in a melody and distinguish these embellishing non-chord tones from the chord tones around them, noting whether each is accented or unaccented.
Non-chord tones
Non-chord tones are what make a melody flow smoothly over a slower-moving harmony. Identifying them means first knowing the chord, then checking which melody notes are chord members and which are decorations.
Passing tones and neighbor tones
The distinction is purely about the shape of approach and departure: same direction equals passing, return to the start equals neighbor. The accented versions fall on the beat and sound more pointed.
Why we analyze embellishments
The central idea is that a melody is usually a decorated version of a simpler underlying line of chord tones. Composers connect chord tones with stepwise passing and neighbor tones to make a singing, flowing melody, and analyzing those embellishments lets you see the harmonic skeleton beneath the surface. This matters for three exam skills at once. In harmonic analysis, you must label only the real chords and not be fooled into hearing a passing tone as a chord change. In dictation, recognizing stepwise non-chord tones helps you notate fast-moving melodies correctly. And in part-writing and composition, adding passing and neighbor tones is how you turn a bare progression into idiomatic music. The whole of Unit 6 builds on this single idea: most melodic motion is chord tones connected and decorated by predictable non-chord tones.
Identifying a non-chord tone
To identify a non-chord tone, name the chord sounding beneath the melody, then check each melody note: if it is a chord member, it is a chord tone; if not, see how it is approached and left. Same-direction stepwise motion is a passing tone; step-away-and-return is a neighbor tone.
Try this
Q1. How is a passing tone approached and left? [1 point]
- Cue. By step in the same direction, connecting two different chord tones.
Q2. What distinguishes a neighbor tone from a passing tone? [2 points]
- Cue. A neighbor tone steps away from a chord tone and returns to the same chord tone (opposite directions), while a passing tone continues in the same direction to a different chord tone.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2021 (style)1 marksSection I (multiple choice, written). Over a held C major chord, a melody moves C up to D up to E by step. What is the D? (A) a chord tone (B) a passing tone (C) a neighbor tone (D) a suspensionShow worked answer →
The correct answer is (B) a passing tone.
A passing tone is a non-chord tone approached and left by step in the same direction, filling the gap between two different chord tones. Here C and E are chord tones of C major, and the D between them is a passing tone connecting them by step.
(A) D is not a member of the C major triad, so it is not a chord tone. (C) a neighbor tone steps away from and returns to the same chord tone, but here the melody continues to E. (D) a suspension is a held-over tone that resolves down; this is approached by step, not held over. The trap is calling D a chord tone; over a C major chord, D is a passing dissonance.
AP 2023 (style)2 marksSection II (free response, harmonic analysis). Over a sustained G major chord, the soprano moves B up to C and back to B. Identify the C and explain how it is approached and left.Show worked answer →
A 2-point analysis question.
(1 point) C is an upper neighbor tone: B is a chord tone of G major, and C steps up away from it and then steps back down to the same B.
(1 point) A neighbor tone is approached by step and left by step in the opposite direction, returning to the original chord tone; here the motion B up to C up and back down to B is the defining neighbor shape.
Markers reward identifying C as an upper neighbor tone and describing the step-away-and-return motion that distinguishes a neighbor tone from a passing tone (which would continue to a different chord tone).
Related dot points
- Topic 6.2 Writing Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones: add passing and neighbor tones to a part-writing texture correctly and without creating parallels.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 6.2, covering how to add passing and neighbor tones to a four-voice texture, choosing where a third can be filled with a passing tone, decorating a static voice with a neighbor, and avoiding parallels caused by the embellishment, with a worked addition.
- Topic 6.3 Identifying Anticipations, Escape Tones, Appoggiaturas, and Pedal Points: recognize these embellishing tones by how they are approached and left.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 6.3, covering the anticipation (arrives early), the escape tone (step away then leap back), the appoggiatura (leap to an accented dissonance then step down), and the pedal point (sustained tone under changing harmony), each identified by its approach and departure, with a worked identification.
- Topic 6.4 Identifying and Writing Suspensions; Identifying Retardations: recognize and write suspensions by their three stages and number them (4-3, 7-6, 9-8, 2-3 bass), and identify retardations.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 6.4, covering the suspension and its three stages (preparation, suspension, resolution), the common figures (4-3, 7-6, 9-8, and the 2-3 bass suspension), how the dissonance resolves down by step, and the retardation (resolves up), with a worked suspension.
- Topic 5.7 Additional 6/4 Chords: identify and part-write the passing six-four and the pedal (neighbor) six-four as embellishing chords over a stationary or stepwise bass.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 5.7, covering the passing six-four (bass passes by step between two positions of a chord) and the pedal or neighbor six-four (over a held bass), how each is an embellishing rather than functional chord, the smooth voice leading they need, and contrasting them with the cadential six-four, with a worked example.
- Topic 4.2 SATB Voice Leading: apply the rules of range, spacing, doubling, smooth motion and tendency-tone resolution when writing four-part harmony.
A focused answer to AP Music Theory Topic 4.2, covering the four-voice ranges, the spacing rule (no more than an octave between adjacent upper voices), doubling guidelines, the ban on parallels and voice crossing, and resolving the leading tone and tendency tones, with a worked voicing.
Sources & how we know this
- AP Music Theory Course and Exam Description — College Board (2024)