Embellishing Tones
Embellishing tones (also called non-chord tones, or NCTs) are pitches that do not belong to the prevailing harmony but decorate or connect the chord tones around them. They give melodies color and forward motion. Every NCT is classified by how it is approached and how it leaves: by step, by leap, or by the same pitch repeated (a hold). The most common categories are passing tones, neighbor tones, suspensions, anticipations, and appoggiaturas.
A passing tone (PT) fills in a stepwise gap between two chord tones of different pitch, approached and left by step in the same direction. A neighbor tone (NT) decorates a chord tone by moving a step away — either up (upper neighbor) or down (lower neighbor) — and then returning to the same pitch. Both can be accented (falling on a strong beat) or unaccented (falling on a weak beat), though accented passing and neighbor tones create mild dissonance that draws the ear.
A suspension (SUS) is prepared on a weak beat as a chord tone, held over into the next chord where it becomes a dissonance, then resolved by step downward (occasionally upward). Suspensions are labeled by the interval they form over the bass before and after resolution: 4–3, 7–6, and 9–8 are the most common in soprano or inner voices; 2–3 appears in the bass. An anticipation (ANT) is the reverse: it arrives a beat early, sounding the next chord tone while the current harmony is still in effect. An appoggiatura is a leaped-to dissonance (approached by leap, resolved by step), producing a particularly expressive, yearning effect.
