Passing Tone
A non-chord tone stepping between two chord tones
Related
A passing tone is a non-chord tone stepping between two chord tones: unaccented, it usually just connects them; on a strong beat it becomes an expressive leaning tone.
It differs from a neighbour tone: a passing tone is a station between A and B, a neighbour leaves and returns. The usual mistake is to treat it as "filler" — it decides the melody's direction and flow; without passing tones, leaps feel stiff.
Read deeper → non-chord tone
Sources
- 经过音的分类与用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Non-chord tone"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.