AP Music Theory Unit 6 Harmony and Voice Leading III

Unit 6: Harmony and Voice Leading III: Embellishments, Motives, and Melodic Devices Lesson One: Embellishing Tones: Identifying Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones ● A passing tone is a melodic embellishment (typically a non-chord tone) that occurs between two stable tones (Typically Chord Tones), creating a step-like motion. ● Escape tone: opposite of an appoggiatura; step and then resolves in a leap. ● Appoggiatura: leap and then resolve in a step. ● Anticipation: moves by a step or a leap and anticipates a chord tone change. Like a "spoiler" for what the next chord is going to be. ● Suspension: resolved by step to a lower tone that is part of a new chord. ● Retardation: resolved by step to an upper tone that is part of a new chord. ● Neighboring tone: nonharmonic tone occurring between repetitions of a chordal tone, approached by step, and resolved by step in the opposite direction. ● changing tone: cluster of notes where the 1st and 4th note are the same, the second is an escape tone, and the third is an appoggiatura. Does not need to be triplets. ● Pedal tone: held for a long time, normally on an organ. Lesson Two: Embellishing Tones: Writing Passing Tones and Neighbor Tones ● When writing neighbor tones, the complete neighbor tone must be in between two of the same chords. ● Passing tones cannot be stable so that the harmonic progression favors going to the tonic. Lesson Three: Embellishing Tones: Identifying Anticipations, Escape Tones, Appoggiaturas, and Pedal Points ● Definitions above ● Pedal point is the same as a pedal tone. Lesson Four: Embellishing Tones: Identifying and Writing Suspensions; Identifying Retardations ● A suspension is a delayed step down. Suspensions may occur on any part of the chord (root, third, fifth, or seventh), but they always resolve down step by step. Ties are optional. A suspension always has three parts: 1. The preparation (P) note before the suspension, which is consonant and metrically weak 2. The suspension (S) itself, which is dissonant and metrically strong; 3. The resolution (R) note, which is always metrically weak. Suspensions are labeled based on intervals above the bass. The four common suspension types are 9-8, 7-6, 4-3, and 2-3. Many other types are possible, especially if the bass moves before the resolution occurs. A chain of suspensions (or suspension chain) uses the resolution of one suspension as the preparation for another. ● A retardation is essentially an upward-resolving suspension. It is almost always reserved for the final chord of a large formal division (or a movement), and it frequently appears simultaneously with a suspension (as seen in the example). Instead of RET, it is preferable to notate the intervallic pattern in the thoroughbass figures. Lesson Five: Motive and Motivic Transformation ● Imitation: same motive, different voices ● Reharmonization: same motive heard in different harmonics ● Transposition: shift all pitches up or down by a consistent interval ● Tonal transposition: diatonic interval sizes are preserved chromatic sizes may change ● Real transposition: chromatic sizes are persevered, some pitches outside the key ● Inversion: same intervals perceived, but in opposite directions ● Retrograde: motive is presented backwards ● Retrograde inversion: inverted notice presented backwards ● Augmentation: durations are increased proportionately ● Diminution: durations are decreased proportionately ● Interpolation: new musical material is inserted into the middle of the motive (interjection) ● Fragmentation: develop a fragment of the motive to make it longer (repetition) (can also involve transpositions and sequence) ● Embellishment: extra notes (melodic elaborations) are added to create a more florid line ● Changes of intervals: overall contour is preserved Lesson Six: Melodic Sequence ● In music, a sequence is the restatement of a motif or longer melodic (or harmonic) passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. It is one of the most common and simple methods of elaborating a melody in eighteenth and nineteenth century classical music (Classical period and Romantic music). Lesson Seven: 7 Harmonic Sequence ● Descending Thirds (no inversions): Down a 4th up a step ● Descending thirds (with inversions): Looks like down a step each time, but every other (starting on second chord) is a first inversion ● Ascending Step Sequence (no inversion): Down a third up a fourth ● Ascending step (with inversion, no accidentals): Repeat each note, every other chord is in first inversion (repeated note is inverted chord) ● Ascending step (with inversion and accidentals): Chromatically ascending notes in first inversion (second inverted chord is 6#)