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10.2: Passing Tones

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    10.2 Passing Tones

    Passing tones are notes that pass between chord tones.

    NCT-pt-derulo.svg

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    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Jason Desrouleaux, Ian Kirkpatrick, Samuel Denison Martin, Lindy Robbins, Mitch Allan, “Want to Want Me” (2015)

    In the first bar of the “Want to Want Me” example, the passing tone is unaccented. In the third bar, it is accented (on the beat). The non-chord tone in bar 2 is an appoggiatura.

    There can be two consecutive diatonic passing tones in a descending scale segment from the root and fifth of a chord.

    NCT-pt-as-time-goes.svg

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    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Herman Hupfeld, “As Time Goes By” (1931)

    Here is an example with chromatic passing tones.

    NCT-pt-blue-monk.svg

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    Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Thelonious Monk, “Blue Monk” (1954)

    In the next section we discuss the neighbor tone.


    This page titled 10.2: Passing Tones is shared under a GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robert Hutchinson via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.