ABSTRACT
Nonharmonic tones constitute part of a broader category of musical technique known as figuration or ornamentation. Figuration enlivens basic musical structures. Some primers rely on intervallic formulas to describe nonharmonic tones. The clever manipulations of great composers, however, produce nonharmonic tones that are anything but formulaic. Composers also can obscure harmony by replacing a chord tone with a nonharmonic tone for a harmony’s full duration. The complete harmony is never fully actualized, but enough of its constituent parts are present to comprehend its meaning. Some nonharmonic tones can be perceived as incorporating either single or multiple layers of ornamentation. One can easily infer from theory primers that a hallmark of the nonharmonic tone is its stepwise connection to a tone of greater stability, usually a chord tone. One procedure that can produce a variety of “rule-bending” nonharmonic tones is registral displacement. Ordinary stepwise motions that are transformed into extravagant-looking leaps can easily mask standard maneuvers.
