Above the tones, motives repeat and sequence. The tool below drills passports and patterns.
WeSolve+ reads the whole document and writes the questions for you
Upload your PDF, photograph your notebook, or point the camera. WeSolve+ writes questions from that material, explains why each answer is right, reads the chapter back to you as a podcast, and remembers every item you missed until you own it.
The tool below is a small browser-only tool and it is not WeSolve+: paste a few lines and text rules turn them into cards on the spot. The real app, the one that uses AI, is behind the link above.
Unit 6 tone passports, from your own notes
This is a browser-only tool, and that is all it isIt splits the text you paste by rule, and nothing else. WeSolve+ is a different thing entirely: it reads your whole PDF with AI, writes the reasoning behind every question, speaks the chapter back to you, and remembers what you missed so it can return it. Try the real app now, free!
What you paste is what gets carded. Fixed rules split the text and nothing outside it is known, which makes the paste itself the real decision.
Every nonchord tone carries a passport
A nonchord tone is identified by two stamps: approach and resolution. Passing tones step through the gap between chord tones; neighbour tones step away and return; the anticipation arrives at the next chord's pitch early; the escape tone steps out and leaps away; the appoggiatura leaps in and resolves down by step. Memorise the stamp pairs, because the exam names tones by behaviour, never by flavour.
Suspensions resolve on schedule, and the numbers name them
A suspension holds a consonant note while the harmony changes under it, making a dissonance that resolves down by step: preparation, suspension, resolution, three beats of drama. The interval over the bass names the species, 4 3 and 7 6 above, 2 3 in the bass, 9 8 returning to the octave. The schedule is graded: preparation tied or repeated, dissonance on the strong beat, resolution down by step, every stage checkable.
Pedal points invert the decoration
A pedal point holds one note, usually the tonic or dominant in the bass, while harmonies change above it: the held tone is consonant, dissonant, consonant again as chords pass. It is the one nonchord device where the stationary note is the point and the chords do the moving. Spot it by the sustained bass under shifting numerals, and label the passage from the pedal's pitch.
Motives are the melody's cells, and sequences move them
A motive is the smallest recognisable idea, a rhythm plus a contour, and composers build phrases by repeating, inverting and extending it. A sequence repeats the motive at a new pitch level, stepping up or down by a constant interval, usually twice before moving on. Analysis credits naming the cell, the transposition interval and the number of legs.
Embellishment against structure: keep the frame visible
The unit's skill is double vision: hear the decorated surface and the chordal frame beneath. Reduction exercises strip nonchord tones to reveal the progression; dictation runs the reverse, catching which notes are structural. The classic error is harmonising a passing tone as if it were a chord tone, which invents wrong chords. Frame first, decoration second, in both directions.
What to photograph for Harmony and Voice Leading III
Your tone charts and reduction drills. Related: Unit 5, photo to quiz and pricing.
Sources used on this page
- College Board, AP Music Theory
- Nonchord tone
- Pedal point
- Motif (music)
- Sequence (music)
- Active recall
- Spaced repetition
- Testing effect
- Forgetting curve
- Generation effect
- Judgment of learning
- Metacognition
- Desirable difficulty
- Distributed practice
- Formative assessment
- Flashcard
- Cloze test
- Multiple choice
- Test (assessment)
- Educational assessment
- Advanced Placement
- Curriculum
- Study skills
- Study guide
- Note-taking
- Overlearning
- Instructional scaffolding
- Item analysis
- Mastery learning
| Tone | Approach | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Passing | Step from a chord tone | Step onward, same direction |
| Neighbour | Step away | Step back to the start |
| Suspension | Held from before | Down by step, on schedule |
| Anticipation | Early arrival | Stays as the chord lands |
| Appoggiatura | Leap in | Down by step |
| Escape tone | Step out | Leap away, opposite direction |
What does AP Music Theory Unit 6 cover?
Embellishment: the nonchord tone taxonomy by approach and resolution, suspensions and pedal points, motives and sequences, and reduction skills.
How are nonchord tones identified?
By behaviour: the approach and the resolution stamp the passport, passing steps through, a neighbour returns, an appoggiatura leaps in and falls.
What do a suspension's numbers mean?
Intervals over the bass at dissonance and resolution: 4 3 and 7 6 resolve above the bass, 2 3 resolves in the bass itself.
What makes a pedal point special?
The decoration stands still: one held note stays while harmonies change above, consonant and dissonant by turns.
What counts as a sequence?
A motive repeated at a new pitch level by a constant interval, typically two legs beyond the original before the pattern breaks.
Can I build questions from my own Unit 6 notes?
Yes. Point the camera at the pages or send the PDF, and the questions stay within that material instead of ranging across the term.
Last updated: 2026-08-15