A melody does not need to use only chord tones, but important notes often connect clearly with the harmony underneath.
Each section below is labeled with the target it teaches. The questions and your Noteflight task practice every target.
Knowledgeable · Thinker — Thinking: connect scale and chord knowledge to the melodies and harmonies you build.
Use what you're learning to complete the Noteflight task below, then check your own work before moving on.
Inquiry: How do you decide which notes in your melody should be chord tones and which should not?
Reflect: What did “Melody Over Chords” teach you about your own composing choices?
Writing a melody over chords starts with the test from Primary Chords & Melody: for each melody note, name the chord underneath and ask whether the note is one of its three letters. A melody does not have to use only chord tones. But the chord tones are what make the harmony audible in the melody, so you need to know where they are.
The simplest way to fit a melody to I–IV–V–I: choose a chord tone for every beat. Every note below belongs to its chord, so the melody and the harmony agree completely. It is correct, but it skips constantly, like a string of arpeggios.
In “Ode to Joy,” most notes are chord tones, but not all. The orange notes are non-chord tones, and each one is reached by step from a chord tone. That is how a melody can be smooth and still make the harmony clear.
Listeners hear the harmony most clearly on the important beats: beat 1 of each measure, beat 3 in 4/4 to a lesser degree, any long note, and the last note of a phrase. Put chord tones there and the harmony stays clear, even if the notes in between are not chord tones. A non-chord tone on a long downbeat clashes with the chord for as long as it is held.
Over I in C major, E on beat 1 and a long C on beat 3 are both chord tones. The D between them is a quick non-chord tone, and it sounds smooth.
Over the same chord, this version puts D on beat 1 and holds B on beat 3. Neither belongs to C–E–G. Listen to how the long B rubs against the chord.
In “Amazing Grace,” every downbeat is a long note, and every one is a chord tone: C, E, C, G. The only non-chord tone, the D in m. 2, is a short note on the weakest beat.
A passing tone is a non-chord tone that moves by step from one chord tone to another, continuing in the same direction: it fills in a skip. Passing tones usually fall on weaker beats or between beats. They must also stay in the key. Use the notes of the key signature, so a passing tone in G major between E and G is F♯, not F.
“Ode to Joy” opens with a passing tone. E and G are both chord tones of I; the F between them fills the skip by step. Beethoven places it on beat 3, a secondary beat in 4/4, and it passes quickly to the G.
Over V in C major (G–B–D), the melody descends from G to D. F and E are both non-chord tones, and both are passing tones: they fill the gap by step, in one direction.
In G major over IV (C–E–G), a passing tone from E up to G has to be F♯, the note the key signature supplies. An F natural would sound like it came from a different key.
Here is the one-chord-tone-per-beat melody from the start of the lesson, then a revision. The revision keeps chord tones on beats 1 and 3 of every measure and adds a passing tone (orange) in each of the first three measures.
| Measure | Change | Why the harmony stays clear |
|---|---|---|
| m. 1 (I) | C–E becomes C–D–E | D is a passing tone on beat 2; C and G still take beats 1 and 3 |
| m. 2 (IV) | F–A becomes F–G–A | G passes by step between two chord tones; F takes beats 1 and 3 |
| m. 3 (V) | D–B becomes D–C–B | C passes down to B; D and G take beats 1 and 3 |
| m. 4 (I) | Unchanged | B (the leading tone) rises to a held C on the tonic chord |
Model description: The first pass fits the harmony perfectly but skips on every beat, so it sounds like four arpeggios. The revision fills one skip in each of the first three measures with a passing tone, always an eighth note on beat 2 and always a note of C major. Beats 1 and 3 stay chord tones, so the progression I–IV–V–I is still clear, and the melody now mixes steps with skips. The ending is unchanged: the leading tone B rises to C over the tonic chord.
Notice what the description does: it names each change, says where the passing tones fall in the measure, and explains why the harmony is still audible. That is the reasoning you will use when you revise over chords.
Pick an answer for each question. You will see right away whether you are correct and why.
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1The chord is IV in C major (F–A–C). Is the orange note a chord tone?
2Both melodies sit over I in C major. Play them. Which one puts chord tones on the important beats?
3Listen only. The chords are I, then V, in C major. Where does a long melody note clash with its chord?
4Over I in C major, which note in this melody is a passing tone?
5Listen, then choose which excerpt you heard.
6Which description of a good passing tone is accurate?
Work the way the worked revision does: first secure the harmony with chord tones, then make the melody move more smoothly without losing it.
Use a provided I–IV–V–I progression and compose one note per beat above it. Then make the melody more interesting while keeping the harmony clear.
Choose a chord tone for every beat over every chord.
Chord tones stay on beats 1 and 3 and at the end.
Fill skips by step, using notes of the key.
In Pass 1, write the chord’s three letters above each measure, then check every melody note against them.
In Pass 2, check beat 1 and beat 3 of every measure, and your final note. Each should still be a chord tone.
Play Pass 2. If any note sounds foreign, check it against the key signature. Then write one sentence naming one passing tone and the two chord tones it connects.
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Finish the Noteflight work above, then mark this lesson done when you finish.