How melodies decorate the underlying harmony. Identify and write non-chord tones (passing tones, neighbor tones, appoggiaturas, escape tones, anticipations, pedal points, and suspensions), then see how composers develop a short motive and build momentum with melodic and harmonic sequences.
Six ways to master Unit 6 — pick whichever fits how you like to study.
Seven topics from the College Board CED, in order.
Unit 6 is about how melodies get decorated without changing the underlying harmony. You'll learn seven types of non-chord tones — passing tones, neighbor tones, appoggiaturas, escape tones, anticipations, pedal points, and suspensions/retardations — each identified by how it's approached and how it resolves.
The second half of the unit steps back to look at larger-scale organization: how a short motive is transformed (transposed, inverted, augmented, diminished) across a piece, and how melodic and harmonic sequences repeat a pattern at successive pitch levels to build momentum toward a goal.
Unlike most AP courses, the College Board does not assign a percentage of the exam to each unit — the exam is weighted by section (45% multiple choice, 45% free response, 10% sight-singing). Unit 6's non-chord tones show up constantly in aural and notated analysis questions across the exam.
Unit 6 develops two of the four AP Music Theory Big Ideas: