Questions: Suspension and Resolution Identification by Ear

Question 1

You hear a chord arrive at what sounds like a dominant harmony, but one voice seems 'stuck' — not quite fitting the chord. A moment later, that voice moves down by step and the chord 'clicks into place.' Which of the following best identifies what you heard?

• A. An anticipation, where a note from the next chord arrives early
• B. A 4-3 suspension, where a fourth above the bass holds over and resolves down to the third
• C. A passing tone connecting the fifth and third of the dominant
• D. A neighbor tone decorating the root of the dominant before returning

Answer: (B)

The 'stuck' quality followed by a downward step resolution is the defining signature of a suspension. Because the dissonance occurs against a dominant chord and the resolution produces the third of that chord, this is a 4-3 suspension: the suspended note makes a fourth above the bass, then resolves down to the third. An anticipation would arrive before the chord change, not during it; passing and neighbor tones don't produce the same sustained catch-and-release shape.

Question 2

While listening to a passage, you identify a moment of dissonance where the dissonant note moves upward by step to reach a consonance in the new harmony. What can you conclude?

• A. It is a 7-6 suspension resolving to the octave
• B. It is an unusual example of a 4-5 suspension resolving upward
• C. It cannot be a suspension — suspensions always resolve downward, not upward
• D. It is a 2-3 bass suspension where the bass rises to the root

Answer: (C)

Downward resolution is definitional for suspensions. A suspension is a note held over from the previous chord while the harmony changes; it then resolves by stepwise motion *downward* to a chord tone. Upward stepwise resolution into a consonance is characteristic of other non-harmonic tones — an escape tone, a leading tone, or an appoggiatura — not a suspension. If the note moves up, it is not a suspension by definition.

Question 3

A 2-3 suspension differs from a 4-3 or 7-6 suspension in that the suspended note is in the bass voice rather than an upper voice.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

The 2-3 (bass suspension) reverses the usual arrangement: the bass voice holds over from the previous chord while the upper voices move to form the new harmony. This creates a distinctive texture in which the 'ground' beneath the chord hasn't yet caught up — the bass makes a second against one of the upper voices (hence '2') and resolves downward by step to the third below (hence '3'). All other common suspension types place the suspended note in an upper voice against the bass.

Question 4

The most reliable strategy for identifying a suspension by ear is to first determine the interval the dissonant note makes against the bass, then check that it was prepared.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Interval identification is the second step, not the first. The most reliable strategy is to listen for the three-phase shape: a smooth arrival into the chord, a 'catch' of dissonance as one voice doesn't fit, then a downward resolution. Once you recognize this catch-and-release shape and confirm the downward resolution, you can then identify the type by asking where the suspended note sits relative to the bass — fourth (4-3), seventh (7-6), or second in the bass (2-3). Jumping straight to interval labeling before recognizing the perceptual shape leads to confusion with other dissonances.

Question 5

Describe the three phases of a suspension in the order you hear them, and explain why the direction of resolution is a decisive diagnostic feature that distinguishes suspensions from other non-harmonic tones.

Model answer: A suspension has three phases: (1) preparation — the note appears as a consonance in the previous chord; (2) suspension — the note is held while the harmony changes, creating dissonance; (3) resolution — the note moves downward by step to a consonant pitch in the new chord. Downward resolution is decisive because it is definitional: if the note resolves upward, the device is something else (escape tone, appoggiatura, anticipation). The 'catch-and-release' shape — smooth arrival, brief dissonant catch, relaxing release downward — is the perceptual fingerprint that distinguishes suspensions from passing tones, neighbor tones, and other dissonant embellishments.

The three-phase framework is more useful for ear training than interval-first approaches because it is perceptually salient: you hear the smooth arrival, then the slight 'wrongness,' then the relaxation. Once you can reliably detect this shape, labeling the type (4-3, 7-6, 2-3) becomes a matter of locating the interval — a more tractable analytical step after the suspension is already identified.