Sustained tone
A sustained tone is a note that is held longer while other voices move. It can lie in any voice. If it lies in the bass and the harmony changes above it, it is called a pedal point.
- Feature
- one note stays, other voices move
- Position
- possible in any voice: bass, inner voice, top voice
- In the bass
- pedal point
- As a sound base
- drone
One note stays
A sustained tone is at first just what the name says: a note that stays put. It is held over several beats or bars while the other voices move. Because the sustained tone does not move along, its relation to the other voices keeps changing. It is now the root, now the fifth, now the seventh, now a dissonance that is resolved only later.
Sustained tone in the lower voice: C stays, the melody wanders
The lower voice holds the C for three bars. Above it the harmony changes with every melody note, the bass note itself does not. In the last bar the melody meets the C again, an octave above the sustained tone.
Sustained tone in the upper voice: G stays, the lower voice moves
Here the upper voice holds the G, and the lower runs C–D–E–C. The G sounds first as a fifth above the C, then as a fourth above the D, then as a third above the E, and finally again as a fifth.
Sustained tone, pedal point and drone
The three terms overlap but do not mean the same. Sustained tone is the most general: a held note in any voice. Pedal point is the name for the sustained tone in the bass over which the harmonies change. Usually it is the tonic or the dominant. Drone means a note or a fifth that accompanies as a constant sound base, for example in the bagpipe. A sustained tone in an inner or upper voice is therefore neither pedal point nor drone, but simply a held note, as in the second example.
What it is used for
A sustained tone holds the texture together: it gives the ear a fixed point against which the movement of the other voices can be measured. At the same time it creates tension when the voices form sounds that do not fit it, and relaxation when they find their way back to it.
Common mistakes
- Repeating the sustained tone instead of holding it: If it is struck anew on every beat, it is a repeated note and not a held one.
- Wanting every combination to sound “right”: A sustained tone may clash at times. That is part of its effect.
- Confusing sustained tone and tie: The tie lengthens a single note. A sustained tone describes what the voice does in the texture.
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Related terms
Pedal pointDroneVoice / partCounterpointDominantTonicTriadChord
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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