This is the answer
to a question in
a lesson on improvisation.
1. I've circled the nonharmonic (nonchord) notes in red the example. A blue arrow points to an "avoid note." It is an avoid note because the tone e is a a half-step away from the chord tone. But this avoid note is handled nicely because it immediately resolves upward by a half-step to a chord tone. It is usually best to resolve an avoid note to the closest chord tone. In my mind, the previous step-wise motion also seems to push it upward.
2. A large skip (or leap) happens from the last note in measure 4 to the first note in measure 5. Notice how the melody falls back with stepwise motion after this upward leap.
3. The first beat of every measure is usually a chord tone. That's a good rule of thumb to follow when you are first improvising.
4. This melody has the range of an octave.
In this example, all of the nonharmonic tones are passing tones. Most of them occur on unaccented beats. But notice that there are two consecutive two passing tones -- the last tone in measure one and the first tone in measure two. As long as these notes are approached by stepwise motion and are surrounded by chord tones, they are still considered passing tones.