Music TheoryThe grammar behind the music — work through the fundamentals, then build up into tonality and harmony.
practiceTools and games
Note Identification
open →Read notes on the staff and name them on sight.
Interval Study
open →Hear and name the distance between two pitches.
Rhythm and Meter
open →Count, clap, and feel time signatures and subdivisions.
Scale Building
open →Construct major, minor, and modal scales from any root.
Arpeggios, Chords, and Triads
open →Stack thirds into triads and chords, then outline them as arpeggios.
Interval Class Training
open →Name the interval class between two notes — 0 through 6.
unit 1aFoundations of Tonal Music: Pitch
- ch. 1read →
The Staff and Clefs
Five lines, four spaces, and the clef that tells you which pitches they stand for.
- ch. 2soon
Pitches and Pitch Classes
- ch. 3soon
Intervals I (Generic, Melodic, Harmonic)
- ch. 4soon
Enharmonics
- ch. 5soon
Scales
- ch. 6soon
Scale Degree Numbers and Names
- ch. 7soon
Major and Minor
- ch. 8soon
Key Signatures
- ch. 9soon
Intervals II (Qualities and Inversions)
- ch. 10soon
Chords I (Major and Minor Triads)
unit 1bFoundations of Tonal Music: Time
- ch. 11soon
Pulse and Beat
- ch. 12soon
Rhythm (Notes, Rests, Dots, Ties)
- ch. 13soon
Meter (Division, Simple vs. Compound)
- ch. 14soon
Time Signatures
- ch. 15soon
Syncopation and Hemiola
unit 2Melody and Harmony
- ch. 16soon
Melody and Two-Voice Counterpoint
- ch. 17soon
Chords II (Triads, Seventh Chords, and Figured Bass)
- ch. 18soon
Textures
- ch. 19soon
Harmony
- ch. 20soon
Non-Chord Tones / Embellishing Tones
unit 3Intro to Functional Harmony
- ch. 21soon
The Tonic and Dominant
- ch. 22soon
Voice Leading
- ch. 23soon
The Pre-Dominant
- ch. 24soon
Cadences and the Phrase Model
unit 4Other Harmonic Functions and Phrases
- ch. 25soon
The Submediant and Mediant
- ch. 26soon
Second Inversion (Six-Four) Chords
- ch. 27soon
Phrase Forms (Period, Sentence, etc.)
unit 5Chromaticism
- ch. 28soon
Applied Chords and Secondary Dominants
- ch. 29soon
Tonicization and Modulation
- ch. 30soon
Modal Mixture
- ch. 31soon
The Neapolitan Chord and the Augmented Sixth Chords
- ch. 32soon
The Common-Tone Diminished Seventh Chord
unit 6Musical Form
- ch. 33soon
Binary Forms
- ch. 34soon
Ternary Forms
- ch. 35soon
Rondo
- ch. 36soon
Sonata-allegro
unit 7Intro to Atonal Concepts and Twelve-Tone Techniques
- ch. 37soon
Pitch Classes and Equivalence
- ch. 38soon
Integer Notation
- ch. 39soon
Collections
- ch. 40soon
The Aggregate and the Twelve-Tone Row
- ch. 41soon
Twelve-Tone Operators and the Twelve-Tone Matrix