Music Theory from Zero: Hear It, Read It, Write It

What's inside

1. Level 1: Pitch, Notes and the Piano KeyboardFree
   You find out what pitch is and learn to name every white and black key on the piano using the musical alphabet A to G.
2. Level 2: The Stave and the Treble ClefFree
   You learn how the five-line stave (US: staff) shows pitch, and you read notes in the treble clef.
3. Level 3: The Bass Clef and the Grand Stave
   You read notes in the bass clef and see how the treble and bass staves join at middle C to form the grand stave (US: grand staff).
4. Level 4: Note Values and Rests
   You learn how long each note and rest lasts, from the semibreve (whole note) down to the semiquaver (sixteenth note), using both UK and US names.
5. Level 5: Beats, Bars and Time Signatures
   You feel the steady beat, group it into bars (US: measures) and read time signatures like 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 and 6/8.
6. Level 6: Tempo and Dynamics Markings
   You learn to read the Italian words and symbols that tell you how fast and how loud to play, from adagio to allegro and from pianissimo to fortissimo.
7. Level 7: Tones, Semitones, Sharps and Flats
   You measure the distance between notes in semitones (US: half steps) and tones (US: whole steps), and learn how sharps, flats and naturals change them.
8. Level 8: Building the Major Scale
   You build the major scale from the tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone pattern and number its degrees from 1 to 8.
9. Level 9: Keys and Key Signatures
   You learn what it means to be 'in a key' and how a key signature at the start of the stave tells you which sharps or flats to play throughout.
10. Level 10: The Circle of Fifths
    You use the circle of fifths as a map that shows every major key, its key signature and which keys are close neighbours.
11. Level 11: Minor Scales: Natural, Harmonic and Melodic
    You build the three forms of the minor scale and find each major key's relative minor.
12. Level 12: Intervals: Measuring Distance
    You name intervals by number and quality (major, minor, perfect, augmented, diminished) and count them in semitones.
13. Level 13: Triads: Stacking Thirds into Chords
    You stack thirds to build major, minor, diminished and augmented triads, and find the chords that live in every major key.
14. Level 14: Reading Chord Symbols
    You read the chord symbols on lead sheets and song charts, such as C, Am, Bdim, Caug and slash chords like C/E, and turn them into notes.
15. Level 15: Common Chord Progressions in Songs
    You hear and play I-IV-V, I-V-vi-IV and ii-V-I, and learn why so many songs you already know are built on them.
16. Level 16: Melody and Phrases
    You look at how melodies are built from steps, leaps, motifs and phrases, and how phrases work together like a question and an answer.
17. Level 17: Song Forms: Verse-Chorus, 12-Bar Blues, AABA
    You learn to map a song's structure and recognise verse-chorus, 12-bar blues and 32-bar AABA forms.
18. Level 18: A Taste of Modes and Seventh Chords
    You add new colours to your music with the modes (Dorian, Mixolydian and friends) and with major seventh, minor seventh and dominant seventh chords.
19. Level 19: Ear Training: Hearing Intervals and Chords
    You train your ear to recognise intervals, chord qualities and common progressions using free ear-training tools such as musictheory.net and Teoria.
20. Level 20: Final Challenge: Write Your Own Song Exam
    In the final challenge, you bring the whole course together by writing, notating and analysing a short song of your own, then pass a review quiz covering every level.

Access

The first 2 levels are free with a free account. Every level, the podcast edition and the AI tutor come with All Access at £4.99/month or any Creator plan — see pricing.

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