Series: School of Theory

Intro to Music Theory

This is part 1 of 7 of the series School of Theory

  Intro to music theory … Do you want to know more about music? Are you learning to play a musical instrument and having a bit of trouble understanding music terminology? Need a grasp of the concepts? You… Read the rest

Lesson 1: Naming The Musical Notes

This is part 2 of 7 of the series School of Theory

From that day I had a short lesson with Madame Gaillard every Thursday at three. We began with a slim book bearing the title Les 7 Notes, and [ naming the musical notes ] was as arcane, and… Read the rest

Lesson 2: Sharps, Flats, and Naturals

This is part 3 of 7 of the series School of Theory

Sharps, Flats, and Naturals – In the previous lesson, we learned that the natural notes have names corresponding to the first seven letters of the alphabet. We saw where to find them on a few musical instruments. We… Read the rest

Lesson 3: The Major Scale

This is part 4 of 7 of the series School of Theory

In previous lessons, we’ve learned about the names of musical notes and the intervals between them. In this lesson, we begin to apply what we’ve learned in order to understand scales. This will be the first of very,… Read the rest

Lesson 4: Major Chords

This is part 5 of 7 of the series School of Theory

Major Chords – In an earlier lesson, I likened the musical notes to simple bricks with which all kinds of musical architecture could be built. (Hey, maybe that’s why hitting a sour note is like the sonic equivalent… Read the rest

Lesson 5: Musical Intervals

This is part 6 of 7 of the series School of Theory

In previous lessons, I’ve been guilty of the exaggeration that “intervals are everything in music theory.” An exaggeration, but it underscores the value of intervals. This lesson will be dedicated to a fuller introduction to musical intervals. Intervals… Read the rest

Lesson 6: The Minor Scale

This is part 7 of 7 of the series School of Theory

In a previous lesson, we noted that the two most common diatonic, seven-note scales are called the major scale and the minor scale. The major scale was discussed in lesson three. This lesson will focus on the minor… Read the rest