About this course
Have you ever wondered how the musical scale came about? Or why certain pitches sound better together than others? "Music Theory", by award-winning composer, Jonathan Peters, is a comprehensive course in the study of music. Much more than just memorization of musical terms and definitions...this course explains the "why".
Please click on "What am I going to get from this course" below to see all of the topics covered in this course.
What are the requirements?
- No previous musical knowledge is needed.
- A computer with internet connection, a monitor, and speakers to hear audio samples.
What am I going to get from this course?
- Over 75 lectures and 4 hours of content!
- 352 Diagrams
- 89 Audio examples
- 45 Quizzes
- 910 Quiz questions
- 369 Memory Questions
- 16 Exercises
- Experiments and free downloadable music apps
- This course covers all of the following concepts and subject material: Definition of Music — The elements of music (rhythm & pitch) — Division of pitch into melody and harmony — Rhythmic notation (parts of a note) — Discussion on relative durations of sound — Notes - whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth — Why notes are named the way they are — Relative durations vs. assigning numerical values — The unit of measurement — Beat — Tempo — Meter — Distinguishing between rhythm and meter — Bar lines and measures — Time signatures — 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 meters — Determining the meter without a time signature — Natural division of rhythms — Strong and weak pulses — Rests - whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth — Assigning numerical values to rests — The whole rest and meter — Dotted notes — Numerical values of dotted notes — History of dotted notes — Dotted rhythms — The 3:1 ratio in dotted rhythms — The tie — Ties vs. dotted notes — Advantages and disadvantages of notating with ties vs. dots — Re-designation of the unit — 3/8 and 6/8 meters — New numerical values of notes — Understanding relative durations with regard to a new unit of measurement — Strength of pulses — Designating the half note as the unit — Notating 2/2 meter or cut time — Numerical values of note durations in 2/2 meter — Comparison of 4/4 meter and 2/2 meter — Reasons for 2/2 meter — Classifying meters — Simple meter — Compound meter — Duple meter — Triple meter — Quadruple meter — Complex meter — Artificial divisions of the beat or beats — Artificial division of parts of the beat — Common types of tuplets — Definition of triplets — Identifying triplets — Ratio of triplets — Numerical value of triplets — Definition of duplets — Identifying duplets — Ratio of duplets — Artificial divisions in relation to simple and compound meters — Sound waves — Frequency — Indefinite vs. definite pitch — Modern vs. ancient definition of pitch — Pitch experiment — Introduction to the staff — How the mind sees number — Ledger lines — Clefs — Movement on the staff (step, skip, repeat) — The musical alphabet — Letter names on the staff — The grand staff — Direction of note stems (and rationale) — Introduction to the keyboard — Groups of black keys — Letter names of keys — Correlation of staff to the keyboard — Half steps and whole steps — Sharps and flats on the keyboard — Enharmonic equivalents — Enharmonic keyboard notes — Reading sharps and flats on the staff — Sharps and flats within measures — The natural sign — The definition of interval — Melodic vs. harmonic intervals — Identifying intervals on the keyboard — Identifying intervals on the staff — Ratios and intervals — Pythagoras and the monochord — Consonance and dissonance — Definition and history of the modern scale — The major scale — Intervals and the major scale — Basis of the scale — Basis of the whole tone — Greek Tetrachords — Greek Semi tone and whole tone — Constructing scales on the keyboard — Constructing scales on the staff — Definition of "key" — The key signature — The circle of 5ths — The order of sharps — The order of flats — How to determine the key from the sharps/flats — How to determine how many and which sharps/flats are in a given key — Enharmonic keys — Interval number vs. interval quality — Major, minor and perfect interval qualities — Determining an intervals' number and quality — Connection of interval qualities to the major scale — Identifying intervals on the staff — Augmented and diminished interval qualities — How augmented and diminished intervals are formed — The double sharp — Why the double sharp is necessary — The double flat — Why the double flat is necessary — The tritone — Abbreviations for interval qualities — Enharmonic intervals — Complementary intervals — Which qualities, when inverted, become which qualities — Simple intervals — Compound intervals — Reducing compound intervals — How to determine the quality of compound intervals — Open and closed harmony — Difference between intervals and chords — Major and minor chords — Deriving the ratio of the major and minor 3rds using the monochord — The Pythagoras experiment and the major chord — Block and broken chords — Augmented and diminished chords — Music's move from the horizontal to the vertical — Mathematical proportions of the major, minor, augmented and diminished triads — Understanding the harmonic mean — The harmonic mean and the major chord — Understanding the arithmetic mean — The arithmetic mean and the minor chord — The geometric mean and the augmented and diminished chords — Relation of chords to the major scale — Number of possible triads constructed from the pitches of the major scale — Order and quantity of triad qualities formed from the major scale — Roots of chords, scales, and keys — Comparison of the major and minor scales — Tetrachords in minor scales — The natural minor scale — Constructing natural minor scales on the keyboard — Constructing natural minor scales on the staff — The harmonic minor scale — The melodic minor scale — Ascending vs. descending melodic minor scale — Constructing harmonic minor scales on the keyboard — Constructing harmonic minor scales on the staff — Constructing melodic minor scales on the keyboard — Constructing melodic minor scales on the staff — Relative keys — Determining the relative minor — Determining the relative major — Determining the key of music with shared key signatures — Parallel keys — Difference between parallel and relative keys — Relation of chords to the natural minor scale — Order and quantity of triad qualities formed from the natural minor scale — Relation of chords to the harmonic minor scale — Order and quantity of triad qualities formed from the harmonic minor scale — The major scale degrees — Naming the scale degree using Roman numerals — Naming triads using Roman numerals — Benefit to using degree vs. letter name — Primary chords and their importance — Relationship between chords — Chord inversions — Root position, 1st inversion and 2nd inversion — Intervals in chord inversions — The root rule — How to identify chord inversions by name, quality and inversion — Voices of a chord — Voice leading — Inversions and the primary chords — Chord progressions — Use of inversions to improve transition between chords — Introduction to function — Function names of the scale degrees — Extending the triad — Dominant seventh chords — Other names and notation of the dominant seventh chord — Why the dominant seventh chord is named the way it is — Inversion of the dominant seventh chord — 3rd inversion — Finding the root in a dominant seventh chord — How to identify a dominant seventh chord — Dominant seventh chords with missing notes — Major 7th chords — Minor 7th chords — Diminished 7th chords — Musical punctuation — Perfect authentic cadence — Imperfect authentic cadence — Half cadence — Plagal cadence — Deceptive cadence — Hexatonic scale — Whole tone scale — Chromatic scale — Pentatonic scale — Tonal music — Tonal centers — Polytonal music — Atonal music — Free atonal — Strict atonal — Twelve-tone technique — Tone rows — The ancient Greek modes — History of the church modes — Modern modes — The harmonic series — Overtones — Fundamental of a pitch — Complex vibration of a string — What the numbers of the harmonic series express — Hearing overtones (and experiment) — Timbre — Nature's hierarchy of harmonic sound — Objective measurement of consonance and dissonance — History of consonance and dissonance — Tuning pitches — Brief history of tuning systems — Pythagorean tuning — Just intonation — Equal temperament — Definition of cents — Tuning of the modern piano — Benefits and shortcomings of the different tuning systems — Apps that demonstrate and compare some of the tuning systems — Overview of the four main periods of western art music
What is the target audience?
- Any person wanting to learn about music.
- Beginners to advanced music students.