Learn Music Theory

Strophic Form is a type of form used in music. It has been used for centuries, in church music, classical,

Binary Form is a common type of musical form. It is usually found in classical and particularly Baroque music pieces.

Just like writing and speaking, music is a language with rules that govern how we can compose it. It has

In music, chords are often the way performers or composers would create harmony in their songs. The way we play

If you’ve read our post on all the types of chords there are in music, you’ll already know that there

If you have ever played or listened to Jazz music, you’ve most likely heard the Bebop Scale in use. It

Melody is one of the three main parameters that makes music out of a collection of sounds and beats, alongside

To make a good sounding and interesting melody, you have to carefully choose how each note moves to the next

Harmony is a word that is essentially synonymous with music itself. When it comes to music theory, harmony is the

The Circle of Fifths is an incredible tool that has many different uses when it comes to music theory. It

Chords are the basic building block for music harmony, and therefore you’ve almost definitely heard a lot about them. But

Music is often thought of as a way to express the creation of sound over a specific amount of time.

If you’ve ever been in a choir or taken singing lessons, you’ve almost certainly come across solfege. It is the

If you’ve ever played an instrument in a band or took lessons, you’ve most likely played with a metronome. Almost

Syncopation is a word you’ve probably heard a lot when talking about rhythm. It is especially common in African-American music

All music that has ever been written is some combination of sound and time. You can’t have music without something

Pitch is one of the most fundamental words in all of music. Everything that deals with melody and harmony, scales

In music, you’ve probably heard of accidentals, but might not know exactly what they are. They’re related to scales and

If you want to study to become a composer or musician, you most likely will have to learn about Species

When we talk about motion in music we’re often referring to how a melody is changing in pitch and when

If you’ve ever listened to classical music or taken a music class, chances are you have come across the term

Every piece of music you hear has a tempo. On a piece of sheet music, it is almost always found

The seventh, and final mode of the major scale to learn is the Locrian Mode. It is probably the mode

The Aeolian mode is the second most popular mode, only behind the Ionian mode. It is most likely the second

Polyphonic texture, also called polyphony, is the least popular of the three main formal textures. The other two types besting

Homophonic texture, also called homophony, is by far the most common type of texture found in music today. The other

In music, monophonic texture is the simplest of the three main types of texture, the other two being homophonic and

Texture is a word used a lot to describe music, but it can often be difficult to understand. We can

The mixolydian mode is one that is used widely in lots of different styles of music. Everything from pop to

Of all the modes of the major scale there is one type that has an augmented interval in it called

If you’ve ever heard a piece of music that sounds a bit Egyptian, then it’s likely that it was using

There are lots of different types of scales in music, some are a lot more familiar than others. There are

If you’ve never heard of the ionian mode, the likely hood is that you know it without knowing that you

As you hopefully know, an interval is the distance in pitch between any two notes. We describe the name of

Transposing music from one key to another is a vitally important skill to learn. It’s used all the time by

When writing and notating music sometimes we want a note to last longer than its time value. As you hopefully

Chords are an essential part of music theory that create harmony. If you’re not aware a chord is when two

In music, to describe the volume of a passage we don’t use words like quiet or loud but instead use

I don’t know about you but I love listening to podcasts. I probably have about 20 shows that I listen

In music, when describing how loud a piece of music is we use a series of symbols and Italian words

Who likes taking an exam? I’m not sure anyone does. Music theory exams are no exception and can be even

The music note tree is a great visual way to understand the relationship between all the different types of music

Sooner or later when playing and listening to lots of different music you’re likely to run into time signatures that

When learning a musical instrument and music theory, a key concept to learn about is pitch and the distances between

If you play an instrument that’s at a lower pitch then you’re probably already familiar with the bass clef but

Learning how to draw a treble clef is a big part of music theory and music notation. After the staff

Knowing about cadences as a musician is a fundamental part of harmony and song writing. They can completely change the

The term enharmonic if you haven’t heard it before, can be quite confusing. You’ll often get asked about it in

There are many different types of notes in music each with their own time value that they last for. But

In the long history of notating music down there have been multiple types of clef used for different instruments and

Unlike major scales where there is just the one, there are a few different types of minor scales. They all

When it comes to naming intervals that span less than an octave it’s a pretty simple, but what do you

When learning to read music you have to learn about all the different clefs that instruments use. Some are used

When it comes to learning about musical clefs, there are a few essential ones that you’ll need to know about

Arguably the most important symbol in music, the treble clef is one of the most common types of music clef

There are lots of different types of scales in music. Most of the ones that you’re probably familiar with have

As we covered in our beginner’s guide to musical scales post here, a scale is a group of notes arranged

Being able to correctly notate or read rhythm is a huge part of music theory and being a good musician.

When playing or writing music, sometimes you’ll want to subdivide a beat into a rhythm that can be tricky to

A diatonic scale is the name we give to a type of scale that has a very specific formula of

The pentatonic scale is one of the most widely recognised and used scales probably of all time. You’ll commonly hear

There are lots of different types of scales in music. Some have seven notes, some have five, some sound happy

When learning music we tend to think of scales having either a happy, cheerful and bright sound (major scale) or

Learning music theory can be pretty confusing and overwhelming. The sheer amount of information available can make it hard to

In music, when describing how fast a piece of music should be played at we use a series of different

An orchestra in classical music is a large group of musicians all playing together. It’s made up of dozens of

So you’re on your journey of learning about music theory and you want to know what the best music theory

If you’re learning music theory then you understand how many different topics and questions there are to cover. Learning on

Without intervals we wouldn’t have melody chords, or scales. They really are one of the foundations of music. In this

Dynamics are one of the most important parts of playing music. You can express so much emotion with them. In

In music, we use the word tempo to describe what speed a passage of music should be played at. But

When I began learning an instrument I used to get very frustrated by ornaments as I’d never know exactly what

When writing or playing music, sometimes we’ll want to subdivide a beat in a way that isn’t as simple as

If you’re looking to learn music theory online then there are a lot of fantastic options. There are tonnes of

As we covered in our beginner’s guide to musical scales, a scale is a group of notes arranged in ascending

When learning music theory and scales, the first one that most people learn about is a major scale but they

On this page, I’ve put together some time signatures charts of different simple and compound time signatures and how we

When it comes to music theory, key signatures are an essential part of making music easier to read. They also

If you’re learning a musical instrument then quite often one of the first things you learn how to play is

In this post about musical clefs, we learnt about the letter names of all the white notes on the piano

In music, we indicate to musicians when to play by using different types of musical notes. But what happens when

In this post, we’re going to cover all the grade 5 performance directions you need to know for the ABRSM

Studying for your grade 4 music theory exam?  Then there are some performance directions you’re going to need to learn.

For the ABRSM grade 3 music theory exam you’re going to need to know some Italian words and symbols and

For the ABRSM grade 2 music theory exam you’re going to need to know some Italian words and symbols and

Being able to communicate what pitch a note should be is essential for musicians and composers to be able to

As a child when learning to read and write one of the first things you learn is all the letters

When learning to read and write a language you arrange individual letters in groups from left to right. You then

Time signatures are a very important part of reading and writing music. They tell us everything we need to know

One of the first places to start when studying music is to learn about all the types of musical notes