to hear a half-step.
A Music Theory Tutorial For Music Appreciation Students
After completing this lesson, you will be able to
I imagine it would be easy and convenient for many music appreciation students and their instructors to bypass the basics of music theory. After all, it can be difficult to understand, especially for those with little or no background in music, and you probably won't use much of it during your time here. You should know that many first-year college students who are majoring in music find music theory perplexing, and that grasping even the least bit of it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with one's musical experience or lack of the same. Mostly, it comes down to two factors: 1) the ability to comprehend what is being heard and 2) math. Think of it as hearing someone say "2+2." Now, you don't have to hear the answer to that equation; you instinctively know the answer through repetition and /or skill. Music theory is much the same, except you're interpreting music rather than numbers. In this tutorial you'll learn some fundamentals of music theory; hopefully, this will enhance your experience in this course.
Pitch
Pitch refers to the "relative" highness or lowness of a sound.
Intervals
Interval refers to the distance between two pitches. Western music recognizes the half-step as the smallest interval.
Click
to hear a half-step.
Click
to hear the whole-step, another important interval.
Here are some other intervals. Practice singing them as you listen. This will aid in memorization.
Click
to hear a third.
Click
to hear a fourth. You may recognize
this as the first interval in "Here Comes The Bride."
Click
to hear a fifth.
Click
to hear a sixth. You may recognize
this as the first interval in "My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean."
Click
to hear a seventh.
Click
to hear an octave.
Scales
In western music, pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Scales are made of linear rows of pitches. There are two very common scales in western music: the major and the minor . An example of a major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. (It is the distance from C to C that forms the interval of the octave.) An example of a minor scale is A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A.
Click
to hear a major scale.
Click
to hear a minor scale.
Harmony & Chords
Harmony refers to the sound created by two or more different pitches being sounded simultaneously. Many people use the term harmony to denote a pleasing sound created by multiple voices, but in the strict sense harmony doesn't have to sound pleasing.
A chord is formed when three or more notes are played simultaneously. The most basic chord in western music is the triad, a combination of three pitches. There are four types of triads in western music: major, minor, diminished, and augmented. Click the links below to hear an example of each.
Major triad
Minor triad
Augmented triad
Diminished triad
Sometimes, the notes that form a chord are performed consecutively. This is called an arpeggio.
Click
to hear an arpeggio of a major triad.
Chord Progression
Chord progression refers to the way chords follow each other in a piece of music. In tonal music, one chord is more important than the rest and acts as "home base." (That chord is referred to as tonic.) The music will move away from the tonic, but the mind's ear longs for a return and eventually repose is achieved when the tonic chord is heard again.
Click
to hear a sample chord progression. (Listen for the return of the
tonic!)
Click
to hear a sample chord progression. (Listen for the return of the
tonic!)
Click
to hear a sample chord progression in a minor key.
That's all the music theory you need for now. Repeat this tutorial until the sounds are recognizable.