About this course: This course is a brief introduction to the elements of music theory for those with little or no music theory experience. We will explore pitch, rhythm, meter, notation, scales, keys, key signatures, meter signatures, triads, seventh chords, and basic harmony. If you listen to music or play music by ear, and you want to know more about how music is organized and notated, this course is for you. By the end of the course, you should know all major and minor keys, how to read and write in treble and bass clef using standard meters and rhythmic values, and how to notate and harmonize a simple melody. This course can serve as a stand-alone basic music theory course, or it can be a springboard to more advanced theory and composition courses. Your instructor is Bruce Taggart, Associate Professor of Music Theory at Michigan State University, in the College of Music, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate music theory since 1996.
Created by: Michigan State University
Taught by: Bruce Taggart, Associate Professor
College of Music
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Basic Materials: Overview, Tonality, Notation
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this module, you should be able to: (1) discuss the elements of music, (2) explain the difference between tonal and atonal music, (3) sing the tonic in tonal music, (4) identify the fundamental and partials of a note, (5) explain the difference between chord and harmony, (6) explain the five-line staff, (7) read and write notes using treble and bass clefs, and (8) identify rhythmic values in notation. You should be able to (9) distinguish between pitch and pitch class, (10) describe octaves and how to label pitches based on octave placement, (11) identify and write accidentals and find them on the piano keyboard, (12) and define equal temperament (the artificial scale used on the modern piano) and tell how it differs from other tuning systems.
9 videos, 1 reading, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Course Overview
- Video: Tonality and Atonality
- Video: Harmonic Function
- Video: Harmonic Hierarchy
- Video: Acoustics
- Practice Quiz: Tonality and Acoustics Practice Quiz
- Discussion Prompt: Why Music? What Music? My Music.
- Video: Notation I: Pitch
- Video: Notation II: Rhythmic Notation
- Video: Notation III: Measures and Measure Numbers
- Video: Notation IV: Notation In Action
- Practice Quiz: Notation Practice Quiz
- Discussion Prompt: Music Notation and Me
- Reading: Notation Reading
Graded: Tonality, Harmony, Acoustics
Graded: Pitch and Rhythm Notation
WEEK 2
Scales, Keys, and Intervals
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this module, you should be able to (1) describe the diatonic set and understand how it is used to create major and minor scales, (2) sing major and minor using solfeggio (solfege) syllables, (3) explain the difference between natural, harmonic, and melodic minor, (4) spell major and minor scales starting on any note using accidentals in treble and bass clef, and (5) spell parallel and relative major and minor scales. You should also be able to (6) identify and spell by size and quality diatonic intervals (within a key) and chromatic intervals (outside a key).
12 videos, 3 readings, 2 practice quizzes
- Video: Half Steps, Whole Steps, and the Diatonic Set
- Video: Major Scales
- Video: Key Signatures
- Video: Sharp Key Signatures
- Video: Flat Key Signatures And The Circle of Fifths
- Video: Minor Scales
- Video: Relative Minor
- Video: Forms Of Minor Scales
- Reading: More On Minor
- Reading: Key Signature Practice
- Practice Quiz: Diatonic Set, Major, Minor: Practice Quiz
- Discussion Prompt: Sad Minor?
- Video: Generic Intervals
- Video: Interval Quality and Diatonic Intervals
- Video: More Diatonic Intervals
- Video: Chromatic Intervals and Inversion
- Reading: More On Intervals
- Practice Quiz: Intervals Practice Quiz
- Discussion Prompt: My Favorite Intervals!
Graded: Diatonic Set, Major, Minor
Graded: Intervals Quiz
WEEK 3
Rhythm and Meter
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this module, you should be able to (1) read and write all possible rhythmic values, including dotted notes and ties, (2) understand how many notes fit within a measure in various meters, (3) determine meter signatures based on note grouping, and note grouping based on meter signatures, (4) define the types of musical accent and how they create a sense of meter, (5) distinguish between duple and triple meters in notation and by sound, and (6) describe and identify metrical syncopation. You should be able to (7) write melodies on the treble, bass, and grand staves using correct meter signatures, note values, rhythmic grouping, stem direction and beaming, and key signatures and accidentals,
6 videos, 2 readings
- Video: Accents and Meter Beats
- Video: Rhythm and Meter II: Subdivisions of the Beat
- Video: Meter III: Simple and Compound Meters
- Reading: More About Meter and Meter Signatures
- Discussion Prompt: Fascinating Rhythm
- Video: Metric Notation In Practice
- Video: Metric Notation: Tuplets
- Reading: More On Tuplets
- Video: Syncopation
Graded: Rhythm and Meter
Graded: Meter, Tuplets, Syncopation
WEEK 4
Chords, Triads, and Harmony
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this module, you should be able to (1) identify and spell major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads in root position and inversions, and (2) identify and spell major, minor, dominant, half-diminished, and fully diminished seventh chords in root position and inversions. You should also be able to (3) use Roman numeral labels to identify diatonic triads within a key, (4) write triads within a key when given Roman numerals, and (5) spell chords when given pop/jazz chord symbols.
8 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Video: Triads
- Video: Triads II: Inversions
- Video: Triads III: Quality
- Reading: More on Triads
- Practice Quiz: Triads
- Discussion Prompt: When Is A Chord Not A Chord?
- Video: Seventh Chords
- Video: Qualities of Seventh Chords
- Video: Fully Diminished Seventh Chords
- Reading: More On Seventh Chords
- Reading: 7th Chords In Jazz
- Video: Chord Symbols
- Video: Roman Numeral Notation
- Discussion Prompt: What Now?
Graded: Seventh Chords
Graded: Labeling Chords
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Pricing
| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
I'm very pleased with this course, although you have to keep in mind that it's packed with lots of information, which can be a lot for a beginner.
Mr. Taggart is a brilliant Professor
Very happy with this course, I've taken theory before and I know that a lot of the things mentioned here finally make sense, unlike in my other courses were I never really fully understood the concepts, just simply that they exist haha.
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Overall an excellent course with a lot of foundational theory. A lot of it can get complicated and tedious, especially towards the end. It also requires a fair amount of memorization. These are all necessary steps and there's no faking your way through it. I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to that first a-ha moment that ties the teachings into a real-world use case!
A few pieces of feedback: (a) the videos themselves could be a little better. eg. when discussing things with a keyboard on screen, the keys should light up in sync with the instructor's lecture. Similarly, when spelling the chords out, notes could be highlighted or added to the staff as the lecture progresses, rather than after the entire chord has been broken down. (b) the test questions in the middle of lectures will sometimes ask you about something that was on screen for a split second before cutting over to the question. It would be great to add an image to the question for reference (similar to the ones in the quizzes), otherwise it's very hard to answer the questions.
All in all, small gripes, and I would still highly recommend this course to anyone interested in getting their heads wrapped around the basics of music theory.