Music Theory Explained

This course will explain and demonstrate the basic elements of music theory. The course is designed to be useful for musicians of any instrument, as well as non-musicians who want to enhance their ability to understand and appreciate the music we all listen to.

We will begin by exploring the major scale and see how all other scales are derived from it. We will explain and demonstrate the different intervals between notes and how to recognize them in the popular songs we listen to. We will introduce the famous “Circle of Fifths” and show how useful that can be to understanding music.

We will discuss and demonstrate the three different chord families and examine how they provide the foundation and harmony for any piece of music. The relationship between chord harmony and the melody of individual notes will be explored. We will demonstrate different types of rhythms that are characteristic of different types of music. Finally we will introduce the basic concepts of reading sheet music using the Treble Clef.

You do not have to be a musician to take this class. You need only provide the curiosity of how music works. Some keyboards, guitars, ukuleles, and bongos may be used to demonstrate the topics discussed.