--- title: Music Theory description: Music Theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. You will understand how to read sheet music, analyze chord progressions, construct scales, and identify rhythmic patterns, providing a foundation for performance and composition. category: music-audio subcategory: music-theory difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/music-theory --- # Music Theory Music Theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. You will understand how to read sheet music, analyze chord progressions, construct scales, and identify rhythmic patterns, providing a foundation for performance and composition. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 5 Courses • 3 Websites ## Courses ### 1. Open Music Theory Learn music theory and analysis with Open Music Theory, a comprehensive and accessible online course. Explore harmony, form, and more! **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/ **Tags:** music-theory, free, open-access, textbook ### 2. Computational Music Theory and Analysis (MIT 21M.383) **Author:** Michael Scott Asato Cuthbert Computational musicology in the symbolic, score-based domain using the Python music21 toolkit: encoding, corpus studies, musical search and similarity, feature extraction, machine learning, music generation, perception and bias in digital repertories. 47 lecture videos, assignments and exams build practical analysis skills. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21m-383-computational-music-theory-and-analysis-spring-2023/ **Tags:** computational-musicology, music-theory, music-analysis, music21, python ### 3. Fundamentals of Music Theory This course, revised in 2022, will introduce you to the theory of music, providing you with the skills needed to read and write Western music notation, as well as to understand, analyse, and listen informedly. It will cover material such as pitches and scales, intervals, clefs, rhythm, form, metre and time signatures, phrases and cadences, and basic harmony. This course covers the fundamentals of Western music theory, from the absolute basics to some more advanced concepts. As such, it delivers material for beginners and offers much to experienced musicians alike. Learners can apply for Financial Aid directly with Coursera to assist with the cost of accessing the full course and gaining a certificate for successfully completing the course. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/edinburgh-music-theory **Tags:** music-theory, free, online-course ### 4. Listening to Music — MUSI 112 (Yale / Open Yale Courses) **Author:** Craig Wright Open Yale Courses introductory course of 23 recorded lectures by Craig Wright on how Western classical music is built: rhythm, melody, harmony, texture and form, then genres such as fugue, sonata, symphony and opera. Learners can follow and describe what they hear. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112/lecture-1 **Tags:** music-appreciation, classical-music, musical-form, active-listening, music-history ### 5. Developing Your Musicianship specialization (Berklee / Coursera) Four courses by George W. Russell Jr. covering major/minor tonalities, chord scales, song forms, and ear training — free to audit individually. A comprehensive musicianship foundation from Berklee. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/specializations/musicianship-specialization **Tags:** music-theory, ear-training, free, online-course ## Websites ### 1. Hooktheory A crowd-sourced database of pop, rock, and film songs transcribed as chord progressions and melodies in scale-degree notation. Browsing and searching it shows how common progressions recur across songs and how melody sits against harmony. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab **Tags:** chord-progressions, harmony, melody, songwriting, music-analysis ### 2. musictheory.net Musictheory.net is a free, interactive platform for learning music theory, offering concise lessons on intervals, chords, scales, rhythm, and notation. It also provides hands-on practice with ear training and theory tools to test and reinforce your understanding. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://musictheory.net **Tags:** websites, arts-design, creative-arts ### 3. teoria.com Teoria is an online music theory resource offering interactive lessons, ear-training exercises, and reference materials on scales, intervals, chords, rhythm, and harmony, with musical examples and analyses. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://teoria.com **Tags:** websites, arts-design, creative-arts ## Youtubes ### 1. PianoTV (Allysia Van Betuw) Beginner-friendly theory integrated with piano learning. ~148K YouTube subscribers, also runs the companion site pianotv.net. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@PianotvNet **Tags:** piano, music-theory, youtube, beginner ### 2. Adam Neely Deep music theory essays — rhythm, harmony, and form explored with intellectual rigour and rare clarity. ~1.81M subscribers. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@AdamNeely **Tags:** music-theory, youtube, advanced ## Books ### 1. Music Theory for Dummies **Author:** Michael Pilhofer, Holly Day Covers notation, rhythm, scales, intervals, chords, and cadences with worked examples and ear-training audio. Working through it leaves you able to read a score, build and name chords, and analyse a simple key-based progression. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119575524?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, creative-arts ### 2. Harmony and Theory **Author:** Keith Wyatt, Carl Schroeder The Musicians Institute harmony course in book form: intervals, scales, key signatures, chord construction and inversion, harmonized major and minor scales, extended chords, and modulation. Exercises train you to analyse and build progressions in any key. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/063404771X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, arts-design, creative-arts --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/music-theory