Preface

Although music is often referred to as the universal language, very few people are truly "fluent" in it. Nearly anyone can listen to, tap their foot or bob their head in time with the music, or perhaps even hum along with it to some extent, but, like any language, being able to fully understand, read, and write it requires patient study and practice. This hypertext is written to provide a thorough foundation in the fundamentals of tonal music. Every effort has been made to be concise, yet thorough; easy to understand, yet techinacally accurate. There are differing approaches to many topics in music. When there are multiple ways of referring to various terms, this text strives to present the most common. This text can be used as a framework for a First-Year Music Theory course, as a preparation and/or review for entry to a college music program, or simply as a means of deepening one’s knowledge and understanding of music.

As an aural artform, it is important to not only read about music, but to hear it. Music is also totally interrelated: one cannot even begin to discuss harmony until one is familiar with pitch, intervals, etc. The development of "hypermedia" (integrated, linked combinations of text, images, and sound) provides an ideal medium for presenting, discussing, examining, and hearing the basic components of the musical language, which led to the development of this hypertext.

Ideally, every music student would read their music theory text at a piano, playing every single example multiple times, and re-enforcing terms with which they are not solidly familiar by looking them up in a glossary or dictionary. However, as any theory student or teacher will tell you, this is rarely the case. This hypertext allows readers to hear the examples and easily review various terms with a single click of the mouse. It is still highly recommended that as you study this hypertext, you also practice singing out loud and playing on the piano and/or another instrument each example. This will allow you to gain experience in "speaking" the musical language.

At this point I would like to thank Theresa Dobbs, Dave Odegaard, and all of the others who served as initial readers and provided feedback during the writing of this hypertext. Finally, I would also like to thank my students, who continually teach me more about, and deepen my own passion for, this wonderful artform.

How to Use This Hypertext

This hypertext was designed to allow for self-study and review or for use in a traditional classroom setting. Basic concepts, principles, and information is presented in what I hope is the most simple form. At the end of each section, it is highly recommended that you then follow up by trying to write/compose examples that use the topics covered, and play them on a piano and/or your instrument. You should then also try to apply this by analyzing compositions by "common-practice" composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Just as any language class would expect practice in hearing, reading and writing, every music theory course of study should do the same. This is the only way to become truly fluent in a language.

Don’t try to cover too much information at once. It is better to completely master smaller amounts of information at a time than to skim over great amounts of information without being completely solid in your knowledge of the material. There is a huge difference between "being familiar with" something and knowing it thoroughly. Don’t study topics only until they look familiar, but until it becomes ridiculously easy. For example, if someone were to suddenly stop you on the street and ask you to spell a chord or scale, if you have to "think about it a bit" or slowly calculate it out, you do not know it. Similarly, you know your phone number, middle name, etc. and can quickly recite them without any forethought. Many musicians make the mistake of thinking of music fundamentals as "too easy" and want to quickly "get to the good stuff" — while never actually mastering the basics that allow them to do just that. Remember how long it took to learn to read and write English, and allow yourself time to do the same with music.

Finally, get together with other musicians and lovers of music, and make music with them. Share your examples that you write, ask questions, and look/listen to works together. Don’t be shy about your own current level of expertise: every great performer can tell you numerous tales of their own mistakes and performance disasters! The important thing is to patiently keep studying, practicing, and enjoying music. You may also wish to try and/or purchase music software that works on aural skills (singing and recognition). Several programs are available, includng Music Lessons from MiBAC Software.

Technical Setup

In order to get the most from this site, you should have a sound card and/or software system capable of playing General MIDI files. Quicktime software from Apple does this, and is free and available. Many browsers have this software already installed. If you do not have Quicktime, you will be able to see the examples but not hear them.

The musical examples in this hypertext can and should be played as you study the material. Following each example you will find a small control strip like the one shown below. This allows you to play the example through your computer. The controls are simple and allow you to play an example as many times as you like. The following illustration shows what each button does:

If proplerly installed, you should see two control strips like the above illustration in the Quicktime Audio Test Section below. If not, click here to download Quicktime from Apple Computer. Then follow the installation instructions included with Quicktime. When installed, return to this page and continue.

Quicktime Audio Test

Click the play button on each of the control strips below. You should hear violins and piano in the brief musical passage and a voice welcome when playing the message. If not, click the rightmost button on one of the following control strips, and select "Plug-in Settings..." from the menu. Select "MIME settings..." on that screen and the following screen. When you see a list of "...MIME types you would like the Quicktime plugin to handle..." be sure that the boxes next to all of the "MIDI" and "AIF" types are selected.

Brief Musical Passage:

Message:

You also should be familiar with the basic operations of your browser. Click on underlined words (known as "links") to jump to that related information. Click on one of the two choices below to either begin the first section or select a topic from the Table of Contents.

Links:

• First section: Introduction
• Table of Contents