Music Theory: An Education from First Principles

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Cool:

 

http://www.lightnote.co/

[Jay 37,346]

 

This is great!!

Thanks!!

[Loert 2,511]

As usual, these kinds of things are dumbed down and can be misleading. For instance...

 

Quote

Key
A group of notes used in a song.

Because not all of the 12 notes sound good together, we must select a set of notes to use in a song. This is a Key.

When a song says that it is in the key of C Major, or D Minor, or A Harmonic, etc. this is simply telling you which of the 12 notes are used in this song.

That's it.

 

"Group" of notes? What is meant by "group"? Is the order important?

 

Quote

Because not all of the 12 notes sound good together

 

Well, they're not all in good harmony (like 2:1, 4:3...), but that doesn't mean they don't sound "good" together. This is a huge problem for me - this site is telling you what sounds "good" and what sounds "bad" from the outset. Massive no-no.

 

Quote

When a song says that it is in the key of C Major, or D Minor, or A Harmonic, etc. this is simply telling you which of the 12 notes are used in this song.

 

This may be the case for certain songs, but it isn't always the case, and it's definitely not what a "key" means.

 

Quote

That's it.

 

NO

 

Yes, this site is free, and the animations/widgets are nice, but it can lead somebody who is new to music theory to conclude concepts that are simply wrong, like "If a song is in a key, it only uses notes in that key", or "OK, let's improvise a C major song. I must remember not to use any notes which aren't in the C major scale!"

 

For a better free alternative, I recommend Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People (concise one-page summaries of key topics [no pun intended]. When it teaches you about keys, it first teaches you how to read key signatures before moving on to how keys are used. It starts with a guide to reading notation, so you will learn how to read music too). 

[Jilal 569]

Wholly agreed, @loert.

 

4 minutes ago, loert said:

"Group" of notes? What is meant by "group"? Is the order important?

 

I'm actually revising combinatorics at the moment, so this is funny.

[Omen II 1,235]

Bad eggs are disgusting, generally causing fits.

 

Father Christmas goes down an escalator backwards.

 

??

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

5 hours ago, loert said:

As usual, these kinds of things are dumbed down and can be misleading. For instance...

 

 

"Group" of notes? What is meant by "group"? Is the order important?

 

 

Well, they're not all in good harmony (like 2:1, 4:3...), but that doesn't mean they don't sound "good" together. This is a huge problem for me - this site is telling you what sounds "good" and what sounds "bad" from the outset. Massive no-no.

 

 

This may be the case for certain songs, but it isn't always the case, and it's definitely not what a "key" means.

 

 

NO

 

Yes, this site is free, and the animations/widgets are nice, but it can lead somebody who is new to music theory to conclude concepts that are simply wrong, like "If a song is in a key, it only uses notes in that key", or "OK, let's improvise a C major song. I must remember not to use any notes which aren't in the C major scale!"

 

For a better free alternative, I recommend Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People (concise one-page summaries of key topics [no pun intended]. When it teaches you about keys, it first teaches you how to read key signatures before moving on to how keys are used. It starts with a guide to reading notation, so you will learn how to read music too). 

 

Meh, nitpicky, though I don't disagree. I doubt people who want to learn music theory are going to fall prey to such editorializing.