Music Theory Classroom is a curriculum designed for high-school and homeschool students that covers the material studied by music majors in the first one to two years of college. It is structured so that a diligent student can complete it in three 14-week terms. There are four courses in the curriculum: two Fundamentals courses which are intended to be taken concurrently, followed by Diatonic Harmony and then Chromatic Harmony. Each course has 28 lessons, so the recommended pace is approximately two lessons per week (when taking the Fundamentals courses, this means two lessons from each of the two courses).
The courses are hosted at Udemy. Links can be found here.
Where should I start?
Every student comes in with a different level of music theory knowledge. Many instrumentalists (especially pianists) will already know enough to skip the Fundamentals courses altogether; others will need only a review. Some will need to purchase the entire course but skip the first few lessons. Some who have performed mainly “by ear,” which may include some singers, drummers or guitarists, will need to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). This would also apply to some instrumentalists who have only played in one clef (treble or bass) and will need to get up to speed in reading other clefs.
There are two ways to figure out where you should start. You can peruse the contents of each course to decide which topics you think you already understand, or you can take the Placement Tests. These are the same sort of tests that incoming music majors take at most colleges and conservatories, but Music Theory Classroom offers three different starting points for each of the Fundamentals courses (not including skipping them altogether).
Every student who has mastered the material covered in the Fundamentals courses should then move on to Diatonic Harmony, followed by Chromatic Harmony. The material in these courses forms the core of any college-level theory curriculum, and is usually complete by the end of the first year or middle of the second year of college, depending on whether the student was placed into a fundamentals course. Chromatic harmony is as far as most music minors and some majors will go. From there, most majors will take further theory courses like form, counterpoint, post-tonal theory or jazz theory. Music Theory Classroom may add some such courses at a later date.
What makes Music Theory Classroom unique?
Hopefully, my personal teaching style is an important factor! But there are also some key differences in the structure of this curriculum as compared to other available music theory courses.
The most noticeable difference is that the Fundamentals of Rhythm and Fundamentals of Melody and Harmony are taught as separate courses. In many fundamentals courses, rhythm is covered in only the first few weeks, and then the pitch-based materials become the focus for the rest of the term. In my classroom experience, I found that this was not adequate to allow inexperienced music readers to master the rhythmic material, so I began spacing out that material throughout the semester. This worked much better for most students, and with Music Theory Classroom, I am taking it to the next level by separating the courses so that students can proceed through each course at a self-determined pace.
Another difference between Music Theory Classroom and some other theory curricula is found in the Diatonic Harmony course. I have presented some of the material in a slightly different order which I think makes more sense for building concepts on top of each other while being able to look at real music as much as possible. Two specific areas where this occurs are the introduction of the dominant seventh chord early on, and the introduction of passing tones and neighbor notes much earlier than the rest of the non-harmonic tones. If you would like more specifics about this, please feel free to contact me.
Your Instructor
Nate Brown holds a Doctorate in Music Composition from the Hartt School. He has taught music theory to first and second year college students at Hartt and at the University of Oregon, and to high school students in the Hartt Performer’s Certificate Program (now known as Hartt Preparatory Academy). He also has expertise as a church musician, and his compositions have been performed on three continents.