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This open educational resource (OER) textbook which is available at http://musictheory.tech contains an explanation of concepts from Music Theory I, II, III, and IV. It is supplemented by video explanations and online assessment activities. It is available at no cost for students and faculty of music theory so long as they use it according to the terms. The copyright notice must not be removed and the terms of distribution may not be changed. Derivative works are permitted under the same terms. Derivative works must be registered by email to editor@musictheory.tech. The concise nature of the materials makes them especially useful for those wishing to review theory concepts before taking an entrance exam, or for students needing out-of-class review of theory topics. The book and materials are under active development and suggestions for improvements are welcome! The materials were created with partial support from an OER grant from Tarleton State University. Floyd Richmond the author has taught college-level music theory I, II, III, and IV for 15 years to hundreds of students.

The supplemental videos and interactive assessments are found in the text but are extracted and listed online at http://musictheory.tech.

The following list of concepts extracted from the Table of Contents shows the scope of the textbook.

THEORY I

WHY IS MUSIC THEORY IMPORTANT

MUSIC THEORY THROUGHOUT HISTORY

WHICH NOTE TO PLAY
Staff, Clef, Treble (G), Bass (F), Alto (C), Tenor (C), Ledger Lines, Octaves

NAMING THE NOTES

ACCIDENTALS
Lines, Space, Accidentals, Sharps, Flats, Naturals, Double Sharps, Double Flats, Octave Numbers

RHYTHM
Note Shape, Heads, Stems, Beams, Rhythmic Names, Duration

STEM DIRECTION
Stem Direction, Special Cases, Center Line, Beamed Notes)

RHYTHMIC RELATIONSHIPS
Whole Notes, Half Notes, Quarter Notes, Eighth Rests, Sixteenth Notes
Whole Rests, Half Rests, Quarter Rests, Eighth Rests, Sixteenth Rests

PATTERNS AND COUNTING
One Beat Patterns, Two Beat Patterns, Kodaly, Gordan, Traditional

METER AND TIME SIGNATURES
Meter, Quadruple Meter, Triple Meter, Duple Meter, Conducting Patterns

PICKUP NOTES
Anacrusis, Conducting

MORE ABOUT TIME SIGNATURES
Common Time, Rhythmic Durations, Time Signatures with a 2, 4, or 8 on the bottom, Simple meter, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4

COMPOUND TIME SIGNATURES
6/8, 9/8, 12/8

DOTTED NOTE VALUES
Dotted Quarter/Eighth, Dotted Eighth/Sixteenth

TIES

SLURS

REPEATS
One-measure Repeats, Two measure Repeats, Simple Repeats, First and Second Endings, DC al Fine, DS al fine, DC al Coda, DS al Coda

MAJOR SCALES
Chromatic Scale, Major Scale, Solfege, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do, Fixed and Movable do, Whole and Half Steps in a Major Scale

KEY SIGNATURES
Order of Sharps and Flats, Mnemonic Devices, Placement on the Staff, 15 Major Key Names and Number of Sharps and Flats

TONALITY

MINOR SCALES
Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic Minor Scales, Construction, 15 Mine Key Names and Number of Sharps and Flats

MODES
Minor Modes: Aeolian, Dorian, Phrygian; Major Modes: Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian; Other Modes: Locrian; Other Scales: Pentatonic, Whole Tone, Octatonic, Pitch Class Set, Chromatic

INTERVALS
Consonant Intervals, Dissonant Intervals, Neutral Intervals, Melodic Intervals, Harmonic Intervals, Unison, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, Octave, Qualities of Interval: Major, Minor, Perfect, Diminished, Augmented, Doubly Diminished, Doubly Augmented, Listening to Intervals, Enharmonically Equivalent Intervals, Most Consonant, Neutral, and Dissonant Intervals, Inverting Intervals, Identifying Intervals, Constructing Intervals

SCALE DEGREE NAMES
Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Sub Dominant, Dominant, Submediant, Leading Tone, Sub Tonic

TRIADS
Major (Mm), Minor (mM), Diminished (mm), Augmented (MM), Arrangement on Scale Steps in Major Keys, Arrangement on Scale Steps in Minor Keys, Identifying Triads, Spelling Triads

CHORD SYMBOLS FOR TRIADS
Popular Music Conventions, Roman Numeral Conventions

TRIAD INVERSION
Root Position – Bass Note: Root, First Inversion (6) Bass Note: Third, Second Inversion (64) Bass Note: Fifth

HARMONIC PROGRESSIONS
Dominant to Tonic Movement, Circle of Fifths, . . . iii, vi, ii, V I . . .

CHORD SUBSTITUTIONS
Chords with Shared Notes, Common Chord Substitutions

MORE ABOUT CHORD PROGRESSIONS
Chord Substitutions in Major and Minor Keys, I64 as a dominant substitution, Cadential 64 Progressions

WRITING MUSIC
Rhythms, Melodies, Harmonies, Texture, Form

CREATING HARMONIES
Two Voices, Three Voices, Four Voices, Voice Leading Rules, Resolving Adjacent Chords, Resolving Chords with Tendency Tones

NON-CHORD TONES
Passing Tone, Neighboring Tone, Appoggiaturas, Escape Tones, Anticipations, Suspensions, Retardations, Pedal Tones, Suspension Numbers, Identifying, Constructing

CADENCES
Function of Cadences, Types of Cadences: Authentic Cadences, Perfect Authentic Cadences, Imperfect Authentic Cadences, Plagal Cadences, Half Cadences, Deceptive Cadences; Strength of Cadences

PERIOD AND PHRASE CONSTRUCTION
Phrases, Periods, Double Periods, Antecedent, Consequent, Parallel Construction

THEORY II

SEVENTH CHORDS
M7 (MmM), Mm7 (Mmm), m7 (mMm), Æ7 (mmM), °7 (mmm), Writing Quality with Popular and Roman Numeral Systems

SEVENTH CHORD INVERSION
Root Position (7), First Inversion (65), Second Inversion (43), Third Inversion (42), Popular and Roman Numeral Conventions, Seventh Chord Progressions, Substitutions, Doubling, Resolving, Identifying, Construction, Using 9th, 11th, and 13th Chords

SECONDARY DOMINANTS
Concept, Purpose, Circle of Fifths, Major and Minor Keys, Identification, Construction, Resolution

SECONDARY SEVENTH CHORDS
Concept, Purpose, Identification, Construction, Resolution

THEORY III

MODULATIONS
Pivot Chords, Common Tones, Direct Modulations

BORROWED CHORDS

PREDOMINANT CHORDS
Neapolitan 6 (N6), Augmented Chords: German (G+6), Italian (I+6), French (F+6), Other +6 Chords, Enharmonic Spelling, Identification, Constructions, Resolution, Secondary Augmented Sixth Chords

THEORY IV

LATE ROMANTIC AND IMPRESSIONISTIC PRACTICES
More Substitute Chords, ct°7, Parallel Chords, Planing, Chromatic Mediants, Whole Tone Scales, Octatonic Scales, Pentatonic Scales, Modal Scales, Modified Modal Scales, Making Dissonances Approachable

TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEYOND

TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSIC
Meter (Changing Meters, Asymmetric Meters, Bimetric, Polymetric), Tonality (Bitonality, Polytonality), Non-Tertian Harmony (Tone Clusters, Secundal Harmony, Quartal Harmony, Quintal Harmony), Pandiatonic Harmony, Minimalism, Expressionism/Serialism, Aleatoric Music, Prepared Piano, Music Concrete, Electronic Music

JAZZ
Origins, Influences, Vocabularies, Melodies, Rhythms, Expression, Harmony

POP MUSIC
Decades, Instruments (Folk, Clean Electric, Distorted Electronic, Keyboards, Bass, Drums, Vocals), Harmonies, Memorization, Modulations, Forms, Timbres

FORMS
Binary, Ternary, Round/Canon, Invention, Fugue, Passacaglia, Minuet, Theme and Variation, Rondo, Sonata Allegro, Tone Poem

A Survey of Music Theory for the College Classroom is a concise, practical, and readable text and workbook for use in the freshman and sophomore music theory curriculum.

A Survey of Music Theory for the College Classroom is a concise, practical, and readable text and workbook for use in the freshman and sophomore music theory curriculum.

A Survey of Music Theory for the College Classroom is a concise, practical, and readable text and workbook for use in the freshman and sophomore music theory curriculum.

A Survey of Music Theory for the College Classroom is a concise, practical, and readable text and workbook for use in the freshman and sophomore music theory curriculum.