If you’ve been studying music for even a short while you’ll have noticed that all the musical notes are written in five lines. This is called the staff or stave. You will also have come across a symbol at the very start of the musical notation, which is called a clef. By far the most …

Tenor clef: the essential of music theory Read More »

Classical music is all around us. We hear it in supermarkets, restaurants, films, television adverts, and in so many more places. From the monastic monks’ chants of medieval Europe to Chopin’s strikingly beautiful piano melodies; from the elegance of Mozart to the film music of Star Wars, classical music has influenced life for centuries and …

Classical music eras: what are the seven periods of music history? Read More »

“Do re mi fa so la ti da” is an instantly recognizable refrain. This is especially true if you have ever watched “The Sound of Music”. This is an example of solfege patterns being used to help teach a musical scale. For most musicians who take up an instrument, one of the first things you …

Solfege in music – What is solfege and how can you use it? Read More »

Piano chords can be an intimidating concept to beginning musicians. We so often only associate music with one note at a time, but chords are when we play multiple notes at the same time, often across many different octaves, and often with two hands! Chords with only three notes in them are called triads. This …

Understanding seventh chords on piano Read More »

A scale in music theory is a sequence of notes played in ascending or descending order with a specific interval structure. There are many scales in music. Some are extremely common and fundamental, like the major scale or minor scale. Others are more obscure and only called upon in certain settings, like the whole tone …

Beginner’s guide to the world of scale degrees Read More »

Pitch is one of the most fundamental concepts in music and one of the primary ways musicians categorize how a note sounds. A particular sound wave might produce a low pitch, a high pitch, a definite pitch, or an indefinite pitch. The tools of music theory can be used to analyze these sound waves and …

Explore the wonders of pitch in music Read More »

Transposition is often shrouded in mystery, especially to piano players who haven’t been playing very long. Anyone who studies music theory will learn how to transpose music. People who play transposing instruments such as alto saxophone, clarinet or bass are already familiar with the concept. If you’ve ever bought sheet music online, you may have …

Everything you need to know about music transposition Read More »

If you’ve ever asked yourself “what is harmony in music” this is going to help you to understand more about how harmony in music works, which will in turn help you to improve your piano playing. Harmony is a vital part of any piece of music. The simplest definition of harmony in music is that …

Learn how to create harmony in music Read More »

Rhythm is all around us. We can find it in every corner of the universe. Your breathing moves in a rhythmic pattern, sometimes faster and sometimes slower. Your heart beats in a rhythmic pulse. You walk at various speeds, eat at different hours, and mark the passage of time throughout the days and years of …

Rhythm in music: the foundation Read More »

The eighth note and sixteenth note are two examples of subdivision. Subdivided rhythms are rhythms that happen inside of 1 beat, as opposed to the quarter note, half note, and whole note which happen across more than 1 beat. Subdivisions have their own special means of counting and since there are more notes written on …

Learn to subdivide with eighth and sixteenth notes Read More »