Introduction to Music Theory and J. S. Bach

Explore why music theory matters and learn its basics—signs, notes, and rhythm—so you can read scores, understand composers, and discuss music with clarity.

Learn how tempo defines the speed and mood of western music, guiding performers and revealing the composer’s intent through tempo notation and beat terms from grave to presto.

Explore how measures and bar lines define rhythm by counting beats per measure, practicing with quarter, eighth, half, and whole notes, and using repeats and ties.

Practice the musical rests, including the quarter rest, half rest, and whole rest, through guided questions with a metronome, counting 4-3-2-1 to build rhythm understanding.

learns a visual counting method using big v's where one big v equals one beat in 4/4 and 2/4 meters, with note durations explained.

Explore syncopation by examining how downbeats and upbeats create offbeat patterns in 4/4 and 6/8 meters, emphasizing notes on unexpected beats, with Rolling Stones Satisfaction as a demo.

Explore the staff: five horizontal lines and four spaces in western notation, learn how clefs determine where notes appear on the staff, and discover treble, bass, and grand staves.

Learn how the repeat sign marks sections to replay, where to start and end, and how to return to the beginning on the second pass, including common variations.

Explore how pitch creates the vertical dimension of music on the staff, with treble clef, ledger lines, and note names C, D, E, F, G, A, B.

Practice pitch by singing a melody in 4/4 meter, identifying and naming notes such as do, re, mi, and so, and following correct note names during ensemble singing.

Map treble and bass clefs to the piano keyboard to locate pitch and notes C D E F G A B on white keys. Use two-three black-key pattern to find them.

Explore half steps and whole steps on a piano, using sharp, flat, and natural accidentals to name notes from C major while navigating white and black keys.

Explore major and minor scales and chromatic scales, learn whole and half step patterns, and see how natural and harmonic minor variants, tonic, leading tone, and octaves shape western music.

Learn to read key signatures for major and relative minor scales, identify sharps and flats, and compare natural and harmonic minor patterns.

Review circle of fifths and how each major key has a relative minor sharing the same notes and key signatures; locate the relative minor by moving down three half steps.

Explore how harmony creates vertical sonorities by combining triads and diatonic chords in a key, focusing on roots, major and minor triads, and the diatonic C major example.

Explore major and minor third intervals, learn their four-and-a-half and three half-step distances, and practice ear training to identify them with piano examples in C major.

Explore how a major triad is built from a major third and a minor third, using C E G as an example, with bright triads in F, Bb, and D.

Explore how minor triads differ from major triads by lowering the middle note, using C minor and other keys to illustrate minor third, major third, and perfect fifth intervals.

Explore how major and minor sounds emerge on piano through a short piece, highlighting A minor, E major, and C major and G major patterns, leading notes, and scale transitions.

Explore the early years of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Bach family's musical legacy, and the development of the crab canon, a palindrome-like composition.

During his Cöthen years as capellmeister for Prince Leopold, Bach wrote much of his chamber and keyboard music, including the Brandenburg concertos, before moving to Leipzig.