What you'll learn

Music theory for homeschool students, high-school musicians, or anyone!
Tonicization
Types of Modulation
Voice Leading of Chromatic Chords
Harmonic Analysis of Music with Chromatic Chords
Modal Mixture
Neapolitan Chord
Augmented Sixth Chords
Enharmonic Modulations
Common-Tone Diminished Seventh Chords
Binary and Ternary Form

Course content

4 sections • 37 lectures • 3h 33m total length

Introductory Lesson2:58
This lesson introduces the material to be covered in this course.
[Download] Staff Paper for Taking Notes0:16
[Download] Lecture Notes0:05
[Downloads] Repertoire0:22
[Download] Chart of Chromatic Chords0:08
Lesson 1: Tonicization and Secondary Dominants8:17
What can happen to make a pitch that is not the tonic feel temporarily like it is the tonic?
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 17
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 72
Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 13 ("Pathetique"), Movement 2
Lesson 2: Voice Leading with Secondary Dominants7:50
The voice leading for the secondary dominant is just like the voice leading for the regular dominant seventh.
Lesson 3: Chorale Writing with Secondary Dominants8:29
Now that we know how to voice-lead a secondary dominant chord, let's add them into complete phrases.
Lesson 4: Secondary Leading-tone Chord5:47
The dominant seventh is not the only type of chord that can be found tonicizing a pitch other than the tonic.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 13 ("Pathetique"), Movement 1
Lesson 5: Voice Leading with Secondary Leading-tone Chords5:38
The voice leading for secondary leading-tone chords is quite straightforward.
Lesson 6: Chorale Writing with Secondary Leading-tone Chords8:33
Let's try writing entire phrases that include the chords we've been studying.
[Download] Checklist for Analysis0:07
Lesson 7: Analysis with Secondary Functions10:19
Now that we know the two main types of secondary functioning chords, let's look for them as we analyze real music.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 17
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 96
Haydn: String Quartet, Hob. III:62

[Download] Lecture Notes0:05
Lesson 8: Tonicization vs. Modulation9:33
Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether you're dealing with a tonicization or a modulation. Today's lesson might help clear that up.
There is no assignment for this lesson.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 122
Beethoven: Minuet No. 5 from WoO 10
Elvey: Hymn Tune DIADEMATA
Lesson 9: Chromatic Sequences9:00
We studied sequences in the last course, but today we revisit them because they often contain chromatic chords.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Beethoven: Minuet No. 1 from WoO 10
Beethoven: Minuet No. 5 from WoO 10
Elvey: Hymn Tune DIADEMATA
Mozart: Piano Sonata, K. 311
Schubert: String Quartet, D. 112, Minuet and Trio
Lesson 10: Writing Sequences8:13
Let's apply what we learned last lesson to our 4-part chorale writing.
Lecture 11: Sequential Modulation5:17
Composers have found sequences to be a handy tool for modulating.
There is no assignment for this lesson. Sequential modulations might appear on the next assignment.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 56, No. 1
Haydn: Piano Sonata, Hob. XVI:36
Mozart: Piano Sonata, K. 311
Lesson 12: Other Types of Modulation6:14
There are a few other types of modulation that occasionally pop up.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale, BWV 292
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3
Haydn: String Quartet, Hob. III:39
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus
Wilson/Beach Boys: "Don't Worry Baby"
Lesson 13: Analysis with Modulations6:03
Let's apply what we've learned about different types of modulations as we do some analysis.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 5
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 122

[Download] Lecture Notes0:05
Lesson 14: Modal Mixture in Major Keys6:39
Sometimes in a major key, we find chords that have been borrowed from the parallel minor.
Lesson 15: Modal Mixture in Minor Keys4:20
Sometimes we are in a minor key, and borrow chords from the parallel major.
Lesson 16: Analysis with Mixture4:29
We study some passages that use modal mixture and continue to build our analysis skills.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3
Schubert: "Schwanengesang"
Schubert: String Quartet, D. 112, Minuet and Trio
Schumann: Dichterliebe, No. 2, "Ich Grolle Nicht"
Lesson 17: Neapolitan Chord11:06
The new chord we learn today has an unusual, melodically dissonant resolution.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 27 ("Moonlight"), Movement 1
Lesson 18: Chorale Writing with Neapolitan Chords4:36
Now that we know how to voice-lead the Neapolitan chord, we can add it into full progressions.
Lesson 19: Introduction to the Augmented Sixth Chord8:00
Today we begin the last major category of chords studied in this course.
Lesson 20: Three Types of Augmented Sixth Chords7:19
The augmented sixth chord we learned last lesson is the basic structure for three slightly different chords.
Lesson 21: Chorale Writing with Augmented Sixth Chords4:50
Now that we know how to voice-lead the augmented sixth chords, we can add them into full chorale phrases.
Lesson 22: Analysis with Neapolitan and Augmented Sixth Chords7:35
Today we learn how to recognize these special chords when they occur within a piece of music.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Beethoven: Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, Op. 38, Movement 1
Brahms: Clarinet Sonata, Op. 120, No. 1, Movement 1
Haydn: Piano Sonata, Hob. XVI:36
Haydn: String Quartet, Hob. III:74
Hensel: Gartenlieder, Op. 3, No. 1
Mozart: Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, KV. 498
Schubert: "Erlkonig"
Schubert: Minuet for String Quartet, D. 86

[Download] Lecture Notes0:05
Lesson 23: Enharmonic Respelling of the German Augmented Sixth Chord8:38
There is a unique characteristic of the German augmented sixth chord that composers have exploited to modulate to remote keys.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Brahms: Vier Ernste Gesange, no. 4
Lesson 24: Enharmonic Respelling of DIminished Seventh Chords6:01
Like we saw last lesson with German sixths and dominant sevenths, diminished seventh chords can be respelled to modulate to remote keys.
Lesson 25: Common-tone Diminished Seventh Chords4:13
Sometimes we see a diminished seventh chord that does not function as a leading-tone chord.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3
Lesson 26: Complete Harmonic Analysis9:34
Today we practice doing analysis of full pieces, using everything we've learned throughout this and the previous course.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Beethoven: String Trio, Op. 9, No. 1, Movement 3
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 63, No. 2
Schubert: String Quartet, D. 89, Minuet No. 3
Schubert: String Quartet, D. 112, Minuet and Trio
Schumann: Dichterliebe, No. 9, "Das ist ein Floten und Geigen"
Lesson 27: Binary Form13:31
We have completed our study of the commonly used chords and their functions within phrases; now we look at the bigger picture of how pieces of music are constructed.
There is no assignment for this lesson. The content will be covered in the next assignment.
Repertoire needed for this lesson:
Bach: Chorale, BWV 386
Beethoven: Minuet No. 3 from WoO 10
Prichard: Hymn Tune HYFRYDOL
Lesson 28: Rounded Binary Form and Ternary Form9:03
Today we study two sorts of three-part forms: a variant of binary form, and a "truly" three-part form.
Bach: Chorale from Cantata, BWV 96
Beethoven: Minuet No. 1 from WoO 10
Beethoven: Minuet No. 5 from WoO 10
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 33, No. 3
Schubert: Minuet for String Quartet, D. 86
Schubert: String Quartet, D. 112, Minuet and Trio

Requirements

This course is for students who have already learned diatonic harmony from our previous course or elsewhere.

Description

Music Theory Classroom is a four-course, one- to two-year music theory curriculum designed for high-school and homeschool students. It covers the material studied by music majors in the first one to two years of college, but it is structured so that a diligent student can complete it in three 14-week terms.

The four courses in the curriculum include: 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.

For a more complete description of the curriculum, check the MusicTheoryClassroom dot com website.

Who this course is for:

High school students (including homeschoolers) who are interested in studying music at the college level
Anyone who is interested in learning music theory

What you'll learn

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Course content

Tonicization and Secondary Functions13 lectures • 59min

Modulation7 lectures • 44min

New Types of Chromatic Chords10 lectures • 59min

Additional Chromatic Practices and Introduction to the Study of Musical Form7 lectures • 51min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: