Practical Music Theory

Music as art, language, and life

Because music theory should be accessible, applicable, and affordable, there's PRACTICAL MUSIC THEORY.

A journey from the basic language of music to a world of harmonic possibility.

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Practical Music Theory: A Guide to Music as Art, Language, and Life, by Brian DunbarDiscover the book on Amazon ↗

Your path through the music

Three parts · Seventeen chapters

Part the First

Fundamentals

Learn the language. Build the foundation.

Part the Second

Diatonic Harmony

Connect the chords. Shape the music.

Part the Third

Chromatic Harmony

Explore new colors. Expand the possibilities.

Chapter 1

Pitch Notation

Learn how written notes represent musical pitches. This chapter introduces the staff, clefs, ledger lines, accidentals, and the notation used to locate and name notes.

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Chapter 2

Note Duration and Meter

Understand how notes and rests organize musical time. Explore durations, rhythmic groupings, meter, time signatures, and syncopation.

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Chapter 3

Intervals

Learn to identify and name the distance between two pitches. This chapter develops interval numbers and qualities, compound intervals, and inversions.

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Chapter 4

Scales and Keys

Explore the scales and modes that establish musical keys. Learn about major and minor scales, key signatures, and relationships between keys.

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Chapter 5

Triads and Harmonic Analysis

Build and identify triads, their qualities, and their inversions. Use harmonic analysis to describe chords and their roles within a key.

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Chapter 6

Beyond Pitch Notation

Read the performance directions that bring a score to life. This chapter covers dynamics, tempo, articulation, expression, and navigation symbols.

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Chapter 7

Seventh Chords and Figured Bass

Extend triads into seventh chords and identify their qualities and inversions. Learn how figured bass and harmonic analysis describe these richer harmonies.

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Chapter 8

Nonharmonic Tones

Discover how notes outside the current chord create motion and expression. Learn to recognize different nonharmonic tones and understand how they approach and resolve.

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Chapter 9

Harmonic Progression

Explore how chords connect and create a sense of direction. Study harmonic functions, root movement, cadences, and patterns of progression.

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Chapter 10

Melody and Texture

Examine how motifs, phrases, and larger melodic ideas shape a composition. Explore musical textures and the relationship between melody and harmony.

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Chapter 11

Voice Leading

Learn to write connected musical lines in four-part harmony. Study spacing, doubling, melodic motion, and chord resolutions in soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts.

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Chapter 12

Tonicization

Explore how secondary dominants and secondary leading-tone chords briefly make another chord sound like tonic. Learn to identify, analyze, and resolve these tonicizing harmonies.

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Chapter 13

Borrowed Chords

Expand harmonic choices by borrowing chords from a parallel key. Learn how these chromatic colors function within the original tonal center.

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Chapter 14

Augmented Sixth Chords

Explore Italian, German, and French augmented sixth chords. Learn their construction, harmonic role, and voice-leading resolutions toward the dominant.

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Chapter 15

Neapolitan Chords and Altered/Expanded Dominants

Study the Neapolitan chord and its resolutions, then explore altered and expanded dominants. Learn how these harmonies intensify motion and add color.

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Chapter 16

Chromatic Mediants

Explore chromatic mediants: chords related by thirds that reach beyond the diatonic key. Study their analysis, enharmonic spellings, and voice leading.

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Chapter 17

Modulation

Learn how music moves from one tonal center to another. Explore modulations to closely related and foreign keys through common chords, phrase changes, chromatic motion, and enharmonic pivots.

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