Once you understand the fundamentals of music theory, what next? Knowing the tools and techniques composers commonly use can help you understand what you are hearing, playing, or even help you compose your own music. So in this guide, we’re going to cover intermediate level music theory: what concepts to learn and why.

This guide is part two of a three part series. In this series, I break music theory concepts into 10 different levels to help guide what you might learn next. Read more about this level system and what is covered at each level in my master guide to learning music theory.

Before reading through this post, I recommend being able to read musical notation and understand the construction of intervals, scales, and diatonic triads. If you aren’t familiar with these just yet, be sure to check out my basic music theory guide.

Intermediate Music Theory Levels

In the intermediate theory levels, the focus shifts to starting to craft music. To do this, we’re going to introduce some basic tools used by composers to actually compose and write music:

• Harmony
• Melody
• Form
• Counterpoint

One thing to note: music theory has a habit of teaching these concepts separately. However, it is the combination of the concepts that create much of the music we love. Keep that in mind.

These topics can get incredibly in depth at times. But that isn’t the goal here. For the intermediate levels, simplify things by keeping your focus narrow. Learn the concepts themselves and be able to use them in a single key signature (or scale). In the advanced levels, we’ll learn how to put ideas together to create larger and more complete musical compositions.

Be sure to check out all my intermediate music theory articles to learn how to use tools like basic harmony, voice leading, counterpoint, form, melody, and diatonic seventh chords.

5.) Basic Harmony, Voice Leading, and Counterpoint

To begin the intermediate levels, we’re going to introduce the idea of harmony, voice leading, and counterpoint. You may already have an idea of what harmony is. Many of us are first introduced to harmony by chord progressions. But how do composers take the basic tools (like triads) and turn them into good chord progressions?

Harmonic functions, voice leading, and counterpoint are different tools to achieve this. And while many musicians think of these concepts as being separate, they are actually pretty similar concepts that can be used for different musical effects.

Harmonic Function

Begin by learning principles of harmonic function. That sounds like a fancy term, but here is the easy version. In Theory Level 4, we learned there are 7 diatonic triads for each scale (assuming only major and minor for now). Each of those chords has its own job. Learning how these chords naturally like to lead (and understanding why) can help you make better chord progressions.

Voice Leading

Once you can craft good chord progressions using harmonic functions, the next step is the learn voice leading. Voice leading teaches you how to move from each chord to the next in the smoothest way possible. Proper voice leading results in less movement from note to note between chords. Less movement means there is less to stick out to the listener. This results in a more pleasant listening experience.

Counterpoint

Finally, begin learning the basics of counterpoint. Counterpoint takes the same idea as voice leading and expands it to include more melodic passages (many of the rules are the same). However, it is a little bit more rigid and structured. And for this, I recommend learning it after voice leading.

Counterpoint is structured in two tiers. At the top level, is how many voices being used. Underneath that are 5 different levels called species. Each species of counterpoint adds a little more complexity.

To begin, learn all 5 species one utilizing only 2 voices. Even though adding voices sounds harder, the basic rules are the same. Thus, you need a solid understanding of these rules before moving on.

Only after learning all 5 species in 2 voices, should you begin adding more voices.

Be sure to check out all my theory level 5 articles. Here I give you tips, tricks, and other interesting information about basic harmony, voice leading, and counterpoint.

6.) Basic Form and Melody

At this level, you are ready to start crafting real music. You have a solid understanding of harmony and can move between chords smoothly. But music is more than just chords. And here, we’ll start learning the two other tools we need: form and melody.

Form

In regards to music, the term form refers to the structure of a piece. In pop music, we use terms like verse, chorus, or bridge. Classical music has its own sort of equivalents to these terms: sentences and periods. These will be the focus of level 6.

Each of these devices (sentences and periods) set up a sort of expectation for the listener. You introduce your musical idea, contrast the idea slightly, and return back to original idea. But they do it in slightly different ways. Understanding listener expectations can help us meet those expectations (or choose when to intentional not meet them). I recommend learning at least these basics of form before learning melody:

• Sentences
  • Presentation
  • Continuation
• Periods
  • Antecedent
  • Consequent

While you can break these down into even small parts (like phrases and motives), I recommend focusing your energy on sentences and periods for now. These two are what listeners experience more completely, and helps keep you focused on the larger picture.

Cadences

The end of a phrase of music is often called a cadence. And it’s usually a certain harmonic movement (although not always). There are a few different types of cadences, each with their own “strength”. In sentences and periods, the first phrase typically has a weaker cadence. The second phrase is usually much stronger to mark the end of the whole sentence/period.

There is also a rhythmic element to cadences. Since they mark the end of a phrase, they typically (but not always) have a longer note value than the rest of the phrase. For example, if most of the phrase is in quarter notes, the cadence may end on a half note.

Take time to learn about each of the four cadences and when to use each of them. The four types of cadences are:

• Authentic
• Half
• Plagal
• Deceptive

There are a few other types of cadences out there, but they are much less common. For level 6, stick to these 4 cadences.

Melody

In nearly all forms of music, it is the melody that we remember. But melody is strongly tied to harmony. And as I mentioned, basic forms like the sentence and period set up certain expectations for the listener. For these reasons, I recommend learning melody only after having a strong understanding of level 5 and the basics of form.

To start, learn how melody utilizes chord tones of the harmony. These make up the primary notes of most melodies and will help craft the overall shape of your melody. And this shape is worth considering as well. Typically, there is a single climax point. Knowing these structural guidelines can help make your melodies stronger.

Non-Harmonic Tones

Once you can craft decent melodies using only chord tones, begin to learn the non-harmonic tones (sometimes called non-chord tones). These are simply notes that do not appear in the triads of the harmony. If you completed level 5, you’ve actually come across a few of these already in species counterpoint: passing tones and suspensions.

Altogether, there are about a dozen non-harmonic tones. And it’s worth spending time exploring each of them.

Personally, I recommend a particular focus on non-harmonic tones that create a half-step interval against the harmony. The half-steps are (in my opinion) what can really create the subtle emotions in music that we love.

Be sure to check out all my theory level 6 articles. Here I give you tips, tricks, and other interesting information about basic form, cadences, melody, and non-harmonic tones.

7.) Diatonic Seventh Chords and Small Forms

Level 7 is the culmination of all intermediate level music theory. At this level, we’ll start craft small (but complete) pieces of music. These pieces should be able to stand on there own or serve as a basis for larger works (which we’ll cover in advanced music theory).

To accomplish this, we’re going to expand two concepts we’ve already covered. First, we’ll expand our diatonic triads to include diatonic seventh chords. Afterwards, we’ll expand our basic forms (sentences and periods) to create what are known as the small forms.

Diatonic Seventh Chords

By now, you likely know that triads are constructed by stacking third intervals. The construction of seventh chords of essentially the same, stacking a 4th third interval on top of a triad.

But this creates some issues with the voice leading of triads learned in level 5. Spend some time with the diatonic seventh chords and learn the proper way of handling these voice leading issues.

In particular, focus on the dominant seventh and leading tone seventh. These are two most common seventh chords you’ll find (particularly around cadences). Of course, learn the remaining diatonic seventh chords as well.

Binary and Ternary Form

In level 6, you learned about the basics of form: sentences and periods. Now, we take those phrases and expand them into slightly larger forms called the binary and ternary form.

Ironically, these two larger forms are actually called the small forms. The reason being they are the smallest complete pieces of music.

The general idea is that there are now multiple phrases of music. The first section establishes the main melody or theme of the piece. Then you contrast it in some way (typically by moving to the key of the dominant) before returning back to the original theme again.

Similar to sentences and periods, binary and ternary form accomplish this in slightly different ways.

Something worth mentioning: there are lot of different classifications of binary and ternary forms (such as simple binary, rounded binary, sectional ternary, continuous ternary, etc…). While I encourage you to explore as many of these as you can, it isn’t necessary to learn all of them. Focus on learning the main idea and structures behind binary and ternary form first.

Be sure to check out all my theory level 7 articles. Here I give you tips, tricks, and other interesting information about diatonic seventh chords and small forms like binary form and ternary form.

Final Thoughts on Intermediate Music Theory

Working through the intermediate levels of music theory is a lot of work. But I think this is where the transition from playing music to composing music happens most. And when these concepts click, it can be a magical experience. Within these 3 levels, we have learned to:

• Implement the basics of harmony, voice leading, and species counterpoint.
• Create (or deny) listener expectations with basic formal structures.
• Compose melodies that fit within the harmony.
• Use non-harmonic tones within melody.
• Build (and properly resolve) diatonic seventh chords.
• Craft entire compositions by combination of all elements learned.

In the advanced levels, you’ll begin using new tools and concepts to help you craft entire compositions. These include some of my personal favorite tricks. But I highly recommend you are comfortable creating complete compositions in a single key signature before moving on. Be sure to check out the advanced music theory levels in part 3 to get started.

If you found this guide useful, make sure you don’t lose it! Be sure to bookmark this page so you can easily find it (and the other levels) later.