One of the biggest goals I have for this site is to create a systematic approach to learning music theory. It’s a huge topic with much more than what you’ll find in most books. And people are constantly coming up with new creative ideas and techniques. For many musicians and composers (especially if you are teaching yourself), it can be difficult to know where you are and what you need to learn next. With that in mind, I’m putting together this guide of what I feel is the best way to learn music theory.
Quick Links
- Why I’m Creating This System
- The 10 Levels of Music Theory
- Bonus Level: No Theory Required
Why I’m Creating This System
The best way to learn music theory is to identify what you already know and determine where that fits in the entirety of the music. With that in mind, I want to give you as much of that musical spectrum as possible. This idea is inspired by two things.
First, the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) is a music education institution with 10 levels of exams to test a musician’s knowledge. This system is fantastic, but I feel like more advanced theory concepts are not covered (my opinion, of course).
Second, the absolutely amazing music theory blog of Dale McGowan (seriously, go check it out). On his blog, he uses a “pepper” rating. The more peppers an article has, the more advanced theory will be contained there.
My goal is to combine these two systems to give a 10 level systematic approach to music theory concepts and relate them to one another.
So in this article, I want to break down exactly what concepts I feel should be contained at each level. Using this, you can find what level of music theory you are currently at and what concepts you might want to learn next.
Disclaimer
This system is meant to be a living, changing system. As I receive feedback from the community and continue my own musical education, it will be changing and evolving.
I am not arrogant enough to say that my ranking is absolute. I definitely recognize that concepts easy for one person may not be easy for another. Collectively, I want us all to determine where each concept should go. If you ever feel like something feels out of place, please let me know in the comments and we can discuss making changes.
The 10 Levels of Music Theory
Now let’s break down exactly what you should learn within each level of music theory. As I mentioned, classifying these concepts can be quite subjective. So here’s how I’m approaching this. Ultimately there are 10 levels, but there are 3 sub-levels I want to mention. These are essentially basic (1-4), intermediate (5-7), and advanced (8-10) levels.
Basic levels (1-4) focus on the absolute fundamentals of music: reading musical notation, understanding intervals, and the basics of scales and chords. Intermediate levels (5-7) use the fundamentals to begin analyzing or composing simple tonal music. Advanced levels (8-10) build upon this by combining all the tools and learning to create a unique musical story. Here, you get the ability to craft more nuanced music, and turn smaller ideas into larger and more complete works.
Keep in mind, you absolutely do not need to know everything in one level before moving on to the next. These are simply recommendations. Your musical goals are different than everyone else. Learn what you need and focus on what moves you towards that goal.
Why This Breakdown
Lower levels will have relatively fewer concepts per level than later levels. I want you to feel like you are making as much progress as possible early on. This has a tremendous effect on mindset and I want to keep your growth going as much as possible. Second, the early stages of learning anything often means you aren’t quite sure of what to do next. My goal is to quickly give you the tools to let you make your own decisions about your musical education. By the time you get to more advanced levels, you’ll start gaining a better insight into your own musical growth. You’ll begin to find and understand new musical ideas on your own (at which point, please share them with us!).
Think of music like a new language (because, in my opinion, it really is its own language). Beginner levels are like learning letters and words of the language. Intermediate levels are like putting those words into small sentences. Advanced levels take those sentences and put them into full conversations or paragraphs.
Basic Music Theory Levels
The first 4 levels of this system are less about making music and more about understanding the tools musicians use. More advanced concepts all build upon these fundamentals. You can certainly learn more advanced ideas without them. But knowing the fundamentals can help you make more informed decisions in your music and understand why those decisions work.
1.) How to Read Musical Notation
When learning to read or communicate in a new language, you first need to learn the alphabet. Music is its own language with its own alphabet and grammar. The way musicians read and write this musical language is called notation.
To be able to effectively understand later concepts, it helps to be able to read and write musical notation. Especially if you plan on having your music performed by live musicians, it is imperative you learn how to communicate properly to them.
2.) Intervals, Consonance, and Dissonance in Music
Once you are comfortable reading notes on a staff, the next step is to determine the distance between any two notes on that staff. We call this distance between two notes an interval.
Both scales and chords (which we’ll talk about later) are identified by the intervals they contain. While you don’t need to know intervals to play scales or chords, you’ll need at least a basic understanding of intervals to fully understand these concepts and apply them in your own music.
3.) Major and Minor Scales
After you have a solid understanding of the intervals, you are ready to begin learning about the most commonly used constructs in Western Music: the Major and Minor scales. And let me specify, we want to learn the inner workings of them (not just how to play them).
Scales follow a pattern of intervals, and this interval pattern doesn’t change. More importantly, the interval pattern is helpful in learning how and why later concepts (like chords) give a certain musical effect.
4.) Diatonic Triads
Chords (alongside scales) make up the vast majority of our modern musical language. In particular, chords made up of 3 notes (called a triad) are the foundation of nearly all Western music genres. So having a solid understanding of these triads is crucial.
Using only the notes of a scales, you can actually create a chord-scale system that tells you exactly which triads can be played within a certain scale. For each scale, there are 7 possible triads (for now, I’m only referring to the major and minor scales covered). The collective term for these triads for a certain scale are the diatonic triads.
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.
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).
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.
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.
7.) Diatonic Seventh Chords and Small Forms
Level 7 is the culmination of all intermediate level music theory. At this level, we’ll start to 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 to create what are known as the small forms.
Advanced Music Theory Levels
After completing the intermediate theory levels, the focus shifts drastically. By now, you should have the general tools composers use under your belt. And you should be able to see the larger path of your own musical education regardless of guidance. Now it’s time to put all those tools together to make real music.
At the same time, this is where you’ll discover less common techniques and tricks. These will allow you to craft your music more subtly and tell exactly the story you want. The focus will be less a step by step process and more on exposing you to other alternatives and possibilities to help craft your sound.
8.) Chromaticism, Chord Extensions, and Modes
These are natural progressions from the concepts we learned in the intermediate levels. Music isn’t as black and white as the intermediate music theory levels teach. And these concepts can help craft those sounds in between. But they need to be handled in slightly different way.
In my opinion, this is hands down the most deceptive level of music theory. This is where I see a lot of young musicians (especially those self-taught) want to jump too soon. Understanding the basics is fairly straightforward. But truly understanding them will require a solid understanding of the intermediate levels first.
9.) Large Formal Structures and Orchestration
Level 9 is about taking everything we’ve learned about tonal music so far and putting into one complete piece of music. Listeners have their own expectations when listening to music. And by understanding what common elements are in various types of structural forms, you craft entire pieces that meet (or intentionally defy) those expectations. Even more fun, you can start to craft you own unique structures.
10.) ???
Truly defining what should be in this last tier of advanced music theory would be impossible. Level 10 will be a sort of catch-all for techniques and concepts that exceed the levels defined by this list already.
