"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."*

April 10, 2006 10:06 AM

MusicTheory.net - Posted in a comment here, I thought I'd give it an FPP considering it may have just saved my butt on an exam. MusicTheory.net is an excellent, step-by-step resource for students, amateurs, and aesthetes of all levels. The site is flash, but provides not only lessons but training sessions and other resources as well (including a staff paper generator).

For those who would like some other resources, ilearnmusic.com has lessons, including a section on Music Theory 101 (with a few nice links, as well). Dolmetsch online offers extensive information, including a section demystifying guitar tabs for those of us who don't play. And, of course, the wikipedia has a fairly extensive list of external links in their article, including several journals for those more advanced theorists out there. [*]
posted by Eideteker (13 comments total)

I was *just* wishing for something exactly like this, and hadn't gotten around to looking yet. Thanks for saving me lots of searching and clicking, Eideteker!
posted by Miko at 10:19 AM on April 10, 2006

Don't forget Mr. Fastfinger.
posted by LordSludge at 10:25 AM on April 10, 2006

Sweet.
posted by bugbread at 10:29 AM on April 10, 2006

You're very welcome, Miko. I'm still looking for a site where I can plug in chords/notes and have it play through for me (so that I can hear examples from the class). Most of the flash-based keyboard doohickies online only allow one to three notes at a time to be played, not your standard four note chord construction. Not to derail; I was planning on asking MeFi/MeCha sometime this week anyway.

*psst*, you should post your album to Projects or something.
posted by Eideteker at 10:37 AM on April 10, 2006

If anyone has suggestions for websites appropriate to a grade 10 level (ie. one step below full-out professional) piano, I'd love to see them listed.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:06 AM on April 10, 2006

Excellent!
When I completed my music studies, I really found a stall in sustaining my theory skills and application. This will definitely help--

/bookmarked
posted by blastrid at 11:22 AM on April 10, 2006

I could just kiss you for posting this.

My classmates in music theory will be thrilled with this, and I plan on passing it along.
posted by konolia at 12:24 PM on April 10, 2006

Hooray for music theory! Good stuff on that site (although I can think of a couple of professors who would take umbrage at some of the information).
posted by danb at 12:36 PM on April 10, 2006

Oh, neat!
posted by klangklangston at 1:36 PM on April 10, 2006

Excellent FPP, Eideteker. You've been putting a lot of solid links up on the blue lately. I've been looking to get more into music theory ever since I started listening to the Second Viennese Circle after reading Dr. Faustus by Mann, and then struggling with Schoenberg's book. Anyone got a good website on twelve-tone and the successor systems?
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 1:48 PM on April 10, 2006

I've been using MusicTheory.net for quite a while now. I deeply wish I'd had access to it while I was coming up. Great post.
posted by Captaintripps at 2:07 PM on April 10, 2006

Oops, I missed Gyan's excellent FPP!
posted by Eideteker at 3:16 PM on April 10, 2006

You know, I can do just fine on the triad/seventh chord ear trainer but it drives me nuts hearing them at random with no progression. I think a better trainer would focus on hearing them in logical progressions rather than in isolation; same as I think it's better to learn a foreign language in complete, useful sentences rather than individual words and word forms.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:48 PM on April 10, 2006