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Kadenze

Music Theory Level 1: Part Two

via Kadenze

Overview

Welcome to Music Theory Level 1: Part Two

Chords, Scales & Keys


This course introduces you to the basics of chords, scales and keys. You will focus on how notes are arranged in order to make chords, different scales, and how these work together to make keys. This course forms part of the complete Music Theory Fundamentals Guide.


This is a class designed for the average person who is ready to dive into music! Whether you are a beginning musician, an active musician, or an aspiring musician - this class is perfect for you.


For years I've been teaching Music Theory in the college classroom. My approach to music theory is to minimize the memorization. Most of these concepts you can learn by just understanding why chords behave in certain ways. Once you understand those concepts, you can find any scale, key, or chord that exists. Even invent your own. If you've tried to learn music theory before, or if you are just starting out - this series of courses is the perfect fit.


In Part 2: Chords, Scales & Keys, we will cover:

  • My approach to Music Theory
  • Tools you will need to learn Music Theory quickly and efficiently
  • Chromatic and Diatonic scales
  • Ordered Pitch Class Collections
  • The pattern of a Major Scale
  • Scale Degrees
  • Solfege
  • Writing melodies with major scales
  • Analyzing melodies
  • What it means to be "in key"
  • Key signatures
  • How to identify key signatures
  • Popular song analysis
  • Building triads (chords)
  • Diatonic chord progressions
  • Roman numeral analysis
  • Inversions
  • Finding chords by formula
  • The thirds inside of a chord
  • Finding fifths by finding thirds
  • Diminished triads
  • Augmented triads
  • Chords on the guitar
  • Full Analysis: Canon in D (Pachabel)
  • Full Analysis: Minuet in G (Bach)
  • 7th Chords
  • Major 7th Chords
  • Minor 7th Chords
  • Dominant 7th Chords


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Praise for Courses by Jason Allen:

⇢ "It seems like every little detail is being covered in an extremely simple fashion. The learning process becomes relaxed and allows the complex concepts to get absorbed easily. My only regret is not taking this course earlier." - M. Shah

⇢ "Great for everyone without any knowledge so far. I bought all three parts... It's the best investment in leveling up my skills so far.." - Z. Palce

⇢ "Excellent explanations! No more or less than what is needed." - A. Tóth

⇢ "VERY COOL. I've waiting for years to see a good video course, now I don't have to wait anymore. Thank You!" - Jeffrey Koury

⇢ "I am learning LOTS! And I really like having the worksheets!" - A. Deichsel

⇢ "The basics explained very clearly - loads of really useful tips!" - J. Pook

⇢ "Jason is really quick and great with questions, always a great resource for an online class!" M. Smith


Syllabus

  • The Major Scale
    • We dive in to scales with the most common and popular scale you will encounter: the Major Scale.
  • Getting Started
    • Before we jump in, let's learn a little bit about how we are going to learn. There are a few free tools I like to use that will help you learn music theory.
  • More with Triads
    • We still haven't addressed those diminished chords, and there is one other type we haven't talked about at all yet.
  • Major Keys
    • Key signatures tell us in a really quick and efficient way all the notes in the key. In this section we will work on understanding and identifying key signatures.
  • Chords!
    • The moment you've been waiting for: Time to dive into understanding chords.
  • Dissecting Triads
    • The moment you've been waiting for: Time to dive into understanding chords.
  • Chromatic & Diatonic Scales
    • Will start by talking about what scales are. This will be important as we start to learn the patterns of major scales.
  • Scales and Keys
    • Knowing major scales will only get us so far. We need to understand how to use these scales before we go any further.
  • 7th Chords
    • There are more chords than just triads. If we add another note, we end up with 7th chords.
  • Pieces for Analysis
    • In this section we will let the rubber hit the road, and do a full analysis of 2 pieces.

Taught by

Jason Allen

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