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🎼 Music Theory Groundwork

🛣️ Roadmap

Below is a structured roadmap showing how music theory concepts build on each other — from the fundamentals of sound to full composition and arrangement.

I. Fundamentals of Sound
│
├── Pitch & Frequency → Octaves → Intervals
├── Rhythm & Tempo → Beats → Meter → Groove
└── Dynamics & Articulation → Expression

↓

II. Notation & Musical Language
│
├── Staff, Clefs, and Notes
├── Key Signatures → Tonal Center
└── Time Signatures → Beat Grouping

↓

III. Scales & Intervals
│
├── Intervals → Major/Minor/Perfect
├── Scales → Major / Minor / Pentatonic / Modes
└── Modes → Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc.

↓

IV. Harmony & Chords
│
├── Triads → Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented
├── Seventh Chords → Jazz & Pop Color
├── Progressions → I–V–vi–IV, ii–V–I
└── Cadences → Perfect, Plagal, Deceptive

↓

V. Melody & Counterpoint
│
├── Melody → Motifs, Contour, Range
└── Counterpoint → Voice Leading, Polyphony

↓

VI. Rhythm & Groove
│
├── Groove Concepts → Pocket, Syncopation
└── Complex Meters → 5/4, 7/8, 9/8

↓

VII. Form & Structure
│
├── Song Forms → Verse–Chorus, AABA, Rondo
├── Development → Repetition / Variation / Contrast
└── Phrasing → 4-bar and 8-bar symmetry

↓

VIII. Texture & Timbre
│
├── Monophony / Homophony / Polyphony
└── Timbre → Instrumentation & Tone Color

↓

IX. Tonality & Modulation
│
├── Tonic → Home Key Center
├── Modulation → Pivot, Direct, Modal Interchange
└── Modal Harmony → Nonfunctional Movement

↓

X. Advanced Concepts
│
├── Extended Harmony → 9ths, 11ths, 13ths
├── Functional Harmony → Tonic / Dominant / Subdominant Roles
├── Modal & Nonfunctional Harmony → Color-based
└── Atonality → Tone Rows, Pitch Sets

↓

XI. Composition & Arrangement
│
├── Motif Development → Themes
├── Dynamics & Energy Shaping
├── Orchestration / Instrumentation
├── Transitions & Flow
└── Songwriting → Emotional Narrative, Hooks, Structure

💡 How to Use This Roadmap

  • Work top-down: start with fundamentals, then build harmony and rhythm skills.
  • Treat each layer as a foundation for the next — like scaffolding.
  • Integrate as you go: combine melody, chords, and rhythm early for practical understanding.
  • Revisit earlier layers as concepts interconnect (e.g., intervals ↔ chords, rhythm ↔ form).

I. Fundamentals of Sound

Understanding how music exists physically and conceptually.

1. Pitch & Frequency

  • Pitch = how high or low a note sounds (measured in Hertz, Hz)
  • A4 = 440 Hz (concert tuning reference)
  • Doubling frequency = one octave higher

2. Duration & Rhythm

  • Beat = basic time unit
  • Tempo (BPM) = beats per minute
  • Meter = how beats are grouped (e.g., 4/4, 3/4, 6/8)
  • Note values: whole, half, quarter, eighth, etc.
  • Syncopation: stressing off-beats
  • Polyrhythm: multiple rhythms simultaneously

3. Dynamics & Articulation

  • Dynamics: loudness or softness (p = soft, f = loud)
  • Articulation: how notes are played — staccato, legato, accent, etc.

II. Notation and Musical Language

How music is written and communicated.

1. Staff, Clefs, and Notes

  • Staff = 5 lines where notes are placed
  • Treble clef (G clef) — for high instruments
  • Bass clef (F clef) — for low instruments
  • Ledger lines extend range

2. Key Signatures

  • Indicates which notes are sharp or flat throughout a piece
  • Defines the tonal center (e.g., C major, A minor)

3. Time Signatures

  • Top number = beats per measure
  • Bottom number = note value that gets one beat e.g., 4/4 (common time), 3/4 (waltz), 6/8 (compound)

III. Scales and Intervals

The building blocks of melody and harmony.

1. Intervals

  • Distance between two notes (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.)
  • Perfect, Major, Minor, Augmented, Diminished

2. Scales

  • Ordered sets of pitches
  • Major Scale: W–W–H–W–W–W–H (pattern of whole/half steps)
  • Natural Minor: W–H–W–W–H–W–W
  • Other types: Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Pentatonic, Blues, Chromatic

3. Modes

Derived from the major scale: Ionian (major), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (minor), Locrian

IV. Harmony and Chords

How notes combine to create richness and tension.

1. Triads

  • Built from 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of a scale
  • Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented

2. Seventh Chords

  • Add a 7th above the root → Dominant 7th, Major 7th, Minor 7th, etc.

3. Chord Progressions

  • Sequence of chords forming harmonic movement

  • Common progressions:

  • I–V–vi–IV (pop)

  • ii–V–I (jazz)
  • I–IV–V–I (classical/blues)

4. Cadences

  • Harmonic “punctuation”:

  • Perfect (V–I) → resolution

  • Plagal (IV–I) → “Amen”
  • Deceptive (V–vi) → surprise

V. Melody and Counterpoint

How single lines and multiple voices interact.

1. Melody Writing

  • Based on motifs (short repeating ideas)
  • Contour = shape of the melody
  • Range, stepwise motion, and repetition affect memorability

2. Counterpoint

  • Technique of combining independent melodies
  • Follows voice-leading rules (avoid parallels, maintain independence)

VI. Rhythm & Groove

How time feels, not just how it’s divided.

1. Groove Concepts

  • Interaction between bass and drums
  • Pocket: when instruments align rhythmically just right
  • Swing: uneven division of beats (triplet feel)

2. Meter Variations

  • Simple (4/4), Compound (6/8), Complex (5/4, 7/8)

VII. Form & Structure

How small ideas build entire compositions.

1. Song Forms

  • Binary (AB), Ternary (ABA), Rondo (ABACA)
  • Verse–Chorus, AABA, Through-composed

2. Development Techniques

  • Repetition → familiarity
  • Variation → interest
  • Contrast → dynamic storytelling

VIII. Texture and Timbre

Color and density of sound.

  • Monophony: single line
  • Homophony: melody + accompaniment
  • Polyphony: multiple independent melodies
  • Heterophony: varied versions of the same melody
  • Timbre: tone color — instrument type, register, and playing technique

IX. Tonality and Modulation

1. Tonal Center

  • The “home” note or chord the piece gravitates toward (the tonic)

2. Modulation

  • Changing key for contrast or emotion

  • Pivot chord modulation

  • Direct (abrupt) modulation
  • Modal interchange (borrowing chords)

X. Advanced Concepts

1. Extended Harmony

  • 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, and altered chords (used in jazz)

2. Functional Harmony

  • Chords have roles:

  • Tonic (I) = home

  • Subdominant (IV/ii) = departure
  • Dominant (V/V7) = tension → resolution

3. Modal Harmony / Nonfunctional Harmony

  • Instead of leading to a tonic, chords exist for color or mood (common in film, jazz, ambient)

4. Atonality & Set Theory

  • Abandons a key center entirely (20th-century music)
  • Uses tone rows or pitch sets (Schoenberg, Webern)

XI. Composition & Arrangement

Bringing all theory together.

  • Motif development
  • Dynamics shaping
  • Instrumentation choices
  • Song structure planning
  • Transitions and flow
  • Contrast and resolution