General Resources
This page includes general (mostly online) resources which have broad application across the curriculum. Resources which are specific to a particular topic or lesson can be found on their respective Lessons page; Lessons pages may also contain links to individual portions of the general resources shown below.
Written Assignments or Eartraining Drills
Websites containing written assignments and ear-training examples.
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Benward/Kolosick, Ear Training; A Technique for Listening | The online component for a print textbook. Includes mp3 examples for aural skills training. |
| Biringer, "Worksheets for Music Theory Fundamentals" | Worksheets for a wide variety of music theory topics. |
| Hughes et al., Open Music Theory V.2 | Open-source textbook for undergraduate music theory courses that contains many sample assignments and practice in every section (still under construction). |
| Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom | An online textbook for undergraduate music theory courses - contains sample drills at the end of each chapter. |
| Ito, Music Theory Website | A collection of online resources covering music theory and aural skills. |
| Kolek, The Dictation Resource | A collection of online dictation exercises, with keys available from the author. |
| Musictheory.net | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills (mainly fundamentals). |
| Music Theory Materials | Includes template/flashcard practice for rhythms & pitch dictation, as well as pre-recorded examples. |
| Theta Music Trainer | Games and ear training materials (some free). |
| Teoria.com | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills (mainly fundamentals). |
| Working in Harmony | Online app for automatic harmonic analysis (Roman numeral) that flags responses compared to a database of other analyses. |
Musical Examples
| SubTopic | Resource | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acevedo, "Musical Examples Database" | Spreadsheets cataloging crowd-sourced musical examples by pedagogically-applicable theory topic. | Links to Recordings | |
| Folk/Children's | Beth's Notes | Childhood music education resource with directory of Orff songs. Different songs can be found based on scale type, meter, topic, texture, etc. | Scores |
| Classical | Caplin, Analyzing Classical Form | Online musical examples supporting Caplin's book on classical music. | Annotations, Scores, Recordings |
| BIPOC | Composers of Color Resource Project | Homepage for a group working to promote music by composers of color. Includes a Humanities Commons database and a Slack channel. Scores + links to recordings. | Annotations, Scores,
Links to Recordings |
| Cutler, Internet Music Theory Database | A collection of scores and audio files illustrating tonal theoretical concepts in classical music. | Scores, Recordings | |
| BIPOC/Women | Institute for Composer Diversity | A site containing resources which promote compositions by people in underrepresented groups, including databases of composers, musical works and other research resources. | |
| BIPOC/Women | Maust, Expanding the Music Theory Canon | Musical excerpts intended for use in the undergraduate Western tonal music theory core curriculum. Each theoretical concept is illustrated in a series of examples by women and BIPoC composers. | Annotations, Scores,
Links to Recordings |
| Women | Music Theory Examples by Women | A database of musical examples by women composers, searchable by theory concept. | Scores, Links to Recordings |
| Music Theory Materials | Various musical examples organized by style. | Scores, Links to Recordings | |
| Pop/Rock | SMT Popular Music Interest Group: Pop Music Examples | Spreadsheet of pop/rock music examples hosted by the Society for Music Theory's Popular Music Interest Group. | Annotations, Links to Recordings |
| Pop/Rock | HookTheory Chord Search | Searchable database of pop/rock songs by chord progression (crowd-sourced). | Annotations, Recordings |
| Remes, "Dictation Resources" | Online dictation examples organized by topic. | Scores, Recordings | |
| BIPOC | Ware, "Anti-Racist Music Theory Examples" | A spreadsheet cataloging compositions by people in underrepresented populations by pedagogically-applicable theoretical concept. | Annotations, Scores,
Links to Recordings |
| Movie | Zaren, "Disney Music Theory" | Blog featuring musical examples from Disney films. | Annotations, Links to Recordings |
Media and Tutorials
| SubTopic | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 12tone | A Youtube channel featuring graphic videos covering a wide variety of music theory topics. | |
| Cleland, Dr. C's Music Theory Land | A Youtube channel on various undergraduate theory topics including aural skills training. | |
| Fundamentals | How Music Works | A collection of multimedia tutorials covering fundamental music theory concepts. |
| Ito, Music Theory Website | A collection of online resources covering music theory and aural skills. Includes video lessons. | |
| Monahan Youtube Channel | A Youtube channel on music theory topics by theorist Seth Monahan. | |
| Fundamentals | Musictheory.net | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills. |
| UNSW PhysClips | Online platform on introductory physics demos: Volume II focuses exclusively on acoustics and sound waves. | |
| Tech | Project Studio Handbook | A collection of videos covering recording and digital media topics. |
| Advanced | SMT-V | An open-access video journal for the Society for Music Theory, featuring 3-5 entries per year. |
| Fundamentals | Teoria.com | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills. |
| West Virginia Music Theory Vault | Online video-based theory textbook for West Virginia Theory 1-4. | |
| Tech | Wolfe, Music Acoustics | A resource containing articles and visualizations of various acoustic concepts. |
On Pedagogy
Articles and resources for teaching including lesson guides, teaching methods, and best practices.
| SubTopic | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BIPOC | Composers of Color Resource Project | Homepage for a group working to promote music by composers of color. Includes a Humanities Commons database and a Slack channel. |
| Engaged Music Theory | A bibliography devoted to cultural politics in music theory research and pedagogy. | |
| Engaging Students | Journal articles focusing on student-centered music theory pedagogy. | |
| Gullings, OER for Undergraduate Music Theory | Course materials for music theory course sequence, including syllabus, worksheets, lesson plans, and exams. | |
| Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy | Journal articles focusing on music theory pedagogy and practices. | |
| Music Theory Materials | Handouts, lesson plans, videos on different theory topics. | |
| Open Music Theory HC Instructor Community | Humanities Commons group for instructor resources who use Open Music Theory textbook. Requires approval to join. | |
| Society for Music Theory Humanities Commons | Free online pedagogical resources curated by the Society for Music Theory. | |
| Society for Music Theory Pedagogy Interest Group | Special interest group focusing on pedagogy. Mailing list. | |
| Pop/Rock | SMT Popular Music Interest Group Humanities Commons | Free online pedagogical resources curated by the Society for Music Theory's Popular Music Interest Group. |
| van Rensburg, Creative Music Class | Lesson plans, activities, ideas, and resources for composing, listening, and performing |
Other
This category includes resources on specific topics, advanced literature, blogs, and journals.
| Topic | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Beth's Notes | Childhood music education resource site, containing lesson plans, games, and examples useful for creative pedagogy (especially for fundamentals). | |
| Website | Inclusive Early Music | Resources for teaching early music history/analysis. |
| Journal | Music Theory Online | One of the flagship journals of the Society for Music Theory, published quarterly. |
| Advanced | Kelley, Music Theory Tutorials and Reference Materials | Materials covering tonal harmony, sixteenth-century counterpoint, form and analysis, Schenkerian analysis and post-tonal analysis. |
| Pop/Rock | Peres, Top 40 Theory | A blog featuring theoretical explorations of popular music. |
| Classical | Remes, Compendium of Voice-Leading Patterns | Compendium of voice-leading schemata compiled from 17th and 18th century sources. |
| Rap Analysis | A blog featuring various rap analyses including transcriptions and historical context. | |
| Composition | Rumery, Composers Tools | A collection of articles and examples discussing music composition. |
| Journal | SMT-V | An open-access video journal for the Society for Music Theory, featuring 3-5 entries per year. |
Textbooks
| Topic | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blood, Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online | Online music theory and history course, including composition and arranging techniques and an online dictionary. | |
| Fundamentals | Cook, Music Theory | Online first-semester music theory book, including jazz fundamentals. |
| Fundamentals | van Dillen, Basic Elements of Music Theory & Outline of Basic Music Theory | Beginning readings in fundamentals and theoretical topics (i.e. what is music theory, basic acoustics, etc.) |
| Tech | Forinash, Sound | An (older) online textbook on acoustics. |
| Geyer, Music Theory in Mind and Culture | An online textbook for undergraduate music theory semesters 1-2, including acoustics and expanded literature/topics. | |
| Tech | Hass, Introduction to Computer Music | An online textbook covering a wide variety of electronic music topics. |
| Fundamentals | HubGuitar, Online Music Theory Course | Online guitar theory course, including basics of guitar and quizzes. |
| Hughes et al., Open Music Theory V.2 | Second version (revised) of Schaffer & Wharton's Open Music Theory theory textbook for undergraduate music theory courses. Contains extended sections and assignments. | |
| Fundamentals | How Music Works | A collection of multimedia tutorials covering fundamental music theory concepts. |
| Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom | An online textbook for undergraduate music theory courses, including popular music examples. | |
| Fundamentals | Joutsenvirta and Perkiömäki, "Music Theory 1" | Online text for Sibelius Academy theory 1 focusing on fundamentals, including rhythm and jazz. |
| LearnMusicTheory.Net | Online PDF music theory text including various popular music topics and ear-training | |
| Magnuson, Sound Patterns | An online textbook for undergraduate music theory courses written by University of Dayton faculty emeritus Phillip Magnuson | |
| Fundamentals | Music Crash Courses | Fundamentals text including musicology topics. |
| Fundamentals | Musictheory.net | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills. |
| Acoustics | NDT Resource Center's section on "Sound" | Introductory overview of sound including basic acoustics, the ear, etc. |
| Fundamentals | Popgrammar.com | A site introducing music theory fundamentals in the context of songwriting in popular genres. |
| Rush, Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People | Single-page summaries of music theory topics presented in a graphic, comic-style format. | |
| Shaffer and Wharton (editors), Open Music Theory | An open-source, online textbook for undergraduate music theory courses. | |
| Fundamentals/
Acoustics |
Smack My Pitch Up | Textbook covers multiple aspects of pitch including acoustics, perception, & fundamentals. |
| Snodgrass, Contemporary Musicianship: Analysis and the Artist | The online component for a print textbook, published by Oxford University Press. | |
| Harmony | Sutcliffe, Syntactic Structures in Music | Online textbook on harmony and voice-leading. |
| Harmony | Tagg, Everyday Tonality II | A music theory textbook with multiple chapters available as free downloads. |
| Fundamentals | Teoria.com | A site containing many practice drills and tutorials for music theory and aural skills. |
| Tobey, A Feeling for Harmony | An in-progress online music theory textbook. | |
| West Virginia Music Theory Vault | Online video-based theory textbook for West Virginia Theory 1-4. |
Tools
Useful tools for classroom teaching, demonstrations, etc.
| SubTopic | Resource | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audacity | Open source DAW Software (Mac OS or Windows). | |
| Boler, "Folk Songs" | Orff folk song database | |
| Tech | Chrome Music Lab | Multiple online tools for music and sound visualization. |
| Four Score & More | Set of online digital tools for theory teaching. | |
| Scores | Internet Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) | An expansive collection of musical scores, manuscripts, MIDI files and recordings from across music history. |
| Kravchuk, "Lead Sheets" | Leadsheet repository of common pop tunes, nursery songs, spirituals, Christmas songs, and others by Michael Kravchuk. | |
| Musescore | Open source notation software (cross-platform). | |
| OnMusic Dictionary | Music dictionary. | |
| Tech | VCV Rack | Free synthesizer simulator software - great for timbre and acoustics work. |