General Resources
Revision as of 21:35, 5 May 2022 by 161.97.232.101 (talk) (Added link to additional music theory resource)
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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. |
Fundamentals | muted.io | A collection of interactive music theory tools & visual references to learn about scales, chords and keys. |
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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. |