Music Theory
Music Theory
The main purpose of this site is for users to access my videos as well as to make discussions in this forum, but as I have the time I will continue to add to this section, so check back from time to time to see if there is anything new up! ^_^
At this point typing much hurts my arms pretty bad, so I don’t think I can be typing up a book here for the music theory section. It’s much easier for me to explain myself in a video. After all a picture is worth a thousand words, so if a video is shooting in 30 FPS, that’s 30,000 words a second! *wink* I don’t know anyone yet who can type out 1.8 million words per minute, so I think I’m going to keep the videos coming. Think of this section as a short description of each term; nothing too long and complicated.
Clefs:
There are two main clefs in piano, one is the Treble Clef (figure 1.1), it is generally played with the right hand. Now, the other lovely clef is called the Bass Clef (figure 1.2), and it’s almost always used by the left hand. I won’t go very in-depth about all this as I’ve done video’s on this before, you could check out Piano Lesson #5.
Intervals:
An interval is the distance between two notes on the piano, also it can be called the distance between two pitches. Here’s a link on Wikipedia
Note values:
In music we have a set tempo that we play the music at. This is the pace of the music, but what if we don’t want to play every not equal length? Well, that’s why we have different types of notes! That way we can keep a steady beat, while still having short notes or long notes to add effect! (figure 4.1) Here’s a Wikipedia link on it. Also, my Piano Lesson #5 is on this topic.
Time signatures:
Ever see those little numbers at the start of a song like 4 4 or maybe you saw a 3 4 or even a 6 8? Those are called “time signatures”. These things actually serve a very important purpose. They designate how many beats each bar will get, and also what note are we going to count as one beat. The top number tells us how many beats there are each bar. So if we’re in 4/4 we’re going to count 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4 and so on. What if it’s 3 /4? Well, it’s pretty simple, we’re just going to count, 1,2,3, 1,2,3 etc. Pretty easy hey? Yup! Now, the bottom number is going to tell you which note up there is going to count for 1 beat. Usually there is a 4 in the bottom, so that means that a quarter note is going to be 1 beat. What if there’s an 8 in the bottom? Well, this can get confusing, but all it means is that an eighth note is one beat.
Dynamics and signs.
Seen things like F or P written on the music? Well these actually mean something! (*laughing* Obviously right?) Anyway, F is short for the Italian word Forte, which means Loud. There are MANY more, so instead of typing them, I explain a few of these in piano lesson #6. You could also check out this link to Wikipedia.
Thanks for reading, I know there is very little info here, but I will try to add more in the future. Also if you’d like to add content to this page, just e-mail me and send me what you typed up, I’ll go over it and if it’s acceptable and accurate, I’ll post it, with full credit given to you!
16 Responses to “Music Theory”
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hi. just mailing to tell you how thankful we are are there’s a person like you that is out there, sharing the God-given talent and enthusiasm to the world. me and my wife are starting tolearn piano, and we dont have anyone to teach us but you.
anyway, i dont want towaste much of your time, but the world sincerely thank you. keep them coming! hahahaha you can never tell but a lot of people surely learned piano through you.
more power and more God’s blessings.
peter
philippines
Your amazing. lol
God bless you for your free lessons
Thank you very much for these lessons. I’ve really wanted to provide my son with music instruction but, due economic restraints, I haven’t been able to. Thankfully, I found your videos on YouTube and now my son is actually learning music. In our society that is so capitalist I’m happy to see someone not put money before education. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I was trying to learn piano from many days but there wasn’t good content free in the internet. I just know ABCD of piano, you are really amazing speaking international language (wel, u know what I mean ^-^).
I cant believe all this free stuff. You really motivated my discontinued learning.
Eager to see more content.
May almighty bless you with all you need.
Prakash
India
I bought a 61 key keyboard to my 12 year old daughter as Xmas pressnt. She only play a few special effects for a few times and reufused to take a course. I found you on youtube and decide to leanr piano myself. It is to old for a 54 year old man?
your students will be all over the world. Thank you.
Hi there !
I’m from Portugal and I’ve just received the piano I’ve been asking for since I was a kid. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano, but I was having a problem because there’s no music school near my house and I would have to spend my life on a bus to learn, but then you appeared (God, this sounded bad xD). What could I ask for if not for a teacher in my own room?
I’m going to start seeing your videos tomorrow and I’m sure you will help me so much!
Thank you for this great idea! =D
I have already learned a lot about music from your lessons. And looking foreward for some time to watch the rest of it.
Thank you a thousand times.
Greetings from Holland,
David
I’m a guitarist, 2 years experience, from a little country / forest called Brazil.. From a small town called Bel-air(not the real name lol)… There’re no piano teachers around here, but thanks to you, I learned a lot of theory!
Man;
…
I love you \o/.
Hey.. I have been wanting to learn to play the keyboard for quite some time and am delighted to find your videos so useful. You have reignited my interest and I will surely make this effort worthwhile !!
hi andrew.u r the best teacher iv ever had.u solved some of my problems with reading music shits .iv started playing piano from 3 months ago.and ur videos are too useful.thanks a lot for ur free education.
best wishes
yasaman xoxo
Thank you for doing this. I love music but could never learn it. You are a huge help and I thank you.
All the way from West Virginia, U.S.
James Blankenship
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate what you have done for all of us (by us I mean all the people who are following your lessons). I’m 59 years old and I have finally decided to learn to play piano. I have a strange schedule so I practice at all hours of the day and night, and I feel blessed to have found you and your teaching. You are a natural born teacher, and your pleasant personality is expressed through your videos in a way I have never seen before. I feel like you are right here with me.
By the way, back around 1959 I bought the full learn at home piano course from the US School of Music for $48 (a lot of money back then for a 9 year old). It was a correspondence school that advertised in the back of comic books. Well, back then I never got past lesson 4, but for some reason I saved them all, and now, 51 years later, I am able to combine your videos and the school’s lessons and sheet music, and I am having the time of my life.
I want to encourage anyone of advanced years to go ahead and persue whatever you felt like you didn’t have the time to persue before. Age brings a certain maturity and dedication that usually isn’t there when you’re younger, and although I’m sure it takes me longer to learn at this age, I don’t care. The joy is in the learning, I don’t need to impress anyone, including myself.
Again, thanks for what you are doing, you are a rare person, and we’re all richer for your being here.
Russell Carman
Hi! I’ve been watching your youtube’s vids over music theory. They have been really handy, specially cos i’m self taught and even I don’t play piano, but guitar, all the basics about scales and the circle of fifths have really been great lessons. They’re helped me big time. Thnx for it!!!
Thank you so much Andrew.
^_^ May God always protect you!! and hug to Sprite!!
You are certainly an angel on this Earth
We’re lucky to have you and so honored to follow your courses! You’re just the best teacher ever, and a wonderful, gorgeous man. Many people do inspire me, but I think that I have put your name not far from Mandela and Gandhi in my list
Big Smile from Madagascar!
Hello Andrew, I would like to thankyou for teaching me to play. I have wanted to learn how to play for years. I have just started watching you videos three weeks ago and I am hooked. I have watched lessons 1,2,3,4 and 5. I have learned about so much like chords,whole tones and semi tones, sharp and flats,etc. I also memorized the positon of each note on the piano. I have dedicated myself to learning how to play and I would like my 10 year old daughter to learn also. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
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