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A clear and comprehensive music theory guide
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For those who wants to understand the basics of music. Composed by Verona, piano teacher
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Music TheoryA clear and comprehensive music theory guide
,Music Theory
Table of contents page
Tonal system and notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Octave indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Notes and Rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Octaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Consonant/ dissonant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Complementary intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Intervals from the root of a scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Enharmonic equivalent notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Stem direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Meter and rhythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Time signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Fermata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Upbeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Simple/ compound/ irregular time signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Antimetrical figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Contretemps/ syncopation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Hemiola/ duplet/ triplet/ etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Polythythm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Scales and chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Major scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Minor scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Harmonic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Melodic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Stem tones/ scale tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chromatic scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Whole tone-/ Pentatonic- / Blues scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Scales and chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Triads: major/ minor/ augmented/ diminished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Triads/ inversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Cadences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Seventh chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The circle of fifths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Modulation/ chord symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Pedaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Tempo changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Musical terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Articulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Ornamentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Grace notes/ trill/ mordent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Turn/ tremolo/ glissando/ arpeggio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Forenote/ passing tone/ changing note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Melodic construction and form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Song/ Canon/ Minuet/ Waltz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Sonata/ Rondo/ Prelude/ Variation/ Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Repeat signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
D.C. al Fine/ 1st-2nd ending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
D.S. al Coda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
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© 2025 pianolessenassen.nl
,Tonal System
Octave indications in the grand staff
G-clef / treble clef ledger line
subcontra contra great small
1-line 2-line 3-line 4-line 5-line
F-clef / bass clef
The tonal system spans eight octaves, indicated as follows:
1 - C2 / C - B2 / B : sub-contra octave
2 - C1 / C - B1 / B : contra - octave
3 - C -B : great octave
4 - c -b : small octave
5 - c' - b' : one-line octave
6 - c'' - b'' : two-line octave
7 - c''' - b''' : three-line octave
8 - c'''' - b'''' : four-line octave
c''''' : five-line octave (one note)
All notes in the small octave an higher are written with lowercase letters.
All notes in the great octave and lower are written with uppercase letters
2
© 2025 pianolessenassen.nl
, Accidentals
Accidentals are symbols placed before a note to alter its pitch:
sharp: raises a note by a half step - after the notename -is
double sharp: raises a note by a whole step - after the notename -isis
flat: lowers a note by a half step - after the notename -es
double flat: lowers a note by a whole step - after the notename -eses of -ses
natural: cancel a previously applied sharp or flat
dotted note
increases the duration of end bar line
the basic note by half of end of composition
its original value
accidental still a Gis
key signature tie tied notes double bar line
combining their duration end of section / change in music
whole half quarter eighth sixteenth thirty-second
3
© 2025 pianolessenassen.nl
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