An Interactive Lesson on Music Theory

Created By Jon Litz

Introduction

• This lesson will teach you some of the basic concepts of music theory and quiz you on what you have learned.

Navigation

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Main Menu

How musicis defined

How musicis defined

Notes and time signatures

Notes and time signatures

Test your knowledgeTest your knowledge

Lesson 1 Lesson 2

Quiz

How music is defined

• Rhythm: the variation of length between sounds

• Tone: the fundamental frequency at which a sound vibrates

• Melody: a sequence of individual tones played in a rhythm

• Harmony: two or more tones played simultaneously

How music is defined

• Timbre: the quality or sound of a voice or instrument

• Dynamics: the loudness or softness of a sound

• Tempo: the rate of speed at which music is played

• Meter: organizes rhythm into units called measures

Notes

Measure: a segment of time defined as a given number of beats

Notes: divide a measure evenly into fractions or subdivisions

There are whole, half, quarter, 8th, 16th, 32nd, and 64th notes.

Time Signatures

The most common time signature is

The top number represents how high you count (can be any number)

The bottom number represents the kind of note you’re counting

In time, you count 4 quarter-notes per measure

44

44

Quiz – Question 1

The variation of length between sounds is:

AA

CC DD

BBDynamics

MelodyTimbre

Rhythm

Quiz – Question 1

The variation of length between sounds is:

AA Dynamics

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 1

The variation of length between sounds is:

CC Timbre

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 1

The variation of length between sounds is:

DD Melody

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 1

The variation of length between sounds is:

BB Rhythm

Correct!Press the forward button for the next question.

Quiz – Question 2

The loudness or softness of a sound is:

AA

CC DD

BBDynamics

HarmonyMeasure

Tempo

Quiz – Question 2

The loudness or softness of a sound is:

BB Tempo

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 2

The loudness or softness of a sound is:

CC Measure

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 2

The loudness or softness of a sound is:

DD Harmony

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 2

The loudness or softness of a sound is:

AA Dynamics

Correct!Press the forward button for the next question.

Quiz – Question 3

The most common time signature is:

AA

CC DD

BB78

10004

44

1516

Quiz – Question 3

The most common time signature is:

AA 78

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 3

The most common time signature is:

BB 1516

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 3

The most common time signature is:

CC 10004

Sorry, that answer is incorrect.Please press the back button to try again.

Quiz – Question 3

The most common time signature is:

DD 44

Correct!Press the forward button to end the quiz.

Congratulations!

You have completed the quiz!

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For more interactive music theory lessons, go to 8notes.com