Beginner Music Theory

Sixteen lessons, from the musical alphabet to enharmonic spelling.

Follows the Beginner Theory packet, page for page.

Pitch and the Staff

Packet pages 1–2

The Musical Alphabet

Now try it

Fill in the missing letters, then answer the five questions using the alphabet grid.

Worked example: D is 3 letters higher than A. Count up — A, B, C, D.

The Musical Staff

Five lines and four spaces. Each one stands for a piano key and gives a note its letter name.

Lines are numbered from the bottom up: line 1 is the lowest.

Now try it

Then connect the dots to build your own staff — five lines, evenly spaced.

Reading Notes

Packet pages 3–7

Clefs, Notes, and Their Names

A clef sets the starting letter of the staff. Your instrument decides which one you read.

Lines and Spaces by Name

Both mnemonics read bottom to top.

Naming Notes on the Staff

Draw your clef sign, then write the letter name under each note. Space notes first, then line notes.

Worked example in treble clef — the four spaces spell FACE.

Expanding the Staff

When notes run past the top or bottom, ledger lines add more lines and spaces. The letters keep marching in order.

Now try it

Draw your clef sign and name each note, including the ones on ledger lines.

Strategy: find the nearest line note you know by heart, then step letter by letter to the note in question.

Notes In and Out of the Staff

Seven rows, mixing notes on the staff with notes on ledger lines. Draw your clef, then name every note.

Drawing Notes and Stems

Now try it

Draw your clef, then draw the correct note above each letter name. Note heads first, stems second.

Check yourself: is the note head centered on its line, or filling its space?

Accidentals and Key Signatures

Packet pages 8–11

Accidentals

Where the Sign Goes

Say "F sharp" — never "sharp F".

Now try it

Name each note with its accidental, then draw notes with accidentals above the given names.

Draw the sign to the left of the note head, on the same line or space.

Notes and Accidentals

Seven rows of mixed notes — on the staff, on ledger lines, with and without accidentals.

How Long an Accidental Lasts

Collecting Accidentals

When music uses the same accidentals over and over, they move to the front of the line. That collection is a key signature.

High or low, every note of that letter is affected.

Now try it

Write the letter and accidental under every note. Watch what carries through the measure and what resets at the barline.

The second note of a measure often carries an accidental you cannot see — it was written on the first.

Reading Key Signatures

For each key signature, name every letter the accidentals affect. One flat, then two, all the way to seven — then the same for sharps.

Major Scales

Packet pages 12–15

Half Steps and Whole Steps

Building a Major Scale

Eight notes in alphabetical order, spaced by one fixed pattern of steps.

Whole, whole, half — whole, whole, whole, half.

Now try it

Complete each major scale. The key signature has already spaced the steps for you.

The Order of Sharps and Flats

The flats are the sharps in reverse.

Now try it

Draw your clef, then draw the key signature for each scale. Sharps and flats must go in the correct order.

A sharp in the wrong position is a wrong key signature.

Naming a Scale From Its Key Signature

Memorizing the key signatures is still the fastest route. These are the backup.

Now try it

Write the name of the scale for each key signature.

All Major Key Signatures

Now try it

Enharmonic Notes

Packet page 16

One Sound, Two Names

When a pitch can be called by more than one letter name, those names are enharmonic.

Now try it

Name each note and its enharmonic spelling, then complete the pairs.

Sixteen Pages Down

Letters, staff, clefs, accidentals, key signatures, scales, enharmonics.