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Online Course

Fundamentals of Music Theory

University of Edinburgh via Coursera

Overview

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This course will introduce students to the theory of music, providing them with the skills needed to read and write Western music notation, as well as to understand, analyse, and listen informedly. It will cover material such as pitches and scales, intervals, clefs, rhythm, form, meter, phrases and cadences, and basic harmony.

This course covers the fundamentals of Western music theory, from the absolute basics to some more advanced concepts and, as such, is the perfect course for beginners and more experienced musicians alike.

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Syllabus

Pitches, Scales, Modes and Chords

Keys, Minor Scales, Intervals and Clefs

Rhythm and Form

Harmony 1: Functional Harmony

Harmony 2: Inversions, Cadences and Sequences

Final Exam

Taught by

Michael Edwards, Zack Moir and Richard Worth

Charts

Tags

Reviews

4.0 rating, based on 21 reviews

Start your review of Fundamentals of Music Theory

  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    Very challenging for complete beginners. The taught material is minimal for the complexity of the subject matter, and the quizzes/assignments often go beyond what has been adequately taught, so you're forced to resort to Google and Wikipedia. Quizzes...
  • Profile image for Pam Gould
    Pam G.

    Pam completed this course, spending 10 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be very hard.

    This is fundamentals, not an introduction. My music knowledge was not good enough to complete the course this time, but I've downloaded it and I'm still making progress. A fabulous course. I'll do it again for sure - and perhaps be able to finish it this time.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    Intense course, from scratch to total analysis of a classical piece of music. Great course, but absolutely not for starters in music theory.
  • Craig L.

    Craig is taking this course right now, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.

    The teachers do not teach well. One example is the section using Ami to build triads from. A girl and a guy are teaching. The girl says they will use " A relative natural minor of C major ". However, at the third degree the guy says they will use the...
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    This class has much going for it. Lectures are interesting. Good organization. Links to sites that would further explain topics. Unfortunately there appears to be little or no instructor interaction on the discussion page, and corrections or clarifications that could have been made after the course was beta-tested were not made, ( except for an additional video on modulation) so questions are sometimes confusing. However, the worst thing is that, as far as I can see, they teach to one level and then base the final test, especially the second, peer-reviewed part, to a substantially harder level. I would not recommend this class for a total beginner, especially if they are paying for it. Suggest taking a more basic class first.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    I found this incredibly frustrating. The lectures were great and easy to follow, I felt I was really developing a deeper understanding. BUT then the exams at the end of each lecture consistently required you to use these obscure cleffs that only people singing in large classical choirs need. Seriously. This course does not set itself out to be the intro to choral works of the great masters so why do we need to use these to demonstrate fundamentals like diminished chords? I found this too frustrating to complete the exams. Sorry Coursera this also means I won't pay to get the certificate and I am onto udemy now. Hopefully I get something a bit less oriented to the obsscure.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous is taking this course right now.

    Excellent course. Teaching is of a high standard. The community ecosystem on FB, Twitter and Coursera Forum brings the whole course alive. Humorous posts from around the world, side by side with in depth analysis by both staff and more experienced students. I decided to pay Coursera for the Signature Track, which involves using a webcam and type on a PC keyboard. The webcam was also useful on a Google Hangout on Air tutorial I attended in week 2. A really good course.
  • Marianne

    Marianne completed this course.

    Fantastic course ... Phenomenal teaching team. They are intensely engaged and very helpful over the tough patches. Hang in there and you will have a foundation that will support any further pursuits in music. I plugged along and learned heaps. Did not take the final, but will take the class again and go for it because those that tried for it seemed like they were having a blast .
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    I entered this course with a minimal knowledge of scales, pitches, and dynamics. Can I lie? No. This course is not for the faint of heart! However, I pushed hard, finishing with a deeper—almost philosophical—understanding of the structure, expression, and notation behind music theory. If you're willing to brave a challenge, I highly recommend this course.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous is taking this course right now.

    Needs an introductions course as this one comes a bit out of nowhere, and the lectures are a bit too short for someone looking to get started with it, and things are emphasized enough for a person that's potentially going to be doing the test.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    I really like this course. It was a bit intense for my knowledge so I did not do my final test however I learnt a lot and would take it again !
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous is taking this course right now.

    Loving this course! I'm finding it really challenging, as it introduces a lot of new concepts and information, and I've never had any formal training in music, but the staff are helpful, engaged and approachable.
  • Profile image for Jos Gysenbergs
    Jos G.

    Jos completed this course, spending 6 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.

    Excellent! Never learned so many fundamentals about music in such a short time. Never boring but needs a bit of perseverance though.
  • Stephen R.

    Stephen completed this course and found the course difficulty to be hard.

    I go through the first 4 weeks of this course. The tests each week were esoteric and by week 4 would have required me to practice the materials for many, many hours in order to truly understand and implement the materials. Obviously, since one can retake the qualifying tests repeatedly, one can find a way to move on to the following week, but what for?
  • Dog P.

    Dog completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be hard.

    I didn't like how teachers presented the topics. Was very hard to follow and ended up quitting the course frustrated.
  • Mak T.

    Mak completed this course.

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  • Tiina

    Tiina completed this course.

  • Profile image for Stella Mendonça
    Stella M.

    Stella is taking this course right now.

  • Marat M.

    Marat completed this course, spending 8 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.

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