Music Theory for Beginners

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer introduces basic music theory by showing the relationship between semitones and whole tones on a piano keyboard.

Reading music is one of the foundations of music theory. In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates the basics of musical notes on a staff.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer explains how sharps and flats are notated in written music and how these accidentals change the way a note is played.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer discusses the relationship between each note and pattern of steps that make up the heptatonic C major scale.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer EDUcation demonstrates that knowing the correct whole tone-semitone pattern will allow you to write out a D major scale.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer EDUcation demonstrates how to write out the G major and D-flat major scales by simply following the scale rules.

In this brief lesson, Dominik Schirmer discusses the use of hertz to measure sound and how the ratios between frequencies create musical intervals.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer introduces the intervals between every note in a diatonic musical scale, explaining how they relate to each other.

In this simple lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates the different intervals between the notes of a C major musical scale by counting the semitone steps.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates a method of identifying the intervals modified by accidentals that change the distance between musical notes.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates how accidentals written in music modify perfect intervals to become augmented or diminished intervals.

Learn how intervals are named according to how they are written in a piece of music, and get an introduction to doubly augmented and diminished intervals.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer explains how to invert musical intervals and also discusses the basic music theory behind each interval inversion.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer uses the C major scale to introduce the whole tone-semitone pattern for each of the seven different musical modes.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates how to write out each mode and explains how to ensure each step in the scale maintains proper tonality.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer reviews the modes and their scales, then presents a way to memorize the order of their sharped or flatted notes.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates how to construct the mirrored modes by using tetrachords with each of the modes in the LIMDAPL in C.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer explains how to construct both the major and minor triads, following the leaps in intervals and using accidentals as needed.

In this lesson, follow along with Dominik Schirmer to learn the basic music theory behind constructing and writing out diminished and augmented chords.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer EDUcation explains how to add a 7th to chords and demonstrates how to find the major, minor, and diminished intervals.

In this short lesson, Dominik Schirmer explains how to write out major 7th chords from the root up, and also discusses basic music theory tips.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer EDUcation covers the basic music theory behind the construction of minor 7th chords, with clear examples and explanations.

In this brief lesson, Dominik Schirmer EDUcation covers how to build the minor-major 7th from the root, ensuring proper notation and intervals are maintained.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates how to build this distinctive chord by adding a minor 7th to a major triad, as well as its notation.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer discusses the notation of the half-diminished 7th chord and demonstrates how to build the chord up from the root.

In this lesson, Dominik Schirmer demonstrates how to build a fully diminished 7th chord, and discusses some music theory involving its structure.