Studying music theory on my own...?

Question

I've been playing violin for seven years, guitar for three, and percussion (marching bass drum, mallets, timpani, traps, a little set) for about a year. I've loved music all my life (near sixteen years), and I'd like to make a career out of it. I know I'd need to study music theory in high school, but I don't think I can take the course in my high school and still meet all the requirements to graduate/get into a good school, so I came to the solution to try studying on my own. Problem is, I'm not sure where to start and what to do. Does anybody have any suggestions for how to proceed, such as books to use, online programs, good websites, etc.? I'd be really grateful.

Answer 1

I play the piano and sequence/compose music here and there on my PC.  I learned my fair share of music theory and knowledge through experimentation, taking a class or two, and studying on my own, but for the most part, I'm self-taught.

Since you already have experience with several instruments, you can start out pretty much anywhere, unless you have absolutely *no* knowledge of music theory.

A good site that's taught me well is http://www.musictheory.net - which starts from the very basics and covers a few advanced topics.

Consulting music theory topics on Wikipedia helps out a lot too - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theor... -- there's a whole library of them.

Picking up a book or two about music theory at your library wouldn't hurt either.

And finally, sit down with your favorite instrument and play a few tunes, then stop and try to analyze the structure and composition of the piece you just played.  You learn a lot when you can figure out the why and how, on your own, of the pieces you just played.

Hope this helps, good luck in your studies.

PS:  Don't listen to people who say you can only get good and competent by taking classes and having a good teacher. There are many, many famous musicians and composers who were self-taught.  As long as you have the will and persistence, you'll learn just as well teaching yourself, as I did (and do).

Answer 2

I agree with the poster above, but I have some suggestions too.  Start with knowing your major key signatures and scales, then add the minor ones.  

Make sure you know chords.  Major, minor, diminished, augmented.  Then add 7th chords.  

If you have these basics down, you can build from there on your own.

Answer 3

Hello my fellow musician!  I have to agree with the other answerers.  Theory is a very complex subject, and some parts of it would be like Japanese to you.  Plus, from my experience music theory in high school is a joke, so don't even worry about not taking it.  And even if you did, they would make you take it again in college.  Most college professors who teach theory are very thorough, so your best bet is to take it then.  However, if you do want to get a jump start I would go down to either your local community college's bookstore, or a bookstore that sells college textbooks and pick one up to start teaching yourself.  This definitely wouldn't hurt as I am sure there are things that are plain and clear.  Also, you could go online and do a search on Amazon, they always tend to have a lot of college textbooks both new and used!

Good Luck and thanks for reading!

Answer 4

Music theory classes are taught in college. And the only way you'll fully learn this subject is by taking an actual class, with a good teacher teaching it. There's a lot to learn that just reading websites and books aren't gonna measure up to.

Answer 5

Music theory is a very big subject, and not one that you would have completely learned in high school anyway (even with the class), so if you don't take it, but study music in college, you'll still get about 3 years of college focus on it.

There are some real basic things that are important to know, and all of it you can learn on the internet... some you might already know.

1. Note names of the treble and bass clefts (and alto and tenor clefts if you want more).

2. Memory all the key signatures, not just in reading them, but you must be able to right them.

3. Learn the Natural minors of all the major key signatures.

4. Learn the intervals, like a Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th.... you'd write these as M2, m3, and P4.

5. And should you feel comfortable with all of this, start learning chord names, such as the tonic chord and dominant chord, and the roman numerals that go with them. But you have to feel very comfortable with the key signatures and intervals first!

Good luck!