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Preparation

Major Scale and Minor Scale

1. Tones and a Scale Western music theory is built on the basis of twelve tones, as represented by the piano keyboard. These are like "colored pencils", with which you paint music. you don't necessarily use all the 12 tones to write a song. Especially in loop-style music, the same tone is used over and over again, to create a…
yuta
May 26, 2024
Preparation

Pitch Names

1. Variation of Pitch Names This website is written in English—Which means that people from various countries will visit here. And since music education differs between countries, I'd like to start from checking the very basis of music : the names of pitches. I suppose that assigning alphabets is the most prevalent system in the world but it may differ…
yuta
May 26, 2024
Preparation

About “Preparation” Part

1. About This Part In this chapter you learn fundamental knowledge necessary to go on "Melody" or "Chord" part — More specifically, about Scale and Key. Note that "Rhythm" part doesn't require these knowledge so you can make a detour if you get bored of this part :) In fact this part may feel, paradoxically, the most tough for you…
yuta
April 14, 2022
Introduction

Set Your Goal & Plan Routings

1. Let's Plan Now, welcome to Liberal Music Theory! But the total number of articles here is...immense. So this section shows some model cases of studying pattern. You can skip this article if you don't care of planning things! (more…)
yuta
April 4, 2024
Introduction

Legend and Guide

Some basic notes on using this website is here. 1.File Formats Music Players We use audio players like this: Playing before page load completion might result in failure. Please reload the page in that case. Embedded Players We also use preview links by Apple Music or Spotify. Without signing in you can listen to 30 or 90 seconds preview. And…
yuta
June 9, 2024
Introduction

Decide Whether to Study

10. Of Liberal Music Theory In the previous section I showed the merits of learning music theory — It is a language to verbalize the "invisible art", and information technology to access the huge library of past music. On the other hand, you also saw the dark side of music theory. So we have to clear this issue before making…
yuta
May 4, 2024
Introduction

Usefulness of Music Theory

8. Value of Music Theory In the previous section I picked up a bad case where music theory could harm you, or take you time than it benefits. But this can be avoided by innovating/updating the theory. Now I'd like you to have a view from the opposite side — How useful a music theory can be. Let's take a…
yuta
May 12, 2024
Introduction

Uselessness of Music Theory

In the previous section we saw minimal history of music theory. "Classical Harmony" and "jazz theory" are two major branches of music theory, compared like below. Neither is made for modern pop music like rock, EDM, hip-hop and so on. And, of course, neither is created for the current pop, rock, or EDM genres that make up "modern popular music."…
yuta
June 8, 2024
Introduction

History and Schools of Western Music Theory

The previous article ended with the state that you should learn some history of music theory, in order not to be bound by what is called "rules". History class? No no no teach me music! I understand how you feel, but this is a very important step. You shouldn't let music theory tame you. Instead, you should get it tamed.…
yuta
July 16, 2024
Introduction

What is Music Theory?

1. The Necessity? Let's start with the fundamental question : What is music theory? Some may have doubt on the importance of "theory" in Music. Are music theories necessary to make a song? But this is an unanswerable question—because "music theory" encompasses a wide range of topics, including everything from basic terms like Pitch, Bass or BPM to highly academic…
yuta
June 9, 2024