Additional Resources

General Music Theory Texts 

• • Lavengood, Hamm, Gullings, et. al. Open Music Theory

  • Robert Hutchenson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

  • Turek & McCarthy, Theory for Today's Musician (with accompanying workbook) (available online through the NYU Library)

  • Robin Armstrong & Karen Rege, GlobalMusix: Contemporary Music Throughout the World

  • Andre Mount, Fundamentals, Function, and Form

  • Catherine Schmidt-Jones, Understanding Basic Music Theory

  • Miranda Wilson, Integrated Music Theory (Paired with Integrated Musicianship)

  • Christine Riley, Music Fundamentals for Musical Theatre (available online through the NYU Library)

Aural Skills Texts 

• Timothy Chenette, Foundations of Aural Skills

• Cleland & Dobrea-Grindahl, Developing Musicianship through Aural Skills (available online through the NYU Library)

• Miranda Wilson, Integrated Musicianship  (paired with Integrated Music Theory)

• Adam Kolek, The Dictation Resource

Aural Sight-Reading Melody & Rhythm 

• Benjamin Crowell, Eyes and Ears

• Tobin Stewart, Foundational Sight Singing

• Erik Højsgaard, Rhythm: Advanced Studies (available online through the NYU Library)

• Open Music Theory's "Examples for Sight-Counting and Sight-Singing"

• Dave Smey, "Melodies for Sight-Reading"

Popular Music References

• Lavengood, Hamm, Gullings, et. al. Open Music Theory (See the Popular Music and Jazz units)

• Charlie Wilmoth, PopGrammar: A Songwriter's Guide to Music Theory

• David Temperley, The Musical Language of Rock (available online through the NYU Library)

• Christopher Doll, Hearing Harmony: Toward a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era (available online through the NYU Library)

• Drew Nobile, Form as Harmony in Rock Music (available online through the NYU Library)

• Scotto, Smith, Rackett, eds., The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis (available online through the NYU Library)

• Ken Stephenson, What to Listen for in Rock (available online through the NYU Library)

• Scot Lipscomb, History & Styles of Rock

Additional Anthologies for Finding Examples for Study

These anthologies are in addition to the NYU Theory & Aural Anthologies. These all feature music by under-represented composers or music from styles outside of the classical canon. 

• Classical Repertoire (Primary Focus on Under-Represented Composers)

  • • Paula Maust, Expanding the Music Theory Canon

    • Mendoza et al, Diverse Music Theory Examples

    • Murdock, Parsell, et al., Music By Women

    • Composers of Color Resource Project, Music Theory Examples, Analytical Notes & Annotated Scores, Lesson Materials

• Classical Repertoire (other databases)

  • • Open Music Theory Harmony Anthology

    • Barbara Murphy, Music Theory Materials

    • William Caplin, Analyzing Classical Form (companion website for the text)

    • Advancing Music Theory: Musical Examples Database

• Popular Music, Film, Video Games

  • • Brent Yorgason, Film Music Theory Examples

    • Brent Ferguson, Video Game Examples

    • HookTheory

    • Barbara Murphy, Jazz, Pop, and Film Music Examples

    • Advancing Music Theory: Musical Examples Database (see tabs at bottom)

    • Trevor de Clercq & David Temperley, A Corpus Study of Rock Music

    • Jacob Martinez, 100 Best 3-Chord Guitar Songs Of All Time

• Folksongs & Non-Western 

  • • The American Folk Song Collection

    • Japanese Traditional Music 

    • Folkdance Footnotes 

    • IMSLP: Ethnomusicology Collection

    • 100 Folksongs of all Nations (PDF collection from IMSLP)

Music Theory & Ear Training Practice Sites

Fundamentals, Theory, and Aural Skills 

• MusicTheory.net: Solfege, interval, scale, chord ID,  music fundamentals drills, and brief tutorials. The site also offer a great iPhone app for $3.99 called Tenuto.

• Tone Savvy: Includes ear training drills in interval, chord, solfege, and scale ID; chord progressions; intervals in functional context; melodic dictation; and even first species counterpoint.

• Teoria: A great overall website for melodic and rhythmic dictation (customizable) that also includes other shorter drills on intervals, chords, and scales.

• G Major Music Theory: Click on “Contextual Listening” or “Harmonic Dictation” to find the ear training drills. Uses real recorded examples from the literature rather than abstract examples. Most content is “member only,” but there’s still a lot of free material here to practice with.

• Sarah Louden, Quizlet Theory & Fundamentals Flashcards

Aural Skills Only

• 1. • Adam Kolek, The Dictation Resource

     • Derek Remes, Dictation Resources. Examples organized by topic. Includes audio, blank student sheet, solution, and link to original score.

     • Trevor de Clercq's Aural Skills Resources: Includes interval, melodic, rhythm, and chord dictation drills with solutions for fundamentals through chromatic Harmony. Also includes practice resources for sight-singing and improv (drones, chord loops, grooves). 

Fundamentals Only

• 1. • Theta Music Trainer Games: Also includes basic aural skills. 

Aural Skills Practice by Category

Practice Finding Tonic

• Scale Degree Practice on GMajor Music Theory

  • • Find the tonic and other scale degrees after hearing a musical excerpt

    • Most is “Members” only, but there’s a lot of free stuff here also.

• The Tonic Finder on Theta Music

  • • Hear a short excerpt then choose from 3 given tonic notes on a keyboard. (The first 3 levels are free)

• Key Ear Training on Teoria.com

  • • Customizable. Set a limited number of keys and a tempo, then select the key that the excerpt was in.
      
      

Scale Degree / Solfege ID

• Note ID on MusicTheory.net (my favorite for this practice)

  • • Very customizable, easy to set for solfege or pitch names, keys, range, instruments, etc. They also offer a great iPhone app called Tenuto.

• Note Ear Training on Teoria.com

  • • Customizable in regard to range, selection of pitches, tempo. Offers the option for inputting answers via an online keyboard, note name, or even a midi keyboard.

• Functional (Scale Degree) Ear Training on ToneSavvy

  • • Customize by selecting desired syllables (or numbers) from both diatonic and chromatic syllables. Allows the option to change keys for each question or keep the same key. Key is established with a quick progression.
      
      

Interval ID

• Musical Intervals Tutor on MadelineSalocks.com

  • • A nice place to start with audio files of all the intervals (ascending, descending, harmonic) along with some song suggestions to help and YouTube links to those songs. The site also offers some quizzes when you’re done.

• Interval ID on MusicTheory.net

  • • Very customizable in regard to interval options, range, instrument, compound or simple.

• Interval ID on Teoria.com

  • • Offers the option of playing intervals above a selected note or random note with the option of inputting answers via a midi keyboard

• Interval ID on ToneSavvy: Abstract Intervals and Intervals in Context

• Finding Songs for Association

  • • Ear Master: Songs to Learn Musical Intervals. Includes YouTube audio for all songs and allows users to print a customizable interval chart

    • Trainear (includes YouTube audio links)

    • Wikipedia's Interval Association Chart

    • Musical-U: References to intervals in Pop songs with video links for reference.
      
      

Rhythmic Dictation

• Rhythmic Dictation on Teoria.com

  • • Very customizable with options to select meters; patterns that include rests, syncopation, triplets, etc; tempo; minimum note values.

• Rhythmic Dictation on ToneSavvy

  • • Offers 3 levels of difficulty for short examples.

• Web Dictation on DaveSmey.com

  • • He has a few sets of simple rhythmic dictation exercises with midi files and solutions in simple, compound time with and without 16th notes.
      
      

Melodic Dictation

• Melodic Dictation and 2-Voice Dictation on Teoria.com

  • • Abstract melodies with a lot of nice customization options for practice.

• Melodic Dictation on Tone Savvy

  • • Melodic (non-rhythmic) strings with good customization options: choose melodies with only 1/4/5, 1/4/5/6, or all diatonic pitches; the number of notes (2 or higher), and speed. Answers are input by selecting solfege syllables. Major mode only.

• Contextual Melodic Dictation on GMajor Music Theory

  • • Again, a lot of this content is “member only,” but there’s still a couple good practice examples. This site is nice because it uses real musical examples in context rather than abstract examples.

• Web Dictation on DaveSmey.com

  • • He has a few sets of simple melodic dictation exercises with midi files and solutions in simple, compound time along with some 2-voice examples.
      
      

Harmonic Dictation

• Harmonic Progressions on Teoria

  • • Customize by selecting progressions with just triads, 7th chords, chromatic chords (secondary dominants, N6, or Aug6 chords), inversions/root position only, key, and tempo.

• Harmonic Progressions on Toned Ear

  • • Select the chords (all diatonic triads and 7th chords) and the speed and ID the progression of RNs in a 4-chord progression that starts on tonic. Major mode only.

• Harmonic Progression Practice from Music Theory Materials 

  • • Includes a "student set up," audio files, and solutions for diatonic through chromatic harmony.
      
      

Improvisation

• Chord Progression Workouts: Improvisation with key jazz progressions on LearnJazzStandards.com. Offers a list of common progressions, then provides audio files that loop those progressions each 3 times in all 12 keys (working through the circle of fifths) to play along with along with chord charts to follow along with.

Music Notation Software

All three are open source and include online features for sharing scores with colleagues or instructors. 

• MuseScore: Requires a download, but works cross-platform. Excellent accessibility features, including music braille notation. 

• Flat IO: Works in the browsers, no download required. Also includes collaborative features for use in classrooms. 

• Noteflight: Works in the browser, no download required. 

Tools for Analysis

• Audio Timerliner and BriFormer are great for marking up an audio recording with notes about harmony, rhythmic patterns, formal areas, keys, etc. Both are free and work cross-platform. Audio Timeliner is a download; BriFormer works in the browser. 

• Sonic Visualiser: A free downloadable app that generates a spectrogram, waveform, melodic spectrogram, and other visualizations of audio files for analysis and annotation. Allows detailed comparison between different audio files. 

• Auralayer: Web-based app for visually annotating audio form a YouTube video or uploaded mp3 for form, texture, timbre, etc. 

• ClipGrab: Free downloadable app that allows you to quickly download the audio or video from a YouTube link. 

• BPM Tool for finding a tempo.

Tools for Composition

• Notio (Interactive Keyboard): Online interactive keyboard that you can set for any scale. Scale degrees/solfege/note names can be added to keys. A great visual tool for improvisation and dictation work! 

• BandLab: Free open-source online platform for recording, mixing, and collaborating on music projects. Audacity is another good open-source downloadable option that works cross-platform. 

• HookTheory: Explore chord progressions. Plug in any chord progression and listen to excerpts from pop songs that use that progression.

• Groove Pizza: Interactive online tool for experimenting with different grooves in poular music. 

• Beepbox: Compose looped progressions that are sharable via a link. 

• One Motion Chord Player: Enter chord progressions using lead sheet notation in any harmonic rhythm. Hear the progression in different styles. Great for demonstrating or trying out a progression or as a looped backing track for improvisation. 

Tools for Sight-Singing & Improv

• Rhythmic Grooves: Use as a rhythmic backdrop for improvisation or sight-singing to help keep a steady tempo and make the activity more musical and fun. 

  • • Trevor de Clercq's Index of Rhythmic Grooves. Rhythmic backing tracks from familiar pop songs. Organized by meter and bpm. See suggestions for use by de Clercq here. 

    • Drum Loops playlist on YouTube by Jim Dooley

• Drones: Useful for keeping track of tonic in sight-singing exercises, doing point-and-sing solfege practice, or practicing harmonic intervals against a sounding pitch or chord. 

  • • Web App: Piano Drone

    • Drone Index by Trevor de Clercq: See suggestions for use by de Clercq here. 

      • • Sustained Drones. Sustained drone examples from repertoire and different instrumental timbres. 

        • Drone Loops with Beats: Major and Minor. Organized by drone pitch and bpm.

• Chord Loops: Loop a chord progression to practice improvisation, chord arpeggiations, or sight-singing.

  • • Trevor de Clercq's Index of Chord Loops (see also the NYU Spreadsheet here). 4-bar looped progressions from familiar pop songs that include rhythm and harmony only looped for about 3 minutes. See suggestions for use by de Clercq here. 

    • One Motion Chord Player: Enter chord progressions using lead sheet notation in any harmonic rhythm. The player will loop the progression. Different musical styles and meters available. 

• Online Metronome: For keeping or finding a tempo. Here's another option. 

• Practicing Polyrhythms

  • • PolyRhythm Lite on Five over Three, a site by Wolfram Winkel

      • • Has a great online metronome that clicks polyrhythms at your choice of 3 speeds (slow, medium, fast). Offers rhythms of 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, or 13 against 2, 3, or 4 using different timbres. There’s also a link here for a downloadable app (Polyrhythm) for desktop or mobile devices.

    • Videos with polyrhythm visuals to practice with. These feature adjustable speeds that slowly increase over about 4.5 minutes. (Created and uploaded to YouTube Skye Løfvander).

      • • 2 against 3,  3 against 4,  3 against 5,  4 against 5

• aQWERTYon: Jam along with your favorite Youtube recordings on your computer keyboard with different instruments and effects. 

General Music Theory Pedagogy Resources

• Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy (Vol. 7 to current, Vol. 1–6)

• Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

• SMT Music Theory Pedagogy Interest Group

• Links to Material for Teaching Music Theory (from Bridging the Music Theory Gap)

Sample Syllabi

• • SMT Syllabi for Diversity in Course Design. Collection of syllabi for music theory courses that were selected as model examples for inclusive theory curricula. 

  • NYU Theory Syllabi: Syllabi for all of the core theory courses in the NYU Steinhardt theory curriculum. 

Lesson Plans / Slides

• Victoria Malawey, Multimoda Musicianship. Many of the lessons include slides. 

• Barbara Murphy, Music Theory Materials: Examples, Powerpoint presentations, videos, handouts, and exercises organized by topic. Theory & Aural.

• Advancing Music Theory: Lessons

Handouts

• Haohan Zhang, Music Theory Worksheets: Includes a large collection of worksheets and graphics for fundamentals and theory

• Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People: Handy reference handouts created by Sparky the Theory Dog for various topics. 

• Composers of Color: Lesson Materials

• WVU Music Theory Vault. Videos and handouts for topics for Theory I–IV

Assignments, Projects, In-Class Activities

• • Open Source Textbooks with assignments and/or practice examples for in-class activities

    • • Lavengood, Hamm, Gullings, et. al. Open Music Theory

      • Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

      • Victoria Malawey, Multimoda Musicianship

      • Andre Mount, Fundamentals, Function, and Form

      • Sarah Louden et. al., NYU course texts for core theory and aural courses. Each course texts include course objectives, activities, discussion topics, worksheets, and suggested practice for each lesson topic. See the links to all course texts here. 

  • Kyle Gullings, Class Resources. Download the zip file for worksheets, projects, exams, and syllabi for Theory I–IV. 

  • Kyle Gullings, Open Music Theory: Digital Workbook

Topic-Specific Resources

• • Non-Western Topics

    • • West African Drumming: See the Great Grooves series here. Includes information about different styles, pronunciation guides, info about instruments, and an interactive audio mixer to play along. 

      • Indian Music

        • • Sādhana’s, Indian Classical Music Website

          • Indian Tabla: Digitabla.com. Descriptions of different tal, counting guides, and video demonstrations. 

          • Video Demos & Practice: Indian Taal and Raag: See YouTube playlists by Urmi Battu (Tutorials, Taal, and Sargam) and Anuja Kamat (Basic Theory of Indian Music)

          • Raga Surabhi: Raga Identification Made Easy: Teaching resources for Carnatic music, including an extensive list of ragas with audio examples that include the scales, signatures, and examples from repertoire. 

      • Arabic Maqam: Maqam World. Resource with interactive pages for exploring maqam, jins, rhythm, form, and instruments. Listening, notation, tutorials. 

      • Turkish Music Theory: Adem Birson's “Turkish Ud Lessons” channel on YouTube with some great videos on Turkish music theory. 

      • Various Topics: Kennedy Center: World Arts & Culture Collection

  • Instruments

    • • Musical Instrument Library: A youtube playlist of 107 videos about instruments from around the world. 

      • Interactive Musical Instrument Guide: Click on a pic of each instrument to hear it

      • Western Orchestral Instruments: Pics and audio for Western instruments with short descriptions

  • Popular Music

    • • Tim Chenette, Music Theory Bridges (blog various music theory topics incorporating pop repertoire)