The power of music lies not in individual tones but the distances between them, also known as “intervals.” In this lesson, Ben Laude derives all the intervals between unison and octave from pairs of scale degrees in major and minor, measuring the size of each using chains of whole and half steps. Venturing into the world of ear training, Laude shows how you can begin recognizing intervals in familiar melodies.

Chelsea Tanner discusses how airspeed and direction effects the playability of intervals and provides recommendations for additional studies.

Drawing on your knowledge of steps, scales, keys, and intervals, you’re finally ready to begin building chords. In this lesson, Ben Laude shows you how to construct triads, spread them around the keyboard, and extend them into colorful seventh chords. Arriving at the all-important dominant seventh chord, the groundwork is laid for a thorough study of harmony.

Without harmony, the emotional content of music as we know it would be all but lost. In this lesson, Ben Laude shows you how chords can work together using just the diatonic notes of a key to make meaningful progressions. After dissecting the pivotal connection between dominant and tonic, Laude teaches you the most common cadences and basic chord progressions found in music across history and genre.

In this lesson, we learn what is perhaps the most fundamental principle of music theory: that it exists to serve and help us understand great music. Tanner explains that music theory are not laws, but guidelines, and that we can best utilize the lessons from this course as we look to deepen our relationship with the music we love.