Music theory lessons

[fishpond]

Starting to struggle a little with music theory( learning on my own with a multitude of books).(and the very nice Mr Petes website😀)
It appears that the local university or colleges do not do adult evening classes, even in the basics.
Has anyone used/using a online course?
What are their thoughts on this?
Any recommendations?
🙂

 

[Young Col]

Don't know about on line, but I'm doing theory with my sax teacher - at her suggestion. Actually going straight in to do G5 exam in March. It's already made a huge difference to my understanding of playing and reading.

If you want to spend a few bob the ABRSM (Assoc. Board, Royal Schools of Music) guides (vols 1 &2) by Eric Taylor are very good. There are also work books for each grade by him as well. You can get other supporting material as well. I'm surprised at how much is just simple arithmetic - note lengths, time sigs, chords, intervals... While a lot can be assimilated by self-learning, my experience is that you need some assistance to get through it all.
Colin

 

[Lewis.S]

I'm hoping to start some theory, feel it does help to push along, but I'm going to do at my local music centre. At the same time I'm gonna stary learning piano

Lewis;}

 

[visionari1]

I'm hoping to start some theory, feel it does help to push along, but I'm going to do at my local music centre. At the same time I'm gonna stary learning piano

Lewis;}

Excellent

I found that playing some piano has really helped the theory side of Saxophone playing and made it much easier to visualize chords and notes etc.

It all widens one's apprecaition of music in general, which can only be good!

Keep at it....it's the only way!

Cheers
Ciao
Jimu

 

[TomMapfumo]

Excellent series of "Popular Music Theory" by London College of Music - downloadable too. I've done to Grade 4 - worth investigating!

Tom😎

 

[tenorsaxman]

Hello again Bob

Just wanted to plug my champion's blog where I mention www.teoria.com. Have a look. Quite a bit of interactive learning in there which I am finding helpful. So much to learn. I'm already starting too late in life to be any good. But they say the world likes a trier so I grit my teeth and keep at it!

 

[Mamos]

www.teoria.com. Have a look.

Nice find

mamos

 

[fishpond]

Chris
May all your reeds never split & your pads stay forever clean.🙂
I missed this in your blog.
Superb, just what I (and I suspect, many more) have been looking for:thankyou:
Have you joined, or using as a freebie?::

 

[tenorsaxman]

Bob

I use the free bit, but for $20 per annum it doesn't seem much considering you can then download the whole site and use this resource off line. May be you should read the blog again, taking notes:shocked:! Good to chat with you again.

 

[tenorsaxman]

Excellent

I found that playing some piano has really helped the theory side of Saxophone playing and made it much easier to visualize chords and notes etc.

It all widens one's apprecaition of music in general, which can only be good!

Keep at it....it's the only way!

Cheers
Ciao
Jimu

Jimu has a good point, but before paying Yamaha any money look on the web for a virtual piano. I find when I'm trying to get to grips with theory, having the keys on screen is enough to help me make the connections.

This isn't the greatest keyboard but it could get you started. Use the mouse or the middle row on your keyboard to get going. http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/music/piano/index.htm.

Who has the best virtual keyboard? We need to know.

 

[visionari1]

Hi Tenorsaxman

Probably not good advice for you living on a boat, but you can pick up very cheap keyboards at garage sales etc, & even simple chords playing, & linking this with your ears is great practise IMHO.
Cheers & Ciao
Jimu

 

[Mamos]

I have a small keyboard I use for working out scales and chords etc

Got it for £2 at a car boot sale

mamos

 

[tenorsaxman]

Hi Jimu

I have to confess I have a Yamaha e413, which is wonderful, but a bit of a fag to unpack if you're online looking at Teoria for example and need a quick keyboard. My boat is big but there isn't space to dedicate some of it to a studio, which I would have if I had a house. 🙂

 

[Mamos]

Mine only has mini keys so would fit a chart table.

I would love a ships piano http://squeezyboy.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/ships_pianojpg.JPG



mamos

 

[RedBottom]

How cheap/short/informal does it have to be?

A few years ago I took the Open University course A214: Understanding music. It's a nine months course and takes you from basic notation to four part harmony in that time, plus you learn about score reading and music history.There's also a one-week summer school included, in Durham, which is the most mahoooosive fun (100 musicians, 1 bar, 7 nights - what more could you want?).

It has an initial, gentle learning curve for the first few weeks, which then steepens quite considerably. My tutors told me it takes you from pre-grade one to first-year university level and at over £1000 it's a lot to fork out. But you do learn a lot and it's well worth the money if you can run to it, plus you can use the points earned towards a Diploma in Music if that's what you want.

 

[fishpond]

It sounds like its just the job.
Sadly the cash flow isn't up to it at the moment, but it is certainly an avenue worth pursuing at a later date.
Must admit, never thought of open university.
Many Thanks
:thankyou:

 

[RedBottom]

I would love a ships piano

We used to have one those. Not in such good nick as that one, though. It had a cracked sound board and the piano tuner could only tune it to itself. It played a tone flat, but was perfectly in tune with my tenor.

 

[kevgermany]

My wife did that OU course (or it's precursor) about 10 or 12 years ago. It's really good!