Home Based Learning:
Music Theory made Easy!
Using fun tools, we're going to learn some music theory so we can understand our music better by writing in a more organised fashion!
Lesson 1
1.1
Have you seen these symbols before?
Well, today we are going to learn how to use them to write music. With enough practice, you'll be using them as comfortably as the alphabet!
Kindly spend 5 minutes exploring this app:
Today's lesson will require you to use this app alot, so make sure you feel as comfortable as you can using it!
Side note: If you are using a smartphone to access the song maker app, please go to the Song Maker's settings and change the length to 4 bars.
1.2
A long time ago, people in the west came up with a written language for music. This meant that anyone who could read the music language could play that particular song, no matter how difficult! The foundation of this language relies on symbols called notes:
These notes tell the musicians how long to hold the 'button' they are supposed to play:
So, imagine you are writing instructions for a group of musicians, where each musician only plays one colour on the Song Maker app. If you gave the 'pink' musician this:
, he will play like this:
Now go to the Song Maker app, make the pink row look like the above, and press play to listen to how it sounds. Take your time to understand what has just been explained.
1.3
To make it easier for the musicians to read, we sometimes group the notes in groups of 4 beats: everytime the notes reach 4 beats, we put a line. We also put a line at the start.
=
I 4 I 2 + 2 I 1+1+1+1 I 0.5 X 8 I
Please try the following exercise. Try first before clicking the answer!
EXERCISE:
Input the following notes as the pink musician, and then check your answer.
1.4
Homework
1) Imagine you are the 'pink' Musician. Input the following into the song maker app:
2) Once you are done, click Save (the tick at the bottom right of screen).
3) Click Copy Link.
4) Click Mr Homework's face to paste the URL
Mr Homework