Welcome!
This website is designed to teach the parents of beginning band, choir, or orchestra students the fundamentals of music theory. Many parents have been in a situation where their child brings home an instrument or music and asks for help. In some cases, parents may know how to read music, however all too often this is not the case.
This website is structured in a way that parents can easily learn enough information to assist their child with at-home practice and then continue to use it as a resource. Children will be learning the same information at school from their music teacher, but in a more detailed format. This website will provide the material in a simple and fast way for the parent on the go!
How to use this website
To use this website as a full lesson, it is advised to go in order using the menu on the left side of the screen. At the bottom of each page, you can link to the next lesson topic.
However, you may find that you simply need to focus on one topic. If this is the case, just use the menu on the left to find what you need to work on.
Throughout the website you will find various different interactive activities.
The mouse icon indicates an image that you can hover over to reveal extra information or an answer to a question. It is recommended to try to answer the question first before using the mouse to see the answer.
There will be various different video lessons throughout the website. These lessons are short and summarize a topic from that webpage.
The sound icon indicates an audio example or audio lesson. If you prefer to learn by hearing information aurally, you will be able to hear the lesson when this icon is present. Simply click on the play button to hear the audio. On the major scales page, there are also audio examples of each scale.
The Basics
If you simply want to learn just enough to help your child get started, I would suggest the following pages:
Notes and Keyboard
What's Your Clef
Find the clef that belongs to your child's instrument or voice
Treble Clef Notes/Bass Clef Notes
Only learn the notes that your child will need to learn
Put it Together
Practice the exercises only in the clef you have studied
Rhythm and Time
Time Signature
Learn 4/4 time
Note length
Learn whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes
Rest length
Learn whole rests, half rests, and quarter rests
Put it Together
Practice the counts
Intermediate Work
If you understand the basics and would like to learn more to stay one step ahead of your child, then I would suggest looking at the following pages:
Rhythm and Time
Note Length
Learn the dotted half note, dotted quarter note, and eighth note
Rest Length
Learn the dotted half rest, dotted quarter rest, and eighth rest
Syncopation
This will pertain to more advanced rhythm learning typically seen in 3rd year music.
Keys, Scales, and Circle of Fifths
Look through all sections
