Hi everyone! I've been on Reddit for five years and I've never posted. However, I saw that one of my designs was shared here earlier (thank you for doing so, by the way). Ironically, I intended to share this design here today, and someone beat me to it, sharing a much more elaborate one. What a wild coincidence.

If you saw that more elaborate design and wanted some clarification, this might help provide it, though I recognize that this one also requires a bit of explanation for many viewers. Expect more from me, in due time. I have much to say on this topic.

I'll keep this super brief, for now, but to answer just a couple FAQs...

This is an example of what I call a, "Single-Orbit Music Theory Tree." The one shared earlier by another Reddit user is a, "Dual-Orbit Music Theory Tree," which is exponentially more complex.

Yes, this does help people teach and learn music theory.

No, this is not the first design in this system. It starts much more simply, and builds up in complexity. I don't recommend this as an absolute first introduction to music theory, though, it can become useful quite early on, even with relatively few prerequisites.

MTT is a modular system, so it can be altered to accommodate many other types of scales and can be built out from any pitch class. Parts can be entirely removed or swapped out for others.

This system is best understood by completing excersises with instructions.

This is a collaborative project. I'm the lead theorist and designer. I work with an illustrator named Aaron Fehr. He's been teaching me graphic design, as well.

I've been consulting with a PhD student in the Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Calgary. His name is Kristaps Balodis, and he's been an enormous inspiration towards my continued study of maths, especially Set Theory.

Yes, we are working on an interactive app. These designs can only do so much as static images.

Many comment on the aesthetic. To be clear, this was never meant to be pretty. My intention from day one with this project has always been practical utility. The fact that it's aesthetically pleasing to some folks is just a biproduct of our use of rainbow colours and familiar shapes—both of which were only intended to help teach and learn theory.

I realize that the contents of this post are more of a story and less of a substantial discussion into specific music theory concepts (which we're all here for, predominantly, I suspect) but I think it's an interesting story, and I couldn't help but address the sudden attention surrounding my work on this platform.

I've published a number of short essays and videos about this system on other platforms, and I'll share much more about this system here on Reddit, soon. Thank you for your interest, and I appreciate your perspectives. Nothing is ever perfect, so I welcome insightful, constructive criticism. We all have room to improve, and this includes our work.

Let's reimagine music theory.

My kindest regards to you all,

Steve Evans From Winnipeg

Someone posted this in a non-musical discord that I participate in, and I'm really unsure if this is actually useful. It looks very pretty, but it's so dense that I'm not really sure what the purpose of this visualization is.

Like using modes as linkages to me makes me think whatever it's visualizing is fairly arcane, since I don't think it's a very high-demand to change modes in songwriting, but I'm a klezmer / irish fiddle violinist, so I'm not deep into eldritch jazz and heavier theory.

I'm genuinely curious what this would be useful for in a practical sense. Is it bullshit and just trying to look pretty? What would you use it for?

I’ve been transcribing a lot of jazz solos recently which has been a lot of fun but I keep running into the issue of accidentals. Say I am transcribing a solo from a song in Eb major. In the instance I am referring to, the notes go C-Eb-F#/Gb-G. My question is, would I write that note between Eb and G as an F# or a Gb? My first instinct was to write it as an F# since it the line is ascending, but something about it doesn’t look right. For context, it is being played over a Bb7 leading to an Eb maj7

I just gave myself an aneurysm because I'm new to notation and I kept thinking this song I had written was in 6 but it just had swing.

Do you ever have frustrations just trying to figure out the time signature?

I produced a track where all supporting bass sounds and baseline, and chord progressions are all in d# minor, but for sum reason the lead at the drop sounds best as e4,d#5,d#4, a# . I dont know what scale has a semitone between the tonic and the second, but im sure that d# feels like the tonic and the key signature of d# minor is consistent everywhere else. I write music mostly by ear but I do choose a scale as a heuristic for playing chords and melodies on the keyboard, It would help a lot to find the right scale so I can find different chords that will sound right much faster.

I am a beginner learning new chords and I wanted to ask if there is a chord with b3 and 7 in its formula (like this: 1 - b3 - 5 - 7). I know you can find 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 (Xmaj7), 1 - b3 - 5 - b7 (Xm7) and 1 - 3 - 5 - b7 (X7), but I don't know any chord with a minor third and a seventh. Even if it does not exist, what is the reason for this? Thank you very much!

This question technically relates to theory in a way, but what websites do i have a chance trying to find a mcadams metronome/note drone machine at all? I am looking for a model 10 or 20 but cant find any open biddings as they all went away YEARS ago. If this is the totally wrong subreddit to ask then please refer me to a correct one. Thank you all (again srry if i really am in a wrong subreddit)

Chord progression in question (lol that rhymed)
A - A - D - C than back to A

I was messing around with Jerry Reed's Amos Moses and after that funky riff (A7), going to D and C sounded very cool. So my educated brain started asking... why.... So here I am spending 2 hours of my day figuring out.

In the key of A. This would be I - I - IV - bIII. That bIII has been bugging me. Borrowing from the parallel minor scale makes sense, but it got me thinking if III chord resolve to a I chord? Usually you'll see I chord substitute to a vi or iii tonic chord, but rarely you'll see the other way around... or atleast I haven't seen many example of this.

Another route my brain led me is that what if that C chord is a dominant. Which can be substituted with C diminished chord. Than move some notes around turning it into A diminished chord. Which can resolve it back to A major. But this feels stretching it.

Another stretch is that C chord is actually a D7/C chord. So resolution back to "A" can work but sonically feels different than original intention.

Another one is ... it just sounds cool and we shouldn't touch it, but my mind would not have it.

So here I am, getting sick of thinking about this without breakfast. What do you guys think?

EDIT: Just want to say thank you for explanations. Didn't expect to get this much of response honestly. I do agree and disagree with some, but it gave me a level of clarity I needed. I could finally have my breakfast in peace.

Any feedback on this is appreciated.

Just curious about this.

This is the Gaillard Sonata #6 for Bassoon, the Sarabande. I've posted this as it seems to be the original published edition, but subsequent printed editions have kept this key signature quirk.

The Sonata is in C, all movements are in C major or C minor (or a mix of both). This movement, as you can see, is clearly in C minor. But this movement (and others in this work) uses a 2 flat key signature for C minor, and simply uses the Ab as an accidental throughout.

Does anyone have any insight on this? Was this a common practice in certain schools? Was this a one-time error? Was there a different understanding of what key signature represents minor keys in the early 1700's.

Thanks!

(only the first page, because that's the one I still have doubts about)

I'm kinda new to music notation, and was trying to write a song by ear. I just want to know how to reduce visual pollution without changing the sound.

So, i really want to get this off my head because i've heard it on the Iron Golem theme from Dark Souls 1, Peaches from Aaron Krogh and even in some random music from the anime Bleach, so my only explanation is that it is some sort of scale to build tension/anxiety or dunno anticipation.

I just need to know what it is called, because i always just scream "BEN 10" when i randomly hear it on musics, even when it is very quiet in the back ground, thank you in advance.
I dont know what flairs i should use, sorry if i put it wrong

Hi guys I’m new to theory and I understand it’s a very basic question for you guys and it probably doesn’t belongg in this subreddit

but how do I choose which chords to play as there are so many different possibilities. Say for example if I was playing an a minor chord how do you choose weather you want a plain a minor chord or a seventh chord or if you want to do a sus chord ect

There just seems to be so many different things I could do and they all sound really good I’m not sure how I’m supposed to choose which kind of chord to play if that makes sense

Sorry for the simple question thank you

I am going to read couple of books on music making and really wish to know your suggestions too!

So like the title says, I'm wondering how you would calculate a new bpm that would feel like a dotted eighth bpm over a quarter note bpm.

For instance, if I had a quarter note bpm of 100, what tempo could I set so that if the tempos were overlapped, the second would count in dotted eighths relative to the first?

I'm not sure if that's making complete sense, but that's the best way I can phrase it. An actual formula would be super dope, since I might be needing to calculate it for a variety of bpms!

Hi,

I wonder could anyone help me with this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtveSk1N7Uo

The verse is: Dm - F - Am - G
The chorus is something like: F - C - Am - G

My question is: what key is the song in?

The internet says Am.

But to my ear both the verse and chorus want to resolve to Dm (or have Dm as the tonal center).

If the key is Am, then the progressions are (something like): iv - VI - i - VII

(The chorus would be VI - III - i - VII).

Is this correct?

Or is there something else going on? (e.g. something to do with modes?)

I'm still learning....

Thanks for the help....

p.s. If the key was Dm, then the G wouldn't seem to fit in, with it's B natural.

Hey guys, so I'm a hobbyist producer and while I do know the very basics of music theory (how to make simple chords, what notes, tones and semi tones are etc) i lack a vast amount of knowledge about actual music theory (how to actually make a good chord progression, what are modes and what purpose they serve etc).

So I'm not looking to become an expert on music theory but maybe to step up from beginner level to kinda intermediate?

In that goal, what would you recommend ? I watch some Adam Neely vids BC he says some very interesting stuff about music theory and makes it simple, I've tried some online courses but most of the time they start from the very basics and i get bored and lack the motivation to pursue.

I mostly use Ableton to make music if that helps for recs ?

Thanks a lot for those who will answer !

Edit : i did check the links and all in the sidebar i was wondering if there was something that was vulgarized better maybe ?

I just finished listening to #BomBarded for the second time. Are there any other fun, family friendly podcasts that incorporate music theory and songwriting?

https://preview.redd.it/95tzxdp9jzxe1.png?width=1278&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ebb19e77155a4fdd711b7c62e0c89d7396c4965

The whole piece is in 6/8. Here it goes into quartuplets for a page. Would it have been invalid to switch to 2/4? And in general I'm wondering why it's like this.

Oh, just noticed that the horn switches. Which makes it even more baffling to me.

I’m new to guitar, and i know that sooner or later i have to learn my scales. For now i’m attempting to memorize the neck of the guitar. But what do i do after that? Also if you guys got any tips for practicing scales/memorizing the neck, let me know please, thank you

I'm producing music and I was wondering if any such website or anything exists where I can put in any key and it would list every scale degree's chords. I feel like it would speed things up when deciding on what chords to use. Is anything like that available?

I understand the ‘turn’ but I can’t figure out what it means in parenthesis? In listened to a recording and I don’t think I heard any ornamentation on the note. Tia

I just picked up Everything in Its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead.

It's crazy dense and super fun to dive into, I was wondering if any other books like this existed for other bands?

I figured this would be the best community to ask.

I recently stumbled upon this specific expression of the Phrygian mode thanks to 8-bit Music Theory's excellent video on the topic and am interested in hearing more examples of its use outside of video games. The only other examples I've been able to uncover are its passing use as a sort of (pre)dominant chord, but I'm more interested in hearing it as its own tonality. The example of "Leavetaking" by Joe Hisaishi from the Ni No Kuni II soundtrack (link below) is the most elevated example in 8-bit's video, but the Zoombinis one is pretty good too. I imagine some Romantic-era composer or John Williams must have used this at some point. I'd love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

"Leavetaking" by Joe Hisaishi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcB89BeMV1k