Rhythm & Meter
Time Signatures Explained: Simple, Compound and Beyond
A time signature gives beats per bar and the note value that counts as one beat. Simple meters split each beat in two, compound meters split it in three.
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Glossary
Articles
Rhythm & Meter
Meter, Beat Hierarchy and Hypermeter in Performance
Meter is a pattern of strong and weak positions, not a time signature: how it is built, how it stretches past the bar, and where performance contradicts it.
Rhythm & Meter
Compound Meter: 6/8 vs 3/4 and How to Hear the Difference
Six eighth notes per bar can group as 3+3 in 6/8 or 2+2+2 in 3/4. Accent, contour, hemiola and conducting show which grouping you are hearing.
Orchestration
String Bowing and Articulation: A Practical Arranger Guide
Legato, detache, spiccato, staccato, martelé: what each bowing sounds like, how to mark it, and writing playable string parts.
Music History
After Tonality: What Composers Replaced It With
When chromatic harmony outgrew the tonal hierarchy, composers tried serial rules, rhythm, folk modes, and sound mass. What each method actually solved.
Rhythm & Meter
Odd Meters in 5/4 and 7/8: Counting, Feeling, Writing
Hear 5/4 and 7/8 as beat groups, not math: counting systems, conducting, repertoire from Brubeck to Balkan dance.
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Rhythm & Meter
Polyrhythm and Cross-Rhythm: Counting the Distinction
Polyrhythm, cross-rhythm and polymeter are not interchangeable. Counting the ratios shows what separates a divided span from a pattern set against a metre.
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Form
Binary and Ternary Form: Dance Patterns to Art Music
Simple and rounded binary, ABA and da capo: the cadence plans that define each section and how dances grew into art forms.
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Rhythm & Meter
Syncopation, Accent and Groove: Rhythm That Pushes Back
Tied overbeats, attacked offbeats, hemiola and groove: how syncopation displaces accent and why the body keeps the score.
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Rhythm & Meter
Swing Timing: What the Notation Does Not Say
Jazz notation asks for swing and leaves the ratio to the players, because the timing is tempo-dependent and a fixed written value would be wrong at most speeds.
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Guitar & Fretboard
Barre Chords Explained: The E Shape and the A Shape
A barre chord is an open chord moved up the neck. The E shape and the A shape are the two to learn first, and each one is built from its open chord by a simple rule of offsets.
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Rhythm & Meter
Note Values, Rests, Ties and Dots Explained
Each note value is half the one above it. Whole to sixteenth notes and their rests, plus how dots, ties and beams change what you count.
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Acoustics & Sound
The Harmonic Series: Why Octaves, Fifths and Thirds Come First
A vibrating string or air column sounds a fundamental and a set of partials at whole-number multiples of it. Here are the first sixteen, their cents, and where they differ from equal temperament.
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Counterpoint
Imitation and Invertible Counterpoint
Imitation makes one idea serve two lines. Invertible counterpoint makes those lines interchangeable, and the arithmetic behind it is small enough to check.
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Fundamentals
Tempo Markings Explained: Largo to Presto in Beats per Minute
Italian tempo words run from slow to fast. Approximate beats-per-minute bands for each, the modifiers and transitions that change them, and why a metronome number needs a time signature.
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Counterpoint
Canon Types and Techniques: Rounds to Crab Canons
Strict and free canon, interval and time distance, inversion and crab canons: how canons work and how to write a singable one.
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Tuning & Temperament
Just Intonation, Beating and Why Intervals Sound in Tune
Pure intervals come from small whole-number ratios, and beating is what stops them sounding pure. What just intonation gives, and what it cannot fix.
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Guitar & Fretboard
Capo and Transposition: How a Capo Changes the Key
A capo raises every open string by one semitone per fret, so a G shape played at fret 2 sounds in A. This shows how to find the sounding key and how to choose a capo position.
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Jazz & Popular Harmony
Chord Extensions Explained: Ninths, Elevenths and Thirteenths
Ninths, elevenths and thirteenths are chord tones stacked above the seventh. Which of them fit a chord depends on its quality, and some clash with the third.
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Fundamentals
How to Read Sheet Music: Staves, Clefs and Note Names
The staff, the treble and bass clefs, line and space names, ledger lines, and where the key and time signatures sit, with a table to learn from.
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Ear Training & Practice
How to Transcribe Music by Ear: A Step-by-Step Procedure
Transcribe by ear in a fixed order: key and bass first, then chords by root and quality, then the melody by scale degree, and rhythm last.
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Songwriting & Composition
How to Write a Melody Over Chords, Note by Note
Put chord tones on strong beats, approach tension notes by step, and keep the line singable. A worked melody over C, G, Am and F shows each choice.
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Harmony
Non-Chord Tones: Passing, Neighbour, Suspension and More
A non-chord tone is a note that sounds over a chord without belonging to it. Here are the main types, how each is approached and left, and how to write them.
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Counterpoint
Parallel Fifths and Octaves: Why the Rule Exists
Parallel fifths and octaves are voices that move together and keep a perfect interval. Here is why strict voice leading forbids them and where the rule bends.
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Tuning & Temperament
Pythagorean Tuning: How Stacked Pure Fifths Build a Scale
Pythagorean tuning builds every interval from pure 3:2 fifths. Here is the seven-note scale it produces, its whole tones and semitones in cents, and the wolf fifth it leaves behind.
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Songwriting & Composition
Song Form: Verse, Chorus and Bridge Explained
How verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge are arranged in common song forms, what each section is for, and how contrast makes the chorus land.
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Acoustics & Sound
Timbre and Overtones: Why the Same Note Sounds Different
Timbre is the shape of a note's spectrum: which partials are present, how strong they are and how the sound begins. Here is why a clarinet, a flute and a piano differ on the same pitch.
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Tuning & Temperament
What Are Cents? The Unit That Measures Small Pitch Differences
A cent is one hundredth of an equal-tempered semitone. Here is the formula, what the common intervals measure in cents, and what a tuner is showing you.
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Fundamentals
Circle of Fifths Explained: Keys, Signatures, Changes
The circle of fifths organizes every key by signature and closeness. How to read it, memorize it, and use it for modulation and chord choice.
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Form
Rondo Form: How Refrains and Episodes Structure a Movement
Rondo form alternates a returning refrain with contrasting episodes. Learn classical key plans, sonata-rondo hybrids, and why refrains return altered.
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