Understanding Music

What is a Tritone? A tritone is an interval of 3 tones (whole steps) or 6 semitones (half steps) that sounds particularly dissonant. It can be either expressed as …

A hemiola is a rhythmic device that involves superimposing 2 notes in the time of 3 – there are 2 types you will come across – horizontal hemiola and …

Enharmonic equivalents describe notes, intervals, key signatures or chords that share the same pitches, but have different names depending on the musical context. For example, the black note on …

What is a pentatonic scale? A Pentatonic scale is a scale with 5 notes (from the Greek word ‘pente’ meaning 5). The easiest way to play one is to …

A secondary dominant chord is an altered chord (has at least one accidental) that has a dominant relationship to another chord that is not the tonic of the piece …

The chromatic Scale consists of 12 notes – each note is separated from the next by the interval of a semitone (or half step). It can be described as …

A perfect fourth is an interval of 5 semitones (half steps) between 2 notes. For example, if you play middle C on the piano followed by the F above …

A perfect fifth is an interval of seven semitones (half steps) between 2 notes. For example, if you play a C on the piano followed by the G above …

Ostinato Music Definition Ostinato (plural – ostinati or ostinatos) is an Italian word meaning obstinate or persistent and is used in music to describe a musical phrase or rhythm …

Timbre Definition Timbre can be defined as describing the tone-colour or tone quality of a sound. It is how we identify the difference between the quality of tone of …

What is a Picardy Third? A Picardy Third (or Tierce de Picardie) is where a major chord is written as the final chord of a piece that has mostly …

What is a Suspension in Music? A suspension in music is where a note from a chord is held whilst the other notes of the chord change to a …

The Neapolitan 6th is a chromatic chord built on the flattened supertonic of a key. It is predominantly written in its 1st inversion and has a very distinctive sound. …

Augmented 6th chords are chromatic chords that are built upon the interval of a major 3rd and an augmented 6th. They are very useful in modulation to different keys …

12 bar blues is a chord progression that defines the number of bars or measures in a typical blues song structure. In this lesson we are going to learn …

Musical Texture refers to how different layers of a piece of music are combined to produce the overall sound. There are four music textures that you need to understand: …