Grammar of Music

Path

What to study before Fugue

Subject, answer and countersubject, and the exposition, episodes and stretto built from them. Below, the concepts that come before, in the order in which one explains the next. Signed in, you see the same path minus what you already hold: your path.

  1. Properties of sound

    The four properties every musical sound has at once: duration, intensity, pitch and timbre.

    Level 0

  2. Note

    The seven pitch names, and the sign that puts one of them on the page.

    Level 1

  3. Tone and semitone

    The smallest distance Western music uses, and the whole tone built from two of them.

    Level 1lesson Notes have names, and the names have a rule (First steps in theory)

  4. Interval

    The distance between two sounds, counted by note names, melodic or harmonic, simple or compound.

    Level 1lesson The distance between two notes (First steps in theory)

  5. Chord

    Three or more different sounds at once, and the difference between the model and its many positions.

    Level 4

  6. Voice motion

    Direct, parallel, oblique and contrary motion, and the fifths and octaves they are not allowed to reach.

    Level 5

  7. Counterpoint

    Writing two or more simultaneous melodies, each one worth hearing on its own.

    Level 6

  8. Imitation and canon

    One voice repeating another at a distance in time, from the round to the crab canon.

    Level 7

  9. Fugue

    Subject, answer and countersubject, and the exposition, episodes and stretto built from them.

    Level 8