For teachers

Music Theory Curriculum

A complete music theory sequence for middle and high school: 27 lessons in five units, from reading the staff to harmonic analysis. Each lesson builds on the one before, and every unit has a suggested grade level, so you can plan theory into your year or start a class wherever it is ready.

The units at a glance

UnitLessonsSuggested level
1. The Foundations1–7Grades 6–8 · Middle school
2. Keys & Scales8–13Grades 6–8 · Middle school
3. Intervals & Transposition14–17Grades 9–10 · High school
4. Harmony & Chords18–22Grades 9–10 · High school
5. Putting It Together23–27Grades 11–12 · Advanced high school and AP Music Theory prep

Grade levels are a guide. A class that already reads notes can start at Unit 2, and older beginners can start at Unit 1 and move faster.

Unit 1 · The Foundations

Grades 6–8

Read the staff, feel the pulse, and stop guessing at the keyboard.

  1. 1

    The Staff and Note Names

    Name notes on the lines and spaces of treble and bass clefs.

  2. 2

    Note Values and Rhythm

    Count note lengths and dotted rhythms when a quarter note is one beat.

  3. 3

    Time Signatures

    Read simple time signatures: how many beats fill each bar, and which note value gets the beat.

  4. 4

    Ledger Lines

    Read notes just above and below the staff using familiar landmarks.

  5. 5

    Rests

    Count silence accurately while keeping a steady pulse.

  6. 6

    Accidentals

    Apply sharps, flats and naturals, including the barline rule.

  7. 7

    Semitones and Whole Tones

    Measure semitones and whole tones on a keyboard.

Unit 2 · Keys & Scales

Grades 6–8

See every key as a map — not a list of accidentals to memorize.

  1. 8

    Major Scales

    Build a major scale with the whole-tone and semitone pattern.

  2. 9

    Key Signatures

    Recognize major keys from their sharp or flat signatures.

  3. 10

    Key Signatures Revisited

    Name the major key of any signature at a glance, and spell the signature of any major key.

  4. 11

    Modes

    Build modes and hear how a different tonic changes the same note collection.

  5. 12

    Minor Scales

    Find each major key's relative minor and build natural minor scales with the shared key signature.

  6. 13

    Harmonic and Melodic Minor

    Alter natural minor to form harmonic and classical melodic minor.

Unit 3 · Intervals & Transposition

Grades 9–10

Intervals become the distances you can hear, name, and use.

  1. 14

    Diatonic Intervals

    Name an interval by counting letters and checking its size.

  2. 15

    Minor, Augmented & Diminished Intervals

    Distinguish minor, augmented and diminished intervals by spelling and size.

  3. 16

    Interval Inversions

    Invert simple intervals and predict their new number and quality.

  4. 17

    Transposition

    Move a melody to a new key while preserving its intervals.

Unit 4 · Harmony & Chords

Grades 9–10

Build the colors you already love — then know why they work.

  1. 18

    Different Types of Triads

    Build major, minor, diminished and augmented triads.

  2. 19

    Diatonic Triads

    Build the seven triads of a major key and label them with Roman numerals.

  3. 20

    Cadences

    Recognize common phrase endings by their chord movement.

  4. 21

    Types of Seventh Chords

    Build common seventh-chord qualities from a triad and a seventh.

  5. 22

    Diatonic Seventh Chords

    Build seventh chords using only the notes of a major scale.

Unit 5 · Putting It Together

Grades 11–12

Analyze chord functions, borrowed chords, and familiar progressions.

  1. 23

    Figured Bass for Triads

    Use figured bass to identify triad inversions.

  2. 24

    Figured Bass for Seventh Chords

    Recognize all four positions of a seventh chord from their figures.

  3. 25

    Mixture

    Identify chords borrowed from a parallel key.

  4. 26

    Basic Harmonic Analysis

    Name chords, inversions and functions in a short tonal progression.

  5. 27

    Popular Chord Progressions

    Play and transpose common progressions, then create a short musical idea.

Teach it with the course

Assign any lesson or unit with a due date. Dan teaches it on video, students practice and take auto-graded quizzes, and results land in your gradebook.

See it for teachers

Prefer paper?

Every lesson has printable worksheets with answer keys, in the same order as this map.

Browse the worksheet library