Ten lessons across the eight units from pitch and scales to modes and form, plus exam skills, with interactive explorers.
A study guide to AP Music Theory, not a full course. Unit titles and exam format follow the College Board pages. Music-theory facts are standard textbook content. Practice values in the labs are invented. Listening and singing need real practice with audio.
['Read basic music notation']
Course outline
Pitch, major scales and key signatures
Read pitch, build major scales and find key signatures.
Rhythm, meter and expressive elements
Count beats, read time signatures and compute durations.
Minor scales, melody, timbre and texture
Compare the three minor scales and describe melody and texture.
Intervals, triads and seventh chords
Name intervals and build triads and seventh chords by half steps.
Chord function, cadence and phrase
Explain tonic, predominant and dominant function and common cadences.
Chord progressions and voice leading
Write four-part voice leading with correct spacing and avoid parallel perfect intervals.
Embellishments, motives and melodic devices
Identify nonchord tones and motivic development.
Secondary function
Recognize secondary dominants and leading-tone chords and tonicization.
Modes and form
Name modes and describe common musical forms.
Exam skills: dictation, sight-singing and writing
Prepare for multiple choice, dictation, part writing and sight-singing.
Sources and curriculum note
Reviewed October 7, 2026. Confirm format on the College Board site for your exam year.
Read every lesson below. The interactive reader above contains the same explanations, with visual tools and quizzes.
1. Pitch, major scales and key signatures
Learning goal: Read pitch, build major scales and find key signatures.
Pitch is how high or low a sound is. Notes sit on a staff, and a clef fixes which line is which pitch. The distance between two neighboring keys on a piano is a half step (semitone); two half steps make a whole step. An octave spans twelve half steps.
A major scale uses the step pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Starting on C gives the white keys with no sharps or flats. Starting on any other note, you add sharps or flats to keep the pattern, and those accidentals form the key signature.
The circle of fifths orders keys by the number of sharps or flats. Moving up a fifth adds one sharp (G has one, D has two). Moving down a fifth adds one flat (F has one, B-flat has two). Relative minor keys share the key signature of a major key and begin a minor third below it.
On the exam, name keys quickly from signatures and spell scales accurately. Practice by counting half steps rather than guessing.
Worked example
Spell a scale.
Pick the start note
Apply W W H W W W H
Name each letter once
Check the accidentals
Practice problem and solution
A major scale uses 2 whole steps, 1 half step, 3 whole steps and 1 half step. How many half steps from tonic to the octave? Enter a number.
5 whole steps x 2 + 2 half steps = 12.
Mental model: Major = W W H W W W H. Keys follow the circle of fifths.
Common trap: Guessing accidentals instead of using the pattern.
2. Rhythm, meter and expressive elements
Learning goal: Count beats, read time signatures and compute durations.
The beat is the steady pulse. Meter groups beats into measures, shown by a time signature. In simple meter each beat divides into two, as in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4. In compound meter each beat divides into three, as in 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8, where the beat is usually a dotted note.
Note values divide time: a whole note lasts twice a half note, which lasts twice a quarter note. A dot adds half the note's value. A tie joins two notes into one longer sound. Syncopation places stress off the strong beats.
Tempo is the speed, often given in beats per minute (BPM). Expressive elements include dynamics (soft to loud), articulation (staccato, legato, accents) and tempo changes such as ritardando. These shape how a phrase sounds without changing the pitches.
To identify meter by ear, find the strong beat, count the pulses between strong beats, then listen for twos or threes inside each beat.
Worked example
Compute a duration.
Number of beats
Beats per minute
Seconds = beats x 60 / BPM
Check units
Practice problem and solution
At 120 BPM, how many seconds does one 4/4 measure of four quarter-note beats last? Enter a number.
4 x 60 / 120 = 2.
Mental model: Meter groups beats; simple divides by 2, compound by 3. Duration = beats x 60 / BPM.
Common trap: Calling 6/8 simple because it has a 6.
3. Minor scales, melody, timbre and texture
Learning goal: Compare the three minor scales and describe melody and texture.
The natural minor scale has the step pattern whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. The harmonic minor raises the seventh degree, which makes a leading tone and a distinctive augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees. The melodic minor raises the sixth and seventh degrees going up and usually returns to natural minor going down.
Melody has contour (its shape), range, and conjunct (stepwise) or disjunct (leaping) motion. Melodies often use sequences, repeating a pattern at a different pitch level. Cadential and motivic repetition give a melody coherence.
Timbre is tone color: the quality that tells a violin from a flute playing the same pitch. Texture describes how voices combine: monophonic (one line), homophonic (melody with accompaniment), polyphonic or contrapuntal (independent lines) and heterophonic (variations of one melody at once).
When naming a minor scale, check the accidentals against the key signature. Raised sixth and seventh degrees are not in the key signature and appear as accidentals.
Worked example
Name the scale.
Find the tonic
Check accidentals
Compare 6 and 7
Name the form
Practice problem and solution
A natural minor scale has 7 scale degrees. Harmonic minor changes one degree of them. How many stay unchanged? Enter a number.
7 - 1 = 6.
Mental model: Natural, harmonic (raise 7) and melodic (raise 6 and 7 up). Texture names how lines combine.
Common trap: Forgetting the raised degrees are accidentals.
4. Intervals, triads and seventh chords
Learning goal: Name intervals and build triads and seventh chords by half steps.
An interval is the distance between two pitches, named by number (counting letter names) and quality (perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished). A major third is four half steps and a minor third is three. A perfect fifth is seven half steps.
A triad stacks two thirds above a root. Major triad: major third plus minor third. Minor triad: minor third plus major third. Diminished: two minor thirds. Augmented: two major thirds. A seventh chord adds a seventh above the root, for example the dominant seventh (a major triad plus a minor seventh).
Inversions rearrange the chord so a different note is in the bass. Root position has the root in the bass. First inversion has the third in the bass, written 6, and second inversion has the fifth in the bass, written 6/4. Figured bass uses these numbers.
Build chords by counting half steps from the root, then check the spelling uses every third letter name.
Worked example
Spell a chord.
Pick the root
Add third letter
Add fifth letter
Fix accidentals
Practice problem and solution
A major triad has a major third (4 half steps) and a minor third (3 half steps). How many half steps from root to fifth? Enter a number.
4 + 3 = 7.
Mental model: Major 0-4-7, minor 0-3-7, diminished 0-3-6. Inversions change the bass.
Common trap: Naming a chord without checking letter names.
5. Chord function, cadence and phrase
Learning goal: Explain tonic, predominant and dominant function and common cadences.
In a major key the triads on each degree get Roman numerals: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii diminished. Chords have functions. Tonic (I, vi) is stable. Predominant (ii, IV) moves away from tonic. Dominant (V, vii diminished) creates tension that wants to resolve to tonic.
A cadence is a harmonic stopping point at the end of a phrase. An authentic cadence goes V to I (perfect when both chords are in root position and the soprano ends on tonic, imperfect otherwise). A half cadence ends on V. A plagal cadence goes IV to I. A deceptive cadence goes V to vi.
A phrase is a musical thought ending in a cadence. Two phrases can form a period: an antecedent phrase ending in a half cadence followed by a consequent phrase ending in an authentic cadence. Parallel and contrasting periods describe whether the openings match.
When identifying a cadence, check the last two chords and the position of each, and listen for whether the ending sounds closed or open.
Worked example
Name the cadence.
Find the last two chords
Check bass notes
Check soprano
Name the type
Practice problem and solution
The major-key triads are I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii diminished. How many are there? Enter a number.
Learning goal: Write four-part voice leading with correct spacing and avoid parallel perfect intervals.
Four-part writing uses soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Keep each voice in a singer's range and keep the upper three voices within an octave of each other. Doubling the root is usual for triads in root position. Do not double the leading tone.
Good voice leading moves voices by step or the smallest leap and holds common tones. Avoid parallel perfect fifths and octaves between any two voices, since they weaken the independence of lines. Resolve the leading tone up to tonic and chordal sevenths down by step.
A common progression is I, IV, V, I, or the longer I, vi, ii, V, I. The predominant function (ii or IV) leads to V. Using the circle of fifths progression, roots fall by a fifth, for example vi, ii, V, I.
On the exam, check part-writing errors in this order: parallels, spacing, doublings, then resolutions.
Worked example
Fix an error.
Find the parallel
Change a voice
Keep common tones
Recheck
Practice problem and solution
In four-part writing there are four voices. If the upper three must be within an octave, how many pairs of adjacent upper voices must stay within an octave of each other? Enter a number.
Soprano-alto and alto-tenor: 2 pairs.
Mental model: Step motion, common tones, no parallel fifths or octaves, resolve tendency tones.
Common trap: Doubling the leading tone.
7. Embellishments, motives and melodic devices
Learning goal: Identify nonchord tones and motivic development.
Nonchord tones are notes that do not belong to the chord at that moment. A passing tone fills a gap between two chord tones by step. A neighbor tone steps away from a chord tone and returns. An appoggiatura is approached by leap and resolved by step. An escape tone is approached by step and left by leap.
A suspension holds a note from the previous chord over into the new chord, creating dissonance that resolves down by step. Common types are 4-3, 7-6 and 9-8. A retardation resolves up. Anticipation sounds a chord tone early.
A motive is a short musical idea. Composers develop it through repetition, sequence, inversion, augmentation (longer notes) and diminution (shorter notes). Hearing the motive lets you follow how a piece builds.
To label a nonchord tone, ask how it is approached, how it is left, and whether it is on a strong or weak beat.
Worked example
Name the tone.
How approached
How left
Strong or weak beat
Name
Practice problem and solution
A motive lasts 2 beats. In augmentation, each value doubles. How many beats does it last? Enter a number.
2 x 2 = 4.
Mental model: Passing, neighbor, suspension and others decorate chords; motives are developed by sequence and augmentation.
Common trap: Labeling by sound alone and ignoring approach and exit.
8. Secondary function
Learning goal: Recognize secondary dominants and leading-tone chords and tonicization.
Secondary function lets a chord point to a degree other than tonic. A secondary dominant is the dominant of a chord other than I. For example V/V, read 'five of five', is the dominant of V. In C major it is D major, which needs F-sharp, not found in the key signature.
Tonicization briefly treats a chord as a temporary tonic without a full change of key. A secondary leading-tone chord such as vii diminished/V does the same job. Accidentals are the main clue to hear and see these chords.
To find V/x, locate the chord x, then build a major triad a fifth above it. V7/x adds the minor seventh. The target chord x normally follows. Reading the Roman numeral with a slash tells you both the function and the target.
On the exam, spot accidentals that are not in the key, check whether they form a dominant of the next chord, and write the Roman numeral with a slash.
Worked example
Spell V/V.
Key
Find V
Fifth above V
Major quality
Practice problem and solution
In C major, V is G. A fifth above G is how many half steps above G? Enter a number.
A perfect fifth is 7 half steps.
Mental model: Secondary dominants point at a target chord; accidentals are the clue.
Common trap: Reading an accidental as a key change.
9. Modes and form
Learning goal: Name modes and describe common musical forms.
The church modes are scales with different step patterns. Dorian is like natural minor with a raised sixth, Phrygian has a lowered second, Lydian has a raised fourth, Mixolydian has a lowered seventh. Ionian is the major scale and Aeolian is natural minor.
Form is the large-scale plan of a piece. Binary form has two sections, A and B. Ternary form returns to the first section: A B A. Strophic form repeats the same music for each verse of text. Through-composed form keeps changing.
Phrase relationships include the period and the phrase group. Letter labels and cadences mark where sections begin and end. A refrain in popular music returns like the A section in a rondo.
For a form question, listen for changes in material and cadences, assign letters, then name the form.
Worked example
Name the form.
Mark changes
Mark returns
Letter them
Name
Practice problem and solution
A piece in A B A has sections of 8, 8 and 8 measures. How many measures is that? Enter a number.
8 + 8 + 8 = 24.
Mental model: Modes alter the major or minor pattern; forms are letter plans.
Common trap: Naming a mode without comparing to major or minor.
10. Exam skills: dictation, sight-singing and writing
Learning goal: Prepare for multiple choice, dictation, part writing and sight-singing.
The exam has 75 multiple-choice questions (about 1 hour 20 minutes, 45 percent), a written free-response section of 7 questions (about 1 hour 10 minutes, 45 percent) and sight-singing of 2 questions (about 10 minutes, 10 percent). Check the College Board exam page for your year.
Written free response includes 2 melodic dictation, 2 harmonic dictation, 1 part writing from figured bass, 1 part writing from Roman numerals and 1 composition of a bass line or harmonization of a melody. Dictation tests the ear, so practice daily in short sessions.
For melodic dictation, find the key and the first note, notate the rhythm first, then the pitches by scale degree. For harmonic dictation, listen for the bass line and the cadence, then fill in the chords. For sight-singing, find the key, tonic and meter, rehearse the hard leaps, then perform.
Plan time by the points per question. Do the sections in order, leave no blanks, and check part-writing errors in the usual order.
Worked example
Plan practice.
Dictation
Part writing
Singing
Review
Practice problem and solution
Weights are 45, 45 and 10 percent. What is their total? Enter a number.
45 + 45 + 10 = 100.
Mental model: Know the sections; practise dictation daily; check part writing in order.