Chevron Left
Back to Getting Started With Music Theory

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Getting Started With Music Theory by Michigan State University

4.5
stars
749 ratings

About the Course

This course is a brief introduction to the elements of music theory for those with little or no music theory experience. We will explore pitch, rhythm, meter, notation, scales, keys, key signatures, meter signatures, triads, seventh chords, and basic harmony. If you listen to music or play music by ear, and you want to know more about how music is organized and notated, this course is for you. By the end of the course, you should know all major and minor keys, how to read and write in treble and bass clef using standard meters and rhythmic values, and how to notate and harmonize a simple melody. This course can serve as a stand-alone basic music theory course, or it can be a springboard to more advanced theory and composition courses. Your instructor is Bruce Taggart, Associate Professor of Music Theory at Michigan State University, in the College of Music, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate music theory since 1996....

Top reviews

WV

Aug 20, 2020

Course was quite tough , eventually I had given up on this course, but consistency made me learn and I went through rigorous learning in finding the chords and middle C notes. Yes I made it in the end

DR

Oct 12, 2020

Scales up quickly; difficulty peaking at the last lecture. Very demanding, but, in the end, very rewarding. (NOTE: Course material (ie terminology, etc) is culture bound to the US vice UK.)

Filter by:

251 - 273 of 273 Reviews for Getting Started With Music Theory

By killeraj t

Jul 25, 2020

Confusing but informative

By Rickard S J

Dec 29, 2019

so far

By OLUWAYEMI I J

Sep 1, 2024

good

By Caroline B

May 4, 2020

Flies through the beginner-level basics and too-quickly goes into complicated notation. Quizzes interrupt the lectures at sometimes illogical points, and the tests have too high of a passing grade with very tough questions for the length and quality of explanation of the lesson content.

Teacher is very knowledgeable and the pace and examples are good... if you can follow what is going on without much of a base to build on. Lessons are broken out into short videos with one topic at a time which makes the duration not overwhelming even if the content can be.

By Tamora K

Oct 13, 2018

The instructor made a number of assumptions that were not outlined in the description of the course. It was assumed that the students would be auditory learners. It was assumed that the students would be uninterested in or afraid of the mathematical side of music theory.

I expected a more mathematical approach to the topic of music theory and I kept waiting for explanations that were never presented. There were some links provided to musictheory.net, and that site was a better resource than the class lectures.

By Paul D F

Feb 28, 2021

A lot of decent material, but there's not enough explanation for earlier concepts, and a lot of the quizzes in the video are very poorly formatted, making it impossible to answer correctly. There's also very little activity on the forums, so when you get stuck, you're completely on your own. Nice to audit, but not worth the cost.

By Nashra A

May 11, 2020

I had to read more and see more tutorials to solve the quizzes. The videos provided weren't enough, especially for the last week

By Frances O

Oct 9, 2021

The course is not for beginners. It seems to way advanced for beginners.

By Noah D

Apr 16, 2021

Incomplete and incorrect explanations of some basic concepts.

By Jessica M

Apr 19, 2020

Does not feel like it is for Beginners

By Diana B

Jun 3, 2021

I hope someone was able to get some understanding of chords in a mere 15 minutes, I would not recommend this course, but I'm sure it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Good Luck to all who risk taking this course.

By Peter B

Jul 16, 2020

This course brushes very quick over most topics. It doesn't go fully into depth, and the teaching is very hard to follow if you don't already know something about the taught topics.

By Carlos I B O

Aug 23, 2020

El profesor es pésimo!! sera un. gran músico pero muy mal profesor ! muy dicidil entenderle , se le recomienda. ver las. clases de Theodorus de Berkeley

By Maico C

Oct 29, 2019

Payment requirement at the end of the quiz? I'll pay later, but I want to know the course. All the courses I'm doing let me pay in the end.

By Cynthia F B

Feb 2, 2023

do not consider this an into course. great difficulty scrolling through the quizzes. Will not complete this course. very disappointing.

By Kristina K

May 20, 2020

Very simplified explanations that are often simple to the point of being incorrect.

By Mirunalini G

Sep 14, 2020

the quizzes are quite difficult that we can't judge what answer they are expecting

By David S

Feb 2, 2022

Not for beginners at all. I was lost within the first few minutes.

By Mal F

Oct 13, 2020

I hate this course I cant pay for a diploma so why continue

By Martin O

May 11, 2019

Audio exercises not loading no matter which device I use.

By Didier N

Jul 12, 2020

The theory does not take beginners in consideration

By Vishvas K

Apr 1, 2021

This is not beginner frindly course.

By Akshay S

Apr 9, 2020

Sadlly this is not for beginners! :(