Reading Intervals at Sight: Generic and Specific
Naming an interval at sight takes two passes: count the staff positions first, then judge what the accidental does to the size.
Music theory & music history
How music works, and how it came to work that way.
A working library of music theory and music history: intervals, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, tuning and form, plus browser tools you can play.
- 28 articles
- 5 browser tools
- 13 featured recordings
- Developed by Yunus Emre Vurgun
Drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed, corrected and published by the developer. How this site is made.
Start here
The four articles that make the rest of the site readable — intervals, key signatures, chord function and cadence.
Key Signatures and the Order of Sharps and Flats
Sharps arrive in the order F C G D A E B and flats in reverse. The order is the circle of fifths written out, one signature at a time.
Functional Harmony: Tonic, Predominant, Dominant
Tonic, predominant and dominant describe what a chord does to a phrase rather than what it is. This is how the three harmonic jobs divide the work.
Cadences: How Phrases End in Tonal Music
Authentic, half, plagal and deceptive cadences, and the real reason a close sounds strong: what happens in the bass, the top voice and the metre.
Tools
Five browser instruments, written from scratch and kept small. Nothing streams, nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.
- 01Virtual PianoA playable keyboard with labelled keys, a choice of tone, sustain, and a readout of what you are playing — useful for checking a chord, humming a melody into pitch, or teaching a shape to someone over a call.Open tool
- 02Chromatic TunerSing, play or hum into the microphone and see the note, the frequency and how many cents sharp or flat you are — with a reference tone to tune against when the room is too noisy to listen.Open tool
- 03Circle of FifthsPick a key, read its signature, and hear the chords that belong to it — the diatonic triads, seventh chords and the standard progressions that hold a phrase together.Open tool
- 04MetronomeA steady pulse you can trust: scheduled on the audio clock rather than by timers, with tap tempo, subdivisions, accent patterns and polyrhythms for the day you need to practise three against four.Open tool
- 05Ear TrainingThree drills — intervals, chord qualities and scales — with the running score kept honest, references you can replay any time, and the answer drawn on the keyboard so the sound attaches to a shape.Open tool
From Ars Nova to the Renaissance: How Notation Changed Music
Rhythm took two centuries longer than pitch to notate. Mensural notation solved it with ratios, and the Renaissance then replaced black ink with white.
Borrowed Chords: Modal Mixture in Practice
Mixture borrows chords from the parallel mode. What the common borrowed chords do to a phrase, how they resolve, and where labelling fails.
Cadences: How Phrases End in Tonal Music
Authentic, half, plagal and deceptive cadences, and the real reason a close sounds strong: what happens in the bass, the top voice and the metre.
Clefs and Transposition: What Players Actually Read
A clef fixes one pitch and the staff follows. Transposing instruments move it again, so the same written note reaches the audience at different pitches.
Equal Temperament: What It Costs and What It Buys
Twelve equal semitones solve the problem pure intervals create. The cost is small in fifths, large in thirds, and paid by every fixed-pitch instrument.
Figured Bass: Reading Intervals Above the Bass Line
Figures name intervals above the bass, not chords. What each shorthand means, how accidentals override the key, and what the player decides.
Browse by topic
Nine areas, from the fundamentals of notation to instrumentation and orchestration.
From the catalogue
Recordings released under their own artist names, on every platform they appear on.
