Learn music theory step by step, and finally read any sheet music

Work out a new piece on your own, follow your part in choir without leaning on the singer next to you, and lay the groundwork to improvise one day. We start from zero, ten minutes a day, and it's free.

Start the first lesson Where should I start?

No sign-up, no account: your progress stays on this device.

Tap a note on the staff or a key on the keyboard: it's the same sound, once written, once played. All of music theory starts from that link.

Your instrument

The day someone puts sheet music on the stand and asks who can read it

At a friend's house, you're the one who sits down at the piano. Someone pulls out a score, and instead of saying “I only play by ear,” you read it and play it.
In choir, you find your line on your own. When the director says you're switching to sheet music, you follow your part instead of watching the singer next to you, and you understand what's being asked.
In the evening, you play just for the pleasure of it. You open a songbook of pieces you love and play them, without hunting for a tutorial or memorizing every note.
Your child comes home with music theory homework, and you can help. Treble clef, time signatures, key signatures: you finally speak the same language as your child and their teacher.

Where should I start?

It depends on where you are coming from. Find your situation and we will point you to the right starting place.

You are starting from scratch

Don't worry, everyone has been there. Start with the first lesson: it takes eight minutes and begins with a sound.

Start lesson 1

You play an instrument

Pick it next to the “Play the scale” button: every example in the course will play on it. On guitar, bass, violin or cello, you will even see where each note sits on the neck.

Choose my instrument

You sing in a choir

Start by reading notes in treble clef, then learn to count rhythm. With those two skills, you can follow your part without leaning on the singer next to you.

Read treble clef notes

You learned as a child, then forgot

That is very common, and it comes back faster than you think. Take the practice exam to see what you remember, then pick up where it gets shaky.

Take the practice exam

You are preparing for a theory exam

The course follows Danhauser's curriculum, part by part. Every lesson has its questions, and the practice exam lets you review the parts you choose.

See the full course

You teach music

Assign a lesson as homework, print it with its answer key, or generate worksheets for the whole class.

The page for teachers

How a lesson works

Every lesson takes about ten minutes and always runs the same way. The best way to see it is to try it.

First, you listen

Every idea starts with the sound. Before you learn to write a fifth, you hear one. Press the button: these two notes, C then G, make a fifth. Great music educators, from Kodály to Edwin Gordon, summed it up in one phrase: sound before sign.

Then, you name it

You put a name on what you just heard, and you practice right away. The exercises correct you instantly. Try this one: which note is this?

What is this note?

The next day, you recall it

The next day, the question comes back in your daily review. Then three days later, a week, three weeks. Finding the answer yourself instead of rereading, and spacing out your reviews: these are the two methods learning research rates as the most effective.

Sources: Edwin Gordon's music learning theory (“sound before sight”), and the 2013 review by Dunlosky and colleagues, which compared ten study techniques. Gordon, Dunlosky (2013).

And if you have tried before, without success

Many adults have bad memories of music theory. They were asked to recognize symbols before hearing what those symbols stand for, and to learn rules once, never to revisit them. Without the sound, a rule stays abstract, and what you never revisit fades. Here it is the opposite on both counts. It was never a matter of talent; it was a matter of method.

You already know more music theory than you think.

Every interval has its song. Tap one: you'll hear its two notes, the leap everybody recognizes in that tune. In the course, every topic comes with this kind of anchor: a familiar song, an image or a memory trick.

The whole curriculum

Here is everything we will cover together, in order. Each part opens on its list of lessons.

Get the music theory cheat sheet

Keep every basic rule in front of you: clefs, rhythms, accidentals, time signatures, intervals, key signatures, Italian terms.
Find a key signature or an interval at a glance while you play.
Then, if you like, choose the lesson of the day by email for 30 days.

Three printable PDF pages to keep on your music stand, with a 30-day plan, one lesson a day.

To practice

These tools are free to use, even without following the course.

Your questions

Is it really free? What's the catch?

The course, the exercises and the workshops are free, with no sign-up and no limits. The site will be funded by discreet ads, never in the middle of an explanation or an exercise, and, later, by optional extra content.

Do I need an instrument?

No. A keyboard appears on screen and every example plays right in the page. If you have an instrument, even better: you can try everything on it.

How much time per day?

Ten to fifteen minutes. Consistency matters more than length: one lesson a day beats two hours on Sunday.

I'm an adult. Isn't it too late?

No. The course is written for adults: no nursery rhymes, direct explanations, and you go at your own pace. What takes years is virtuosity on an instrument, not reading.

I already play, by ear or with tabs. Is this for me?

It teaches you to read and understand written music: notes, rhythm, keys, intervals, chords. That's the foundation for everything else. If your goal is mainly to improvise or write songs over chord progressions, this course lays the groundwork, but it doesn't teach those practices.

How is my progress kept without an account?

It's saved in your browser, on this device. On the “Course” page, a resume code lets you restore it on another device or after clearing your browser.

I'm preparing for a theory exam.

The course follows Danhauser, a textbook still used in French conservatories. Every lesson has a quiz, and the practice exam draws questions from the parts you choose.

Does it really work?

The course rests on two established principles: hearing before reading, and regularly retrieving what you learned rather than rereading it. It will not make you a fluent sight-reader in a month; reading fluently takes months of practice. It gives you the order, the exercises and the reviews to get there.

It never stuck. Maybe I'm just not musical.

Reading music is learning a language, not revealing a gift. When rules don't stick, it's often because they were learned without the sound and without practice. Here every topic is heard and practiced until it sticks.

Is there a French version?

Yes, the whole course exists in French: FR button at the top of the page.

Ready? The first lesson takes eight minutes, and it starts with a sound.

Start the first lesson