Music theory

Music theory describes and analyzes how music is organized, including pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, notation, and form. Its concepts and methods vary across musical traditions.

Pitch: The perceived highness or lowness of a sound, associated with its frequency and musical role. Pitch supplies the notes from which melodies and harmonies are organized.
Tonal harmony: A system in which pitches and chords relate to a central tonal center. It explains chord functions and directed motion in much Western music.
Musical analysis: The examination of a musical work’s features, relationships, and structure. Analysis applies theoretical concepts to explain how specific works are organized.
Ethnomusicology: The study of music in relation to its cultural and social contexts. It situates theoretical descriptions within the practices and meanings of particular communities.
Rhythm: The organization of sound and silence in time, including durations, accents, and patterns. Rhythm explains how musical events unfold across time.
Counterpoint: The art of combining independent melodic lines into coherent musical textures. Its rules explain how simultaneous melodies can remain distinct yet coordinated.
Composition: The creation and organization of music for performance or other presentation. Composers use theoretical knowledge to shape musical materials and structures.
Schenkerian analysis: An approach to tonal analysis that represents musical structure through layered reductions. It offers one influential, tradition-specific account of tonal musical structure.
Interval (music): The distance in pitch between two notes, measured by their relationship in a musical system. Intervals describe the basic pitch relationships used in melodies and chords.
Voice leading: The movement of individual musical lines between notes in successive harmonies. It connects chord progressions to the smooth or purposeful motion of their parts.

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