Music Theory Comprehensive: Part 5 - Counterpoint Complete

For years I've been teaching Music Theory in the college classroom. These classes use the same syllabus I've used in my college classes for years, at a fraction of the cost. I believe anyone can learn Music Theory - and cost shouldn't be a barrier.

Recently I was named as a semi-finalist for the Grammy Foundation's Music Educator of the Year award because of my in-person university classes. Now I'm taking those classes to an online format in order to reach more students and give them the joy of Music Theory.

My approach to music theory is to minimize memorization. Most of these concepts you can learn by just understanding why chords behave in certain ways. Once you understand those concepts, you can find any scale, key, or chord that exists. Even invent your own.

This class is a Comprehensive class - it will have many parts, going through my entire annual curriculum.

This class is Part 5: Counterpoint Complete, and it finishes what would be the first semester of a college music theory class.

Throughout this class, I'll be providing you with many worksheets for you to practice the concepts on. If you get stuck, you can review the videos or post a question, and I'll back to it as fast as possible. Also in this class I have several complete analysis projects that we will complete together - just like in my college classes.

In this class, we will cover:

• My approach to Music Theory
• Tools of Counterpoint
• Second Species Counterpoint
• Metric Accents and Diminutions 
• Resolutions
• Passing Tones
• Consonant Skips and Leaps
• Neighbor Tones
• Writing Compelling Melodies
• Third Species Counterpoint
• The Cambiata
• Double Neighbor Tones
• Fourth Species Counterpoint
• Rhythmic Displacement
• Suspensions
• 4-3, 7-6, and 9-8 Suspension Types
• Consonant Suspensions
• Chains of Suspensions
• Fifth Species Counterpoint
• Free Counterpoint
• Worksheets and Music for Practice
• ...and much, much more!

You will not have another opportunity to learn Music Theory in a more comprehensive way than this. Start here.

Dr. Jason Allen is an Ableton Certified Trainer and a Ph.D. in Music Composition and master of Electronic Sounds. His music has been heard internationally in film, radio, video games, and industrial sound, as well as the concert hall and theater. His 2015 album, Aniscorcia, reaching the CMJ Top200 Charts and radio broadcasts nationwide. In 2014 he was named a semi-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award.

He currently is a professor at Augsburg University and the CEO of Slam Academy in Minneapolis.

Praise for classes by Dr. Jason Allen:

• "Without a doubt the best explanation and east of use that one can get. It leaves you enough room to go explore. The classes go by quickly, so you can be on your way to being proficient. What are you waiting for!"
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• "Amazing - Seriously Loved It! I took all his courses and have to say I'm so happy! Learned loads! Jason is an awesome teacher!"
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• "I have never had any formal training in music at all. Trying to learn all the notes and how everything translated was a serious challenge. After going through this class, Dr. J has totally brought down the barriers. The content was very useful and was easy to grasp for me."
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• "I like these courses because you can get up and running quickly without having to spend hours of time wading through TMI (too much information!). Jason hits the high points but shows you what you need to know. Thanks!"
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• "I've watched many other videos on scales and chords before, however, this one has been the best. I now understand minor scales and chords and even how to analyze songs. It really gave me the confidence to start producing music because I feel like I have some structure and guidelines to follow. AWESOME!"
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• "Clear and Informative - Jason has a clear uncluttered style (with the important dashes of humor) of presentation that is focused on the important key aspects of this course. Recommended for those starting out!"
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• "Dr. Allen does it again with his music theory series. This course really opened up everything I learned from the 1st section, and now I understand more about the composition side of things for music. I highly highly recommend this course to anyone!!! Really opened my eyes to many things I wasn't aware of."
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• "The Best Teacher Ever, who makes you understand the ins & outs of Music Theory by all means without giving what you don't want to know."

We will do a number of projects in this class. Just follow along in the class and you will be guided through these projects. Here are all the files you will need!

For this class project, analyze the national anthem of your country! To do the analysis, answer the following questions:

• What is the chord progression?
• What is the form of the song? 
• What is the key? (Are any chords out of key?)