The Piano Music Theory Mini Course

Welcome to the Piano Music Theory Mini Course. In this course you will learn more
about musical theory that will help you in almost every musical endeavour you make in
the future!

The theory in this course is incredibly valuable for you to learn. More specifically it will
improve your learning by ear, your songwriting, your ability to jam and improvise,
and just give you a greater appreciation and insight into music and its amazing
complexity!

Now, I could write hundreds of lessons in this course, and just go on and on about the
intricacies of musical theory, believe me it’s a HUGE topic. But theres so much that
you might not be able to absorb it all, and just get confused! So I have compiled the
most essential lessons that you need to learn before you go any further in your piano
playing!

Some of this content is more advanced then alot of pianists knowledge. So you are getting
a great head start ahead of so many musicians out there! Many amazing musicians can
play their instruments well, and they sound impressive, but alot of the time they don’t
actually understand what it is that they’re playing! In this course I teach you how to
understand music and chord progression, I get you to think about questions that
often get ignored. Why does this chord progression sound so great? How do I make the
bass line in my song to be smooth and cohesive? What can I do to this existing chord
progression to give it an interesting twist?

Right now this might sound a bit far fetched. Can you really know the answers to these
questions? YES YOU CAN! I hope your excited about understanding the inner workings
of musical theory, so I won’t keep you waiting any longer!

Lets get stuck in!

Ruth

PAGE 
Table of contents
Lesson One: Scale Tone Tendencies 3
Scale tone Tendencies 3
The Tonic 3
The Dominant 4
The Mediant 5
The Supertonic 5
The Submediant 6
The Leading Tone 7
The Subdominant 7
Scale tone Tendencies Diagram 8
Lesson Two: Root Motion 9
Root motion 9
Analyzing Root motion 9
Dominant Resolution 10
Retrogression 10
Stepwise 10
Root Motion in Thirds 11
Final Resolve 11
Lesson Three: Chord Construction 13
Lesson Four: Reharmonization 21
Reharmonization 21
Tonic Functioning Chords 21
Subdominant Functioning Chords 21
Dominant Functioning Chords 22
Chord Substitution 22
Lesson Five: Cadences 24
Dominant Cadence 24
Subdominant Cadence 24
Full Cadence 25
Cadence Reharmonization 25
Glossary of terms 26
When you see this
01 symbol play the
relevant audio track.

Chord construction of triads 13

Diatonic Triads 15
Diatonic Triads for Every Key 15
Chord construction of 4 note chords 17
Diatonic Seventh Chords 19
Diatonic Seventh Chords for
Every Key 19

PAGE 
Lesson One: Scale Tone Tendencies
In this lesson you will learn about Scale Tone Tendencies, this will help you in working out
melodies when learning by ear, and also write your own melodies.

Scale Tone Tendencies

A Scale tone is exactly what it sounds like, a tone within any given scale. Each tone is
given a number relative to its position within the scale. It is sometimes called a scale
degree.

When any given note is played it seems to lead you to a particular note after it. Each scale
tone has a habit of leading to the same place each time it is played. In this chapter we will
explore each tone in the scale and where it leads to.

Scale tones of C major

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Here we will learn about each scale tone in order from the most stable scale tones, to the
least stable:

The Tonic
The 1st degree of the scale, the 1 scale tone, is the most stable of all the scale tones.
Whenever you hear the 1 scale tone played it sounds like it is at ‘home’, and isn’t leading
you to any other note in particular. Because the 1 tone is so stable, it is used as a
reference point to find other scale tones you may hear.

We call the 1 scale tone the Tonic. The word Tonic means restorative. This makes
perfect sense when you think of when a scale tone other then the 1 scale tone is played
it sounds less stable, returning to the Tonic restores the song to its stable centre.

Tonic of C major
01

PAGE 
Exercise: Try playing the random scale tones on the keyboard, and when you come to
the 1 scale tone recognize how it feels like it is at home. Also learn to play this tune, which
has examples of this scale tone tendency.

02


  
          
 
1 1
4

             
1
The Dominant
The 5th degree of the scale, the 5 scale tone, is also very stable. But it is not as stable
as the tonic.

Its name, the dominant scale tone, suggests it is strong and can stand alone. When this
dominant scale tone is in the bass however, it is less stable and seems to move towards
the 1st scale degree, the tonic.

Dominant of C major
03

Exercise: Play the 5 scale tone to the 1 scale tone and familiarize yourself with the way
the dominant is wanting to go back to the tonic. Also learn to play this tune, which has
examples of this scale tone tendency.


    04 
     
5 1

PAGE 
The Mediant
The 3rd degree of the scale, is called the mediant, this is because it is situated half way
between the tonic and the dominant (1 and 5). It is in the middle.

The mediant is relatively stable, but not as stable as the tonic or dominant. It often has
other notes leading towards it.
05
Mediant of C major

Exercise: Play different scale tones leading to the mediant. Familiarize yourself with how
some of the notes seem to lead to the mediant. Also learn to play this tune, which has
examples of this scale tone tendency.
06


   
      
3 3 3 3

The Supertonic
The 2nd degree of the scale is unstable and usually moves down to the tonic, or less
often to the mediant. The 2nd scale tone is referred to as the supertonic.

07
Supertonic of C major

Exercise: Practice on your keyboard playing the supertonic going to the 3rd and 1st scale
tones. Recognize how the supertonic leads to these notes as opposed to other notes in
the scale.

PAGE 
Exercise: Here is a tune for you to learn. It includes the supertonic leading to the 3rd and
1st scale tones.
08


 
         
2 2 2 2

The Submediant
The 6th degree of the scale is relatively unstable and is most likely to move down to the
dominant to become stable, or up to the 7th scale tone to become even more unstable.

The 6th scale tone is referred to as a submediant. This is because it has a similar position
to that of the mediant. The mediant is a 3rd above the tonic, the submediant is a 3rd below
the tonic.

You may like to think of it as like a submarine. A submarine goes below the sea, and the
submediant goes below the Tonic!

09
Submediant of C major

Exercise: Practice on your keyboard playing the submediant going to the 5th and 7th
scale tones. Recognize how the submediant leads to these notes as opposed to other
notes in the scale. Also learn to play this tune, which has examples of this scale tone
tendency.
10



         
 
6 6 6 6

PAGE 
The 4th and 7th degrees are the least stable of all the scale tones.

The Leading Tone 11

The 7th degree of the scale when played sounds like it has a very strong pull leading up
to the tonic. This is because it is separated from the tonic by only a half tone.

This is how the 7th scale tone gets its name the leading tone.

Leading tone of C major

Exercise: Practice on your keyboard playing the leading tone going to the 1st scale tone
(the tonic). Recognize how the leading tone leads to the tonic either up or down. Also
learn to play this tune, which has examples of this scale tone tendency.

12


     
      
7 7

The Subdominant
The 4th degree of the scale leads strongly down to the 3rd degree of the scale. The 4th
degree is unstable because it does not occur in any of the tonic functioning chords. It is
sometimes referred to as the characteristic pitch.

We will be using the term subdominant for the 4th scale tone, as it is situated just below
the dominant.

Subdominant of C major 13

PAGE 
Exercise: Practice on your keyboard playing the subdominant going to the 3rd scale tone
(the mediant). Recognize how the subdominant leads to the mediant. Also learn to play
this tune, which has examples of this scale tone tendency.
14


   
      

4 4
Scale Tone Tendencies Diagram:
Here is a diagram that has all the scale tones of C major, with there respective number
in the scale. Each has the possible scale tone tendencies that you’ve just learned about.
Use this diagram as a quick reference to find your scale tone tendencies.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

15

Exercise: Listen to each notes as it is played in this audio track. Try to find the scale tone
played, and where it is leading to. This exercise is in C major. If you can, try to find the
scale tones using your ear, and try not to use your instrument as a reference. This will
help you to train your ear to recognize different notes. The tonic will be played before each
exercise so you can use it as a reference point. Also learn to play this next tune, which
has examples of scale tone tendencies.
16


          
     
5

      
       

PAGE 
Lesson Two: Root Motion
In this lesson you will learn all about Root motion, (you may have heard this referred to
as the bass line). This will help you learning root motions of other songs by ear, and help
you to create your own smooth and funky basslines.

Root Motion
Any chord can progress to any other chord, as long as it is in keeping with the key. When
a chord is made up of scale tones that occur in the key it is called Diatonic.

This means that any diatonic chord can progress to any other diatonic chord. But some
combinations of progressing from one chord to the next can sound a bit awkward. To ease
the awkwardness we use a technique called Root Motion. The root motion reaffirms the
root note of the chord being played, so that it is being played twice. This doubling up of
the root note makes it sound stronger and smoother.

Root motion is often referred to as the bassline, and is played in the bass clef by the left
hand on the piano.

  
17

Bass Clef is played by the Left Hand

Analyzing Root Motion

When analyzing root motion, we use Roman numerals to explain the scale tone, instead
of the Arabic numbers we are used to.

I II III
(1) (2) (3)

IV V VI VII
(4) (5) (6) (7)

PAGE 10
Dominant Resolution
The strongest Diatonic Root Motion, is down a perfect fifth interval. When the root
motion moves from the V scale tone to the I scale tone, (the dominant to the tonic), it is
called Dominant Resolution. This is because it resolves to the tonic.
18

 
V I
 
Retrogression
The second strongest root motion is down a perfect 4th, (or perfect fifth upwards). This
is the opposite of the strongest root motion (down in perfect fifths), so it often indicates a
chord progression that is going backwards which is referred to as Retrogression.

IV I 19

   

Stepwise
The third strongest root motion to use is Stepwise. This is when the root motion goes up
or down in ‘steps’ of a whole or half tone.

20
II I
   

PAGE 11
Root Motion in Thirds
The fourth strongest root motion is in Thirds. This is when the root motion goes up or
down in thirds. It can be major or minor thirds depending on which option is a diatonic
scale tone. Moving downwards in thirds is more common then moving upwards.

21
III I
   

Final Resolve
The best way to end any chord progression with the root motion is to return to the I chord,
the Tonic, because it sounds final. Because of it’s complete sound, the tonic can be
followed by any other diatonic chord. This makes it an ideal chord to use at the end of one
section before leading into the next section.

22

III IV V I
     

PAGE 12
Exercise: Here is a tune for you to learn that has a mixture of the bass motions you have
just been learning about.
23


          
 
   
5

        

 
  
9

    
         

             

 
13


  

 
  



  


PAGE 13
Lesson Three: Chord Construction
In this lesson you learn about how to construct 3 note, and 4 note chords. This is essential
for you to learn if you are wanting to learn songs by ear, write your own songs, or play in
a band, or for your church.

Chord Construction of Triads

A chord is when three or more notes are played together. There are four types of chords
we will be learning about. They are; major, minor, diminished and augmented. A three
note chord is called a ‘triad’ and is usually made up of two intervals of a 3rd.

To make up a basic triad you begin with the root note, add another note a 3rd above, and
then add another note a 3rd above the second note.
24

  
 
  
 
Third Third Triad
6

   
Here are the triads that occur in the key of C major: 25

  
 
 

  
 
 

 
 
  

When a chord occurs naturally within a key, meaning all the notes in the chord are within
the key signature, this is called ‘diatonic’.

A Major triad is made up of an interval of a major third, and then a minor third on top.

 
  

26

C Major triad
6

fun with this!With this course you recieved

Exercise: Now its time to have a little  a bonus 
program called Keycellerator. Open this program now, and have a go at playing the
game! I recommend that you start with just Major chords, (tick the boxes at the start of
the game).

PAGE 14
A Minor triad is made up of an interval of a minor third, with a major third interval on top.

C Minor triad
 b
  27


6
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator game again, and tick the major and minor boxes.

  
A Diminished triad is made up of an interval of a minor third, with a minor third interval
on top.

C Diminished triad
 bb
  28


6
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus game again this time add the diminished chord
to the game, by ticking the box.   
An Augmented triad is made up of an interval of a major third, with a major third on top.

 
29
C Augmented triad
 


6


Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus game again and this time you can add the
augmented chord to the mix!  
These 4 triads explore all the possible combinations to make a triad with the minor and
major third intervals.

The Suspended Fourth triad is made up of the intervals of a 4th and a 2nd, instead of
3rds which is most common. It is like a major triad but the middle note is moved up a
whole tone. The scale tones are, 1, 4, 5.

30
   

C sus 4 triad

  

PAGE 15
Diatonic Triads
Three of these main triads (not including the sus 4 and the augmented), occur naturally
within EVERY key! They always occur in the exact same order, so it is nice and easy for
you to remember.

Here are the scale tones of C major built into triads, with their chord names written
below.
31

  
 
 

  
 
 
 
 
  
 
C major D minor E minor F major G major A minor B diminished

In every key the order of chords is the same, so you can think of them as chords with
numbers instead of notes. For example the I major chord occurs on the 1st scale tone of
the key, the ii minor chord occurs on the 2nd scale tone of the key, and so on. Here is the
same chords as above but with their Roman Numeral analysis.

  
 
 

  
 
 
 
 
  
 
I major ii minor iii minor IV major V major vi minor vii diminished

Diatonic Triads for Every Key

When analysing chords, the major chords are written with UPPER CASE Roman numerals,
and minor chords are written with lower case Roman numerals.

By using the same order of the types of chords, you can find the diatonic triads in any key.
Here are the diatonic triads in the key of D major. Although D major has a different key
signature to C major, their diatonic chords have the exact same chord values.

32

 
 
 




 




 

  
 
D major E minor F# minor G major A major B minor C# diminished
I major ii minor iii minor IV major V major vi minor vii diminished

PAGE 16
Exercise: Here is a tune for you to learn that contains ALL diatonic triads that you have
been learning about.

33

  






 

  
 
        


5
   
 
    

    


     
  


PAGE 17
Chord Construction of 4 note chords
A 4 note chord is when four notes are played together. There are many different types of
4 note chords, but we will be learning about the most common type. A seventh chord is a
triad with an extra interval of a third added on top.

b
There are four types of seventh chords we will be learning about. They are major 7th,
minor 7th, dominant 7th and minor 7 5.

To make up a seventh chord you begin with a triad as you’ve just learned about, and add
another third above the highest note.

 
 

  34 
 
Triad + third = 7th chord
6

   
Here are the seventh chords that occur in the key of C major.
  
  
 
 
 

 








 
 
   

A Major 7th chord is made up of a major triad, with a major 7th on top.

 

  b

 bbb


 35
 

C major 7th
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus 
6

 
 focus on the seventh chords.
 
game again this time
Tick the box beside the Major 7th option.

A Dominant 7th chord is made up of a major triad, with a minor 7th interval on top.

 b

  b

 bbb


 36  

C dominant 7th
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus 
6
  with the Major 7th chords,
game again and play  
and the Dominant 7th chords  

PAGE 18
A Minor 7th chord is made up of a minor triad, with a minor 7th interval on top.

 bb

  b

 bbb


  
37


C minor 7th
6

 

 
  
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus game again and choose the Minor 7th chord as
well as the other two seventh chords you’ve been playing the game with so far.
b
A Minor 7 5 chord is made up of an diminished triad, with a minor 7th interval on top.

 bbb

  38 b


 
C minor 7 b5
5

 
 


 
  of the seventh
 game again this time tick all four
Exercise: Play the Keycellerator bonus 
chords available.

When you are confident with reading the seventh chords notation, play the game again
using the four triads that you learned about previously, Major, Minor, Diminished and
Augmented.

PAGE 19
Diatonic Seventh Chords
Here are the scale tones of C major built into seventh chords, with their chord names
written below.
39

  
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
   

 
  
C major 7th D minor 7th E minor 7th F major 7th G dominant 7th A minor 7th B minor 7 b5

Here is the same progression of the diatonic seventh chords in C major. They are analysed
using Roman Numerals. Upper case for major chords and lower case for minor chords.

40

  
 
 


 
 

 
 

 
 
   

  
I major 7th ii minor 7th iii minor 7th IV major 7th V dominant 7th vi minor 7th vii minor 7 b5

Diatonic Seventh Chords For Every Key

By memorising the chords as roman numerals with their chord value and the order in
which they appear, you can find the diatonic 7th chords in any key.

Compare the seventh chords of the example above in C major, with this example below
which is in D major.

D major has a different key signature to C major, it has 2 sharps, F# and C#. Notice that
the chord values are exactly the same as the C major example.
41

 
 
  
 
 
 


 
  
 
   

  
D major 7th E minor 7th F# minor 7th G major 7th A dominant 7th B minor 7th C# minor 7 b5
I major 7th ii minor 7th iii minor 7th IV major 7th V dominant 7th vi minor 7th vii minor 7 b5

PAGE 20
Exercise: Have a go at the Keycelerator bonus game again! Choose ALL the chords to
identify, by ticking them all! There is one chord in the game you have not learned about,
the Add 6 chord, it is a triad with the 6th scale tone added on top of it.

Exercise: Here is a tune for you to learn that contains some of the diatonic seventh
chords you have been learning about.

42

  

            
        
  
   b   


    


         

         
  
 

PAGE 21
Lesson Four: Reharmonization
In this lesson you will learn about Reharmonization which will enable you to interpret
songs in your own way and make you’re own arrangements!

Reharmonization
As we learned in the previous chapter chords are given names to explain their function
based on their root note within the scale. The I chord is called the Tonic, the V chord is
called the Dominant, and the IV chord is called the Subdominant.

These three chords also form the three main categories that diatonic chords can be grouped
into. Every Diatonic chord, (made up of notes within the key), has a purpose or function.
Each diatonic chord can be classed into either of these three types of functions:

Tonic function (stable) Function= What something

does or is used for.
Subdominant function (non-tonic function)

Dominant function (relatively stable moving towards a Tonic chord)

Let’s now look at the Diatonic chords that are grouped into each of the three categories.

Tonic Functioning Chords

The following chords have a Tonic function. They are stable, and not moving to anywhere
in particular:

 
 


 
 

 

 

    
 
43

I major I major 7th iii minor iii minor 7 vi minor vi minor 7

Subdominant Functioning Chords

The following chords have a Subdominant function. They are unstable, and are going
somewhere that is not very obvious.

  
 
 

      44
 

 
  
ii minor ii minor 7 IV major IV major 7th

PAGE 22
Dominant Functioning Chords
The following chords have a Dominant function. They are relatively stable, but seem to
be going somewhere specific.


45
 
 
 
  
V dominant V dominant 7

Chord Substitution    
To change the chords of a song but keep the general feel of the chords, we can substitute the
original chords for other chords that have the same function. The function of each diatonic
chord will either be tonic, subdominant, or dominant. This is called Reharmonization.

Here is an example of reharmonization of a chord progression. The original chord

progression goes like this:


 
  
 
   
 

  
46

CHORD PROGRESSION: I major IV major V major I major

CHORD FUNCTION: TONIC SUBDOMINANT DOMINANT TONIC

We can now reharmonize by substituting chords with the same chord function.


 

 



 

 


47  
CHORD PROGRESSION: iii minor ii minor V major I major
CHORD FUNCTION: TONIC SUBDOMINANT DOMINANT TONIC

Exercise: Try playing these two progressions on your instrument. They sound quite
different, but you will notice that they still have a similar feel in terms of the chords function
and where each chord leads you.

PAGE 23
Exercise: Here is a tune for you to play that uses the Reharmonization you have just
learned about. The first four bars are the original chord progression:

I major IV major V major I major

iii minor ii minor V major I major

The last four bars are the reharmonization of that chord progression by substituting for
different chords that have the same chord function.

vi minor ii minor V major iii minor

vi minor IV major V major I major

48

    
        
    
 
    
       

I IV V I iii ii V I
              
5

   

     
  
    

vi ii V iii IV vi V I

PAGE 24
Lesson Five: Cadences

In this lesson you will learn about the Cadence. This will improve your learning by ear,
songwriting skills, and you’re ability to jam in a band.

The term Cadence is when a melody or harmony comes to its resting point. This can
be a temporary resting point, or the final resting point (the end of the song).The actual
Cadence is the movement to get to that resting point.

Dominant Cadence
The Dominant Cadence is when the chord progression moves from a dominant chord to
a tonic chord. Most typically from V to I. This is the strongest cadence.

49
Dominant Cadence

 
 


 


V I
6

   
Subdominant Cadence
The Subdominant Cadence is when the harmony moves from a subdominant chord to a
tonic chord. Most typically from IV to I.

50

Subdominant Cadence

 

 


 


IV I
6

   

PAGE 25
Full Cadence
The strongest cadence you can use is the Full Cadence. This uses chords with
subdominant, dominant, and tonic chord functions. It is a complete cadence because it
includes all three of the main chord functions. Most typically IV, V, I.

Full Cadence 51

 

 
 
 
 
  
  
IV V I

Cadence Reharmonization
To get different combinations from cadences you can use the Reharmonization we
have just learned about and substitute different chords with the same chord functions.

Be aware though, that the original cadences are the strongest and tend to make the
most impact, especially when used for a final cadence at the end of a song.

Exercise: Here is a tune for you to learn that ALL of the cadences you have just been
learning about.
52


          
           
     
 
 

I V I
5 Dominant
           
    
    
      
        
IV I IV I IV V I
Subdominant Full

PAGE 26
Glossary of Terms
Harmony Resolution

Scale tone Stepwise

Tendencies Whole tone

Melody Half tone

Scale Construction

Tone Major

Stable Minor

Unstable Diminished

Degree Augmented

Tonic Triad

Dominant Interval

Mediant Suspended

Supertonic Reharmonization

Supermediant Non-tonic

Leading tone Cadence

Subdominant Substitute

Root

Motion

Diatonic

Progression

Analyze

Roman numerals

PAGE 27
Well done! Congratulations!

Now you have a greater understanding of Musical Theory!

This course has been short but jam packed with music theory. This is all really valuable
information, but also quite tricky to get your head around the first time. So don’t hesitate
to go back when you need to, and go through The Piano Music Theory Mini Course as
many times as you need so you don’t miss out on understanding it!

You will have found your playing much better for it! You now have the skills and knowledge
to be able to learn by ear almost any song you want using music theory! You can also use
this theory knowledge to write better songs, and improve your ability to jam with a band.

You now know how chords work, how bass lines work, how melodies work, and how to put
your own spin on the songs you play using Reharmonization and chord substitution.

It’s in the bag! All you have to do now is practice the new skills you’ve learned until they
become natural to you when you are playing the piano.

That’s it for now.

Ruth

PAGE 28